Third Commandment

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” Exodus 20:7

 The third commandment seems to be pretty straight   forward. Do not take the name of the Lord in vain. But what does that mean ? The following is from Ligonier Ministries,

“Most of us probably see in today’s passage a prohibition against curse words that include the words God, Lord, Jesus, and Christ, as well as a command against coarse speech in   general. All of these things are certainly      covered under the third commandment, but they do    not exhaust its application.  If we were to translate the Hebrew of this passage most literally, we would see     that this law is telling us that we “shall not lift up the name of God to emptiness/worthlessness/vanity.”         Often in Scripture, the same Hebrew term translated       as “in vain” means “wickedness” or “evil” (Job 11:11; 31:5).

Although it is difficult to capture succinctly the meaning of    the third commandment, this statute essentially      orders us not to associate our Creator with wickedness    or invoke His name in a trivial manner. This rule is tied    closely to worship, as we lift    up the name of the Lord   in our corporate praise when we call upon His presence and grace. Consequently, we must never worship God in a corrupt manner or in a way He has not appointed (Isa. 1:10–17; 29:13; Mal. 1:6–8). Similarly, we take   the Lord’s name in vain when we profess His name in public but do not love Him and His law (Matt. 15:1–9).

For a believer in Jesus Christ to hear God’s name or His Son’s name used as a profane or curse word, should cause us to cringe. We know God takes His Holiness      seriously. So much so that He pours out his wrath on all who deny His Holiness and reject His Son. But as you   have just read we need not only to keep from using His name in an inappropriate way, we must make sure we never worship Him in a corrupt way.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark Wells