Theology 101 No. 7

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

(Thou shalt not use the name of the Lord God in vain.)

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

Like all the other Commandments, this one has both positive and negative aspects. There is that which we are forbidden to do and that which we, as regenerated Christians desire to do. God has given us His name so that we might call upon Him in times of trouble, to give Him praise and thanks, and to acknowledge Him before others. Christians are encouraged to every profitable use of God’s name. We can, however, misuse His holy name in a variety of ways.

Cursing by God’s name literally means to use His name to call down harm upon someone or damn them. This also includes speaking evil of God. Cursing is the opposite of blessing. By this Commandment and by our Lord’s instruction (Matthew 5:44) we are to pray even for our enemies. We are also to be very careful of what we say in fits of anger or in our surprised outbursts (like when you strike your thumb with a hammer).

Swearing by God’s name is to call upon His name to bear witness to the truth of what one is saying. This is not sinful if it is used properly and to the glory of God and our neighbor. Jesus (Matthew 26:63,64), Abraham (Genesis 23:4), and Paul (II Corinthians 1:23) all give good and proper uses of swearing by God’s name rightly. But to use His name to validate and support a lie or deception or to commit perjury or in frivolous oaths is impermissible.

The use of horoscopes, psychics, fortune telling, seances, witchcraft and the like are also expressly forbidden in this Commandment. In the Old Testament these uses of “supernatural” power were punishable by death because they were such an affront to God’s name (Leviticus 20:27). These things are also a crass form of idolatry. By placing our trust in such things, rather than God, we diminish the power of God in the eyes of others and place our trust in that which is without true power.

“Lying and deceiving by His name” is different in meaning from swearing falsely. It literally means to knowingly or unknowingly teaching false doctrine and attributing the teaching to God. There are many examples (see in particular Jeremiah 23:31) of false prophets declaring what they say to be true by including the phrase, “Thus says the Lord” when in fact God did not say thus. Jesus warns against this when speaking against the false teachings of the pharisees (Matthew 15:9).

This prohibition also includes the actions of the hypocrite (Matthew 15:8). Biblically speaking, a hypocrite is some one who is playing the part of the Christian in their outward appearance and actions, but truly do not believe in their heart. They are hoping to deceive the people around them, but they cannot deceive God with their false acts of piety. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) are a good example of this as were the pharisees. Jesus compared them to whitewashed tombs: nice and clean looking on the outside, but dead and rotting on the inside (Matthew 23:27).

Many verses in Scripture show us wonderful examples of the proper use of God’s name: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” (Psalm 50:15); “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7); “Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!” (Psalm 103:1,2); “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” (Psalm 118:1); and many others.

God’s name is a gift to us that is to be used to great our benefit and to others. It is a great privilege to call upon Him when we are in need or want and to also give Him praise and honor. And most especially do we thank Him for being able to come to Him through His Son, Jesus, our Great Mediator.