"Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7) "You shall not use the name of the Eternal, your God, profanely," is the James Moffatt translation. The third commandment of the decalogue is a warning against profanity, falsehood, irreverence, and hypocrisy. It prohibits all forms of vain worship.
In these prohibition's the negative always implies the positive. The command not to take God's name in vain indicates a command to "serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:28,29) Those who fulfill this command will approach the Eternal with a reverent attitude, recognizing the holy character of His name. Reverence is the very gateway to the divine presence. Since God's holiness is in His name, the humble suppliant will begin his worship with the reverent declaration, "Hallowed be Thy name."
Who is "the Lord thy God," that we should reverence His name? This is virtually the question Pharaoh asked Moses when he spoke to him in the name of "the Lord God of Israel," and asked him to release Israel from bondage: "Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." (Exodus 5:1,2) It was because the king of Egypt did not know the Lord that he refused to respect and obey Him. This is always true. His name is taken in vain only by those who really do not know Him. If they knew Him they would love Him and reverence His holy name.
"Everything that is comes from Him. If you speak of power, His is the greatest conceivable. If you speak of wisdom, His transcends the loftiest comprehension of man. If you think of truth, He is the ultimate reality upon which all else depends. If you think of beauty, He is the author of all that is lovely. If you think of goodness, His character is the ultimate standard. All that we have, and all that we are, we owe to Him. We are dependent upon Him for our very lives; we cannot exist apart from Him. If, therefore, we are in the slightest degree intelligent, if in our hearts there is the least spark of gratitude, if in our souls there is any appreciation of what is fine and true and right, this intelligence and appreciation and gratitude must express themselves in reverence for God."--John H. Powell, The Ten Commandments, pp. 29, 30.
Revelation of Character
Name and character are inseparable. When we think or speak of a person having a good name, we mean a good character or reputation. "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches," is a Scriptural expression. God's name sets forth all that He is. On one occasion Moses said to the Lord, "I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory. And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom 1 will show mercy." And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped." (Exodus 33:18,19; 34:5-8)
In proclaiming His character to Moses, the Lord proclaimed His name. This revelation placed Moses in the proper attitude of reverence for worship. At the time when the decalogue was given, all names were significant. A child was named in memory of some event connected with his birth, or as a prayer or prophecy of what the parents desired him to be. The name was the revelation of a character. The name of God is equivalent to God Himself. To call upon His name is to call upon Him. His name sums up all that He has revealed Himself to be. Just as we do not separate a person from the name he bears, so God and His name are inseparable. In the incarnation of Christ, "God was manifest in the flesh." The Son of God came to reveal God to man; to make known His character. In His prayer to the Father, Jesus said, "I have manifested Thy name unto the men Thou gave Me out of the, world." (John 17:6)
A Reverend Name
"Reverend" is used but once in the Scriptures, and then it is applied to the name of God. "Holy and reverend is His name." (Psalms 111:9) Since "reverend" is one of the titles, of God, it should never be attached to, the name of a man. The character of God is so great that there are no less than 250 names, titles, and emblems used in the Scriptures to describe Him and His work. They are all summed up in the statement, "His name shall be called Wonderful." All His names are holy and reverend. While the sum of God's names constitutes a revelation of His divine nature, no one name or all of them combined can fully exhaust the unsearchable riches of His matchless character.
The name Jehovah was considered so sacred among the Jews that they refused to pronounce it. At one time they refused to step on a piece of paper lying on the ground for fear the name of God might be written on it. This is doubtless an extreme position but modern Christians are in great danger of going to the other extreme, and by too often and carelessly using the name of God they drag it down to the level of the common and profane. We too often forget that when we take the name of God upon our lips we are on holy ground. God's name is used too often in our praying and speaking, so that it becomes altogether too common. In the model prayer His name is mentioned but once, and then it is "Our Father." And yet many today use the name of God twenty and thirty times in a single prayer. Even the heathen believed that they polluted the names of their deities by using them too often.
Profanity
While the prohibition of profanity of speech, or cursing, is not the primary object of the third commandment, it is nevertheless included. What we speak of as common swearing has been called "the most gratuitous of all sins" because it is "not only sinful, but useless." It is silly, vulgar, and profane. The word "profane" is composed of two Latin words, pro, meaning "in front of," and fane, meaning "the temple." It indicates irreverence for holy things. It is defying God, as it were, in the very vicinity of His holy temple. It is trampling reverence, the queen of virtues, underfoot. The door of God's holy temple, representing His presence, is closed in the face of the profane.
Profanity is never a sign of intelligence. It is always, most prevalent among the crude, uncultured, and illiterate. If it is intended as humor, it is humor of a very low order. It is more often mere bluff as a substitute for courage. If there is a God, profaning His name is highly dangerous. If there is no God it is useless and worse than vanity, a sign of crass ignorance. Would anyone be so debased and irreverent as to profane the name of his mother, sister, wife, or sweetheart? Would he not defend the honor of any loved one thus infamously treated? What then should be our attitude toward the name of One who is as high above us as the heavens are higher than the earth, One who is infinitely pure and holy?
A man thus excused his weakness to his minister: "I have such an awful temper, but I sort of excuse myself because I got it from my father. He had an awful temper, and I am just like him." The minister wisely answered, "Well, were you born again?" "Yes," was the answer. "Were you born of God?" "yes," was the reply. "Is God your Father?" Again the answer was in the affirmative. The minister drove the lesson home with the question, "What kind of temper did you get when you were born again?" Those who experience the new birth inherit a new disposition.
The genuine Christian will avoid the use of even those bywords which verge on profanity, especially the words which are attributes of God's character, such as "goodness," "gracious," and "mercy." He will also refrain from saying "Gee," which is an abbreviation for it Jesus." It is said that the Japanese language is the only one in the world with no profane words of any kind in it. It is therefore impossible to swear in pure Japanese. This should also be true of the Christian language. The divine promise is,' "Then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent." "The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid." (Zephaniah 3:9,13)
False Swearing
False swearing is also forbidden in the third commandment. "You shall not swear by My name falsely, neither shall thou profane the name of thy God." (Leviticus 19:12) This does not forbid the taking of a judicial oath in the name of the Lord, for this the Lord commanded His people to do: "Thou shall fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him, and shall swear by His name." (Deuteronomy 6:13) Since God confirms His own word by swearing by Himself, and the angels affirm the truthfulness of their messages by a solemn appeal to the character of the Creator, surely it is proper for Christians to take the judicial oath as a confirmation of the truthfulness of their testimony. (See Isaiah 45:23; Hebrews 6:13; Revelation 10:5-7) The angel of the latter text is really symbolic of a heaven-sent message heralded to the world by God's people.
The intent of the third commandment is that God's name is never to be linked with falsehood by the violation of a solemn oath or vow. It is not swearing, but false swearing that is forbidden. The command means that we cannot take an oath in God's name and then lie 'on that assurance. A Christian's word ought to be as good as his oath. No finer compliment was ever paid than that given the Baptists of Holland by William, Prince of Orange, king of the Dutch Republic' when he said, "Their yea was equal to their oath."
Perjury is one of the greatest crimes of the modern world. It is almost universal. God's name is presumptuously and blasphemously taken in vain by those who take the judicial oath to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God," and then bear false witness. This is an insult to God who is the truth, and the author of all truth. It is treating His name with contempt and defying His holy law. The Lord declares that He will not hold such "guiltless" in the final day of reckoning. The person who takes the judicial oath should realize that he is bearing testimony not alone before a human court but before the judge of the universe. If he bears false testimony he is lying to God as well as to man.
Warning of Christ
In His sermon on the mount Jesus sounded a solemn warning: "You have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shall not forswear thyself, but shall perform unto the Lord your oaths. But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is His footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the. city of the great King. Neither shall thou swear by thy head, because thou cannot make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil." (Matthew 5:33-37)
But this cannot, be interpreted as forbidding the judicial oath, because Jesus Himself bore testimony under judicial oath before the supreme tribunal of the Hebrews. When the high priest said to Him, "I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus answered, "Thou has said," which is equivalent to saying "I am." (See Matthew 26:63,64) In His previous statement Jesus was condemning as useless, oaths used in ordinary conversation. The Jews at that time had carried this practice to great extremes, using solemn oaths to confirm almost every statement.
On the other hand the Jews did not always require an oath in their courts because of the statement in the Talmud that "whosoever will not tell the truth without an oath, would not scruple to assert falsehood with an oath." Here a great truth is stated. So trifling and useless has become the use of the judicial oath in our modern courts, because of the frequency of perjury, that some judges have suggested that it be dispensed with. It does not seem to curb the lying tendency in the least degree. Wordsworth set forth this popular feeling when he wrote:
"Earth is sick and Heaven is weary of the hollow words Which states and kingdoms utter when they talk Of truth and justice."
Under Hebrew law false witnesses were dealt with very severely. "Hebrew law provided that false witnesses should suffer the penalty provided for the commission of the crime which they sought by their testimony to fix upon the accused."--Walter M. Chandler, The Trial of Jesus, Vol. 1, p. 140. This rule was based on the divine instruction given in Deuteronomy 19:18-20: "The judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; then shall you do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shall thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you."
The genuine Christian does not need an oath in order to tell the truth. With him yea and nay, or yes and no, should be sufficient. Those who must be put under solemn oath in order to get them to tell the truth will not hesitate to lie after they have sworn to testify truthfully. Lying is one of the worst of all the character-destroying and soul-polluting sins of this generation. It deals the deadliest blow against the liar himself. He always hurts himself more than the person lied about. "Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all," is an ancient proverb. Two of the Ten Commandments deal with the sin of falsehood, the third and the ninth. This indicates how hateful lying is to the Lord. In the third commandment the Lord protects His own name, and in the ninth our names are safeguarded.
Irreverence for God's Word
The sin of taking God's name in vain includes irreverence for His Word. "Thou has magnified Thy word above all Thy name," declared the psalmist in Psalms 138: 2. The Lord often declared that His name was in His law and His temple. "My name is there," He said. The purpose of the Scriptures and the plan of salvation is to reveal the name or character of God to man. We therefore profane His name when we show irreverence for His Word. All jesting and joking based on Scriptural statements is a dangerous species of profanity. It is very easy to create a laugh in a modern audience by frivolous association of that which is grotesque with the Word of God. The Bible should never be used as material for manufacturing jests. Preaching is altogether too serious and solemn a matter to be mixed with the unholy fire of the comical and ludicrous. Inattention, whispering, laughing, and all forms of disrespectful behavior during public worship are a form of profanity and are forbidden in the third commandment. In fact, it is blasphemy that will not go unpunished in the judgment.
The following instruction should be carefully heeded by every worshiper of Jehovah: "Keep thy foot when thou goes to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not your heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.'! Ecclesiastes 5:1, 2. Worshipers who do not show respect for God's house or listen to His Word offer--the sacrifice of fools instead of saints.
The Sin of Hypocrisy
Perhaps the chief application of the third commandment is to the sin of hypocrisy. We play the hypocrite when we lie with our lives. Originally the term "hypocrite" was applied to an actor--one who pretended to be what he was not for the purpose of entertaining. It is now applied to those who play a double role in their daily conduct, professing to one thing and acting the part of another. No other sin so aroused the indignation of Christ as that of hypocrisy, and against it He hurled His most terrible woes.
The third commandment is against lying in all forms, whether it be lying with our lips, or lying with our lives. Hypocrisy is the worst of all the forms of lying or bearing false witness. The person who accepts Christ and becomes a Christian takes the name of Christ. The Lord speaks of "My people, which are called by My name." (2 Chronicles 7:14) 'We are called by Thy name; leave us not," cried one of the prophets. (Jeremiah 14:9) The person who professes to be a Christian and at the same time lives a life that is a denial of his profession, is taking God's name in vain. A false professor of Christianity is a blasphemer. God's name is taken in vain by a profession without the possession of holiness; by saying, "Lord, Lord," with the lips and then denying Him by the conduct.
This sort of false swearing is described in Isaiah 48:1,2: "Hear you this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; the Lord of hosts is His name." It is proper to swear by the name of the Lord, but it must be done in truth and righteousness. To make use of any one of God's names while not living in harmony with its revelation of His character is taking it in vain.
Vain Worship
Jesus warned against vain worship, or the taking of God's name in vain. He said: "Not everyone that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? And in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity." (Matthew 7:21-23)
On one other occasion Jesus rebuked the Jews for making the commandments of God of none effect by their tradition and then said: "You hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draws nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honors Me with their lips. But their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matthew 15:7-9) There is a great deal of this vain worship in the modern religious world, even in Christendom. Jesus said, "Why call you Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46)
It is positively dangerous to use the name of the Lord when we do not know Him or are not known by Him. Many professed Christians feel secure, as far as the third commandment is concerned, because they do not use vile oaths or vulgar language, and would be shocked if they were told that they are as guilty as if they did. A vulgar oath may never have stained their lips, but they are breaking the third commandment every day and hour by hypocritical lives.
God's name can be hallowed only by doing His will on earth as it is done in heaven, which is the evidence of heavenly citizenship. Those who are called by God's name are under the most solemn obligation to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of that name. This is possible only with those who have experienced the new birth and the imputed and imparted righteousness of Christ. When the heart and motives are pure, the worship will be acceptable to God. John Ruskin, in his book Modern Painters, declared that "a bad man cannot paint a good picture." The opposite is also true. Vain worship is the result of a vain life. A farmer was being shown some modernistic paintings which he was unable to appreciate. "You see," said the guide, "the paintings depict not the mere things the artist saw, but his state of mind." The farmer retorted, "If I had a mind that looked like that I'd never expose it I" But we always expose our state of mind, in the things we do. Often what we do makes so much noise that others cannot hear what we say. The third commandment condemns such hypocrisy and vain worship.
Threatened Judgment
"The Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain," is equivalent to saying that the Lord will pronounce him guilty. This is one of the two commands in the decalogue that has a threat attached to if. "Guiltless" in the Hebrew means "clean," indicating that a person's attitude toward God's name is the test of his moral cleanness, or of the state of his character. Many are inclined to look upon profanity in its various forms as a trivial matter, but this awful threatening should convince them that the Lord considers vain worship as one of the worst of sins, one that will not go unpunished.