“You shall not use the name of God in vain”

To really take hold of the significance of the third commandment, it may help to recall the musical Westside Story.  Tony is a member of a street gang in New York City known as the Jets.  The bitter enemy of the Jets is the Puerto Rican street gang, the Sharks.  But Tony meets and falls in love with a Puerto Rican girl named Maria, and his love for Maria changes everything for Tony.  Because he has fallen in love with Maria, he falls in love with the name that identifies Maria.  He sings, 

Maria—I just met a girl named Maria, and suddenly that name will never be the same to me.

Maria—I just kissed a girl named Maria, and suddenly I’ve found how wonderful a sound can be.

Maria—say it loud, and there’s music playing; say it soft, and it’s almost like praying.

Maria—I’ll never stop saying Maria.

Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria.

Say it loud, and there’s music playing; say it soft, and it’s almost like praying.

Maria—I’ll never stop saying Maria.

The most beautiful sound I ever heard: Maria.

Such reverence for the name of the woman he loves is what is at the heart of the third commandment: You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

The command not to misuse the name of God is a call to us to speak God’s name with nothing but reverence.  This means, in part, that we should not use God’s name as a venting of our anger or because we have stubbed a toe.

Yet it goes deeper than that.  William Barclay points out, “In Hebrew the phrase literally means for unreality…. The word describes that which is empty, insincere, frivolous.  This commandment, then, lays it down that the name of God must never be used in an empty, frivolous or insincere way…. The commandment is a prohibition of taking the name of God in vain in a promise or a pledge, that is, of making such a promise or pledge in the name of God with no intention of keeping it” (The Ten Commandments, p. 13).

The command not to misuse the name of God is also a call to us to live God’s name with nothing but reverence. 

If you are a believer in Christ, then you bear his name.  The word Christian means that you are Christ’s one.  You have been given his name.

L. Nishan Bakalian shares, “In the town of Stepanavan, Armenia, I met a woman whom everyone called Palasan’s wife.  She had her own name, of course, but townspeople called her by her husband’s name to show her great honor.  When the devastating earthquake struck Armenia, it was nearly noon, and Palasan was at work.  He rushed to the elementary school where his son was s student.  The façade was already crumbling, but he entered the building and began pushing children outside to safety.  After Palasan had managed to help twenty-eight children out, an aftershock hit that completely collapsed the school building and killed him.  So the people of Stepanavan honor his memory and his young widow by calling her Palasan’s wife.”

Jesus did no less for us.  He laid down his life to rescue us.  We are given the name Christian in honor of what Christ did for us.  As we bear his name, we should be careful not to do anything that would dishonor his name. 

One Sunday, the 19-century Scottish preacher Andrew Bonar held up a brick for his congregation to see—a brick he had brought back from his travels to the ancient city of Babylon.  Bonar pointed out that every brick in the temple bore the name of the king who was reigning when the temple was built.  Bonar concluded, “We, too, must let everything we do bear the name of our King, the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Indeed, everything we do does bear the name of Jesus.  May the things we do and the things we say bring honor rather than dishonor to the name of Christ.

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