In Vain

We all know the command. "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain." (Exo 20:7) So those of us concerned about what God thinks (That, by the way, was a direct quote from God.) try to avoid doing that. Sort of. The Jews understood it to be a reference to the name(s) we apply to God like YHWH and, well, God. So where Luke, the Gentile, referred to "the kingdom of God," Matthew, a Jew, referred to the "kingdom of heaven." Safer not to use the name, you know? To this day more devout Jews will write it as "G_d" to avoid using it wrong, because clearly "G_d" isn't "God" and they're safe.

It is a little short-sighted if you ask me. First, "God" is not His name; it is His title. Like "king" or our modern "mister" and "missus." These aren't names; they're designations of roles. His name is YHWH; His role is God. And since YHWH is hardly pronounceable, using that in vain seems unlikely. So, second, I think the real issue is that "name" doesn't merely refer to "the words we use to designate someone." We know this. We can talk about "doing harm to my good name" without considering my legal name. It's about me -- my character, my reputation -- who I am, not what I'm called. And if I say, "I don't have anyone to carry on my name," I'm not referring to "Stan," but to the family line of which I am the start. Again, not that simple "term we use to designate a person."

Now, what if we feed this back into "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain"? That changes things, doesn't it? If that command is "You shall not take the character or reputation of the LORD your God in vain," I think we'll have a much larger issue. For instance, if God is Sovereign and we claim to be His follower but deny His Lordship, we're taking His character in vain. If God is good and we who claim to love Him accuse Him of doing something bad, we are, again, taking His character in vain. If we call ourselves "Christians" and are not Christ-like, we besmirch His reputation and take His name in vain.

I don't know. Maybe you're right. Maybe He just means, "Don't say the words that you use to designate Me in vain way." Seems rather small to me. The Jews have it right, then. Just don't use those words. Easy. One sin down. But I'm afraid it's not that easy and I'm afraid that every one of us who call ourselves Christians and followers of Christ and lovers of God take His character and reputation in vain daily without even realizing it. From what I can tell, that doesn't make Him happy (Exo 20:7).