The third commandment of the summary of Torah (the Ten Commandments):

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

In the list of the Ten Commandments, this one, more than any other, seems a bit out of place – particularly in its most used context. However, when examined in the light of its full context in scripture and its originally understood context, I think there is a lesson for all of us to grasp.

Vows and Oaths and Empty Words

Probably the way this verse is most often interpreted is that we should not use God’s (or Jesus’) name as an expletive, or otherwise extraneous manner. This is very wise, and I am sure a part of what is covered by the command. However, if we stop there, we completely miss the heart of this command.

To ‘misuse’ God’s name, or to take in vain (i.e. to ‘make it nothing’) is to attach it to something that to which it does not belong. It is claiming that God has blessed or cursed something, someone or some activity based on your own purposes. Or, as Andy Stanley notes, “the original intent of this command was to prevent people from attaching God’s name to purposes that are not His.”

To take God’s name in vain – to make it nothing – basically is man’s way of pitting God against Himself.

Torah Organization

In the Torah, Jews recognize 613 commands, which are organized thusly:

1) The greatest command, according to Jesus, Hillel (the primary rabbinic school of thought followed by modern Orthodox Jews) and Hillel’s grandson, Gamaliel (Paul’s teacher) is the shema:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

2) The second greatest command is similar to the first, according to Jesus, Hillel and Gamaliel:

Love your neighbor as yourself

The other 611 commands all spring from these two

Out of these 611, the Ten Commandments summarize the remaining 601 commands. So, we can often find insight into the ‘heavier’ commandments by examining the ‘lighter’ commandments which fall under them. For instance, the Seventh Commandment, you shall not commit adultery, encompasses all of the commands listed in Leviticus 18.

So, for the case of the Third Commandment, we should examine some of the ‘lighter’ commands which have traditionally been tied back to it, with these being the primary three:

Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

if a person thoughtlessly takes an oath to do anything, whether good or evil—in any matter one might carelessly swear about—even though he is unaware of it, in any case when he learns of it he will be guilty.

Do not test the LORD your God

As we examine these, and as we understand the meaning of ‘in vain’, it should become more clear what is going on with this command, and that it is not simply saying God’s name as part of an expletive.

Example 1:

One of the primary modern examples of using God’s name in vain by pitting Him against Himself is found in the core doctrine of the Health and Wealth Gospel. They take the one exception to this command from Malachi:

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

And they pervert it (among other passages) by ascribing health and wealth as the ‘blessing’ promised by God. Basically, the teaching is that if you are being faithful to God, then He will give you good health and material blessings – or, to put it in a different way that better exposes the fallacy – If you are faithful to God, He HAS TO materially bless you with money, power and good health IN ORDER TO demonstrate His love.

Example 2:

Chances are, this one will hit close to home for many of us. How often do we, as Christians or as Churches enter into poor or risky financial commitments by saying “I have faith that God will give me a way to meet this commitment”. How often do churches buy/build lavish new buildings they cannot afford, “on faith that God will provide”? While I agree with the premise of ‘faith promise giving’, all too often, the way it is presented leads people to put God to the test, beyond what He allows for in Malachi.

This, again, pits God against Himself to keep a commitment that we make on His behalf…

Example 3:

For folks in the blogosphere or in leadership positions, it is probably much too easy to make claims of God’s ’stamp of approval’ through the way we communicate:

• You should not question me or my motives because Jesus called me to be his pastor-teacher
• Jesus gave me multiple websites from which to denounce …
• It seemed good to the Lord and me today to …
• Will he do it God’s way (a.k.a. the way I agree with) or (__________) way?

This is not to say that God does not speak to people today, but when we remove any doubt as to whether it is just our belief or the actual voice of God, we violate this basic command.

Example 4:

When going to war or into a fight (be it literal or figurative) claiming to be ‘on God’s side’ (or that ‘God is on our side’) in a particular human quarrel, is a basic violation of the Third Commandment. This doesn’t matter whether it is the Crusades, World War II, the Protestant Reformation or Iraq. While one side may have legitimate issues in which they are in more agreement with God’s direction in scripture, ascribing a “side” to God creates all sorts of moral dilemmas which would seem to pit God against himself.

Basically, let your disagreement/fight/war stand on its own merits (or lack thereof), but don’t bring God’s blessing or curses into it, as you don’t speak for Him.

In Conclusion

Perhaps it was some of the recent articles, or it was seeing Fred Phelps on TV saying “God Hates Fags” and picketing George Carlin’s funeral, or seeing the other abuses of God’s name in the recent press that prompted this article – I don’t know. But I do know that, if God was directing me to write it, He can have that credit, but since I’m writing it, I am sure there are bound to be mistakes…