It’s the third one down on that first stone tablet of the two that Moses came down the mountain with. As in, the third of ten commandments God gave His people. You’ll find those in in several places. (Deut. 5:11)
We believers have a mixed, if not confusing relationship with those beloved commandments. Many think they should be taught in schools. Others like the idea of them being on display in public places while some use them as sort of an ‘eye-ball’ gauge on ‘how they are living’. But for the most part, they seem to have taken on more of a symbolic, secondary role in our faith given we no longer live under the law, but under grace, right? (Rom. 6:14)
The question I seem to revisit frequently is if God really was trying to move away from His law, as if it was a limited or bad idea to begin with, then why did He make such a point back in the OT to tell us of a day when He would ‘write those laws on our hearts and minds’? (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:26; Heb. 10:16)
Jesus certainly did not come to abolish God’s law (Matt. 5:17) and when asked on more than one occasion what one needed ‘to do’ to inherit eternal life, guess where He pointed them to? The Law. (Matt. 19:17; Luke 10:26-28)
And for all this talk we hear about how we are ‘justified by faith’ (which I agree with), how does Paul’s statement in Romans 2:13 fit in with that them? You are aware that Paul wrote this: “For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” Another verse we probably skim over is Revelation 22:14 that reads: “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city”.
They ‘do’ His commandments? What did Jesus say regarding ‘those who love Him’ would do? (John 14:15)
So back to that ‘third one’, about ‘taking His name in vain’. I have a confession to make. It’s rather embarrassing to share this...but I was just always under the impression that commandment had to do with not letting God’s name fly off my lips in anger; you know...those loud or even muffled “GD’s” or “JC!”
Honestly, verbalizing His name in anger or just casually, as if it were a good luck charm...was how I was taught early on that was what it meant to ‘take His name in vain’; and it just stuck with me.
I want to say at some point I might have heard a more in-depth explanation of that....but for the life of me, I cannot remember if and when. But yesterday morning when reading in Deuteronomy, I came across that verse and just stopped. There’s just a little bit more to this third commandment than having words to utter when a golf shot goes bad. Seriously.
Now let’s keep in mind that God was giving these laws as part of the ‘conditions’ of this covenant He was in with His people. Granted, this law came 430 years after He made His initial covenant with Abraham, but this was like a ‘renewal’ of sorts...getting off to a fresh start with a new generation of Abraham’s descendants. Have you ever taken part in, or witnessed some family or friends ‘renew their vows’? Marriage is really the only thing we have close to understanding this idea of ‘covenant’ and it certainly works for this line of thought we are on this morning.
Among the many practices that exist in this establishing a marriage/covenant is the exchanging of names or...’taking on the name’ of the other. It has always been a common practice for the wife to forgo her family name and take on the last name of her soon to be husband. Before God established covenant with Abraham, his name was actually Abram. (Gen. 17:5) Language break down is not a strong suit of mine but you can be confident that the adding of ‘Ah’ was a component of one of God’s names in the Hebrew language. Hence, Abraham took on part of God’s name as he was no longer called Abram. And God...became known as...’The God of Abraham”. (Ex. 3:15). Do you see it?
So when we think of ‘taking the name’ in this context, it just opens up a whole new meaning as to what we are doing when we enter in to a covenant with God. We are ‘taking His name’ which implies a covenant relationship has formed. God is pretty serious about this kind of stuff. I would imagine that when you were married (if you ever were), you were most likely advised not to take these vows lightly, but rather ‘soberly and in the fear of God’. You probably wanted the one you were entering into that marriage union with to honor their vows just as much as you intended to honor yours. It is, undoubtedly a very important part of forging this relationship.
We read in Eccl. 5:5: “Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.”
God felt so strongly about this that He made sure to mention it in the Ten Commandments advising us to not ‘take His name in vain’. In other words...don’t ‘say you are in covenant’ with Him but then live your life as if you are still living for yourself. Would you think about that a moment?
He was so serious about this that we are warned: “He will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain”. In other words, there will be consequences if one does such a thing - ’take on His name in vain’. If you read back to the previous commandment, God shares an attribute about Himself that is noteworthy. He says ”I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations...” (Deut. 5:9)
So are you ready to swing back to the NT and connect some more dots now? Paul asked a rather interesting question there in 1 Cor. 10:22 after writing about Israel’s unfaithfulness towards God in that chapter. He touches on some aspects of the communion table (another component of what takes place in forming a covenant. I photograph many weddings and that is an important shot to get when the bride and groom lock arms and drink from the cup and share a bite of the cake. This all has ties to this idea of biblical covenants, but I digress). The question Paul asked there at the end was...”Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?” He’s affirming here that our unfaithfulness to God and the ensuing consequences of doing such, is ‘still a thing’ that I would say many have lost sight of.
Allow me to offer more scripture that speaks to this idea of ‘taking His name in vain’. This verse is pretty straight forward. Paul was addressing the ‘many’ fakes and disrupters that were making the rounds back in the early church. He says that “they profess to know God, but in actions/works, they deny Him, being abominable.” (Tit. 1:16)
Do you see the context here? People claiming to be followers of Christ...but their actions, or fruit’ suggest otherwise. This is not a good thing. Not a good thing at all. Paul expounds in more detail along the same lines in his second letter to Timothy. (3:1-9)
If we claim to be married to someone, but our actions and lifestyle suggest something just the opposite, one can quickly take on the label of being an ‘adulterer/adulteress’. What is interesting is, that is the very exact term James used to address those who continued to ‘love the world’, who still were carnal and living for the flesh. He out and out calls them ‘adulterers’ in (4:4)
Can we go one more step in this direction before I close out for today? Romans 7 wades in to this subject as well. Paul was using an example of marriage and how a woman is ‘bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives.” (2). But if the husband, or...her ‘old man’, dies...she is released from the law and free to marry another. But IF...’while her husband lives, and she marries another man, she will be called an - ‘adulteress’.(3)
Paul was not teaching on ‘marriage and remarriage’ here. He was explaining how we as followers of Christ get set free from the law and no longer live under it and all the condemnation and wrath and judgement it brings; IF...we truly follow of course. (Gal. 5:18) We are freed from the law when our old man dies.(This is what He leads us to do (Rom. 8:13) Paul expounds on in the preceding chapter (6:1-11). He’s driving home the point that if we are baptized in to Christ...we have died to our old life, our old man, and to sin. We are now professing to ‘take on His name’ as a follower of Christ. But it is with the understanding that our old man died and we now belong to Him. (Gal. 5:24).
So if we ‘claim’ to be the ‘bride of Christ’ given our association with His church (which He calls His bride- Eph. 5:25-27) and it becomes evident that our ‘old man’ is still very much alive...(by the evident fruit we bear Gal. :19-21) then scripture strongly suggest we have a problem. A big one. Our continuing to practice sin would suggest we have ‘taken on His name in vain’.
You might be quick to say...”Now wait a minute. Nobody is perfect and Jesus loves me and is quick to forgive me if I confess my sin to Him.”
To which I would in turn ask you...”How would this play out in your marriage relationship if you continued to be unfaithful to your spouse, but were quick to come and confess and just expect forgiveness to be automatic and without repercussions? Or how long would you reciprocate that same mindset with them if they continued to be unfaithful to you?”
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