Names have power and in the Old Testament, names represented the very essence of a person which is why God changed the name of Abram to Abraham. Abram means exalted father, but still just a father and Abraham means father of many nations. God changed Abrams name because his life was going to change, he wasn’t just going to be a father, the promise God made was that he was going to be the father of many nations, so God changed his name as a sign that it was going to happen. In the world of the OT, names had great significance and power which is one of the reasons why God includes in the top 3 of his 10 Commandment to not take his name in vain.
So what is God’s name? There are hundred’s of names given to God in the Bible and here is a list of more than 150 of them from Abba, to Jehovah Jireh, to Lamb of God, Messiah, Teacher and Word of God. While there are many names given to God, there is only one name that God gave himself and that is the name I AM. God gave that name to Moses at the burning bush when God called Moses to return to Egypt and lead his people out of slavery. Moses was reluctant to go because he was afraid that no one would listen to him or follow him so he asks God (Exodus 3:13-15).
So God gives himself the name – I AM, but since there is no past or future tense in Hebrew, what this name really means is I WAS, I AM and I WILL ALWAYS BE. In other words, the name God gave himself was I AM THE ONE WHO EXISTS FOREVER. God is the only eternal one and this means he is the only one with all the life and with all the power. Because names express the very essence and power of a person, God wants his name honored and used wisely so that his true character can be seen by all the people and one of the things we see throughout the OT is that God is serious about this command. Lev. 24:10-16.
While this seems harsh to us, it does reflect just how serious God is about his name. God wants his name to mean something positive and life giving, he wants his name to accurately reflect is life and truth and power and love to the world and so we need take seriously our use of God’s name. When we use the name of God we need to make sure we use it ways that honor God are not in vain. Now while we tend to think that this commandment means we shouldn’t turn God’s name into profanity and damn people or situations in the name of God (and we shouldn’t and we will look at that in a moment), the word vanity actually means useless or worthless, so not taking God’s name in vain means not using God’s name in useless, careless or worthless ways.
Now for Israel, this meant not using God’s name as part of a covenant or promise that the people were not going to fulfill. If the people made an oath in the name of God and didn’t fulfill that promise – they were taking God’s name in vain. They made God’s name meaningless and useless, so taking God’s name in vain has less to do with profanity and more to do with using God’s name in meaningless expressions, like saying “oh my God” when we are surprised by something. In his book on the 10 Commandments, Win Green says, Of course most people would say,… when I say that I really don’t mean anything by it and that is just he point! We reduce God’s holy name to nothing. A name which the ancient saints trembled to speak we now employ carelessly. When we make God’s name an everyday empty expression – what does that say about our understanding of God? What does that say about our relationship with God? You see, again this command, like all of them, is to help protect the bonds of relationship and when we turn God’s name into an empty expression of surprise – it diminishes our relationship with the God who was and is and always will be.
So we can’t be careless with God’s name, butwe can’t be disrespectful either. Using God’s name in conjunction with profanity is not only disrespectful – it misrepresents God. For example, God does not damn people, situations or the world, in fact in John 3:17 it says that Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn the world – to damn the world – but to save the world. We also hear this in 2 Peter 3:9. God doesn’t damn people; God’s job is not to curse people – his passion and desire is to see them return to Him and while there are examples of God’s justice and punishment at work throughout the Bible, the real story of the Bible is the story of God working to rescue, save and love his children. The real story of the Bible is the story of God wanting a relationship with us and making that possible through the power of his name – look at Romans 10:13. Sp the power of God’s name is to save and bring life, not condemn so when we use God’s name as profanity we misrepresent God to the world, and again we might say we don’t really mean that – but then we go back to the first point – if we don’t really mean what we say then we have reduced God’s name and character and our relationship with him to nothing.
Now what all of this means is that we need to take seriously what we say and if it is our habit to misuse God’s name, in either meaningless expressions of surprise or with profanity, we need to clean our language. Maybe James says this best when he says… James 3:9-12. If this is an area you struggle with, ask someone close to you for help. Many times we don’t even know we are using God’s name in vain, but if we ask for help and people start pointing it out to us kindly and with grace – my guess is that we will begin to become more aware of it and find new expressions of surprise and frustration.
It is also important to clean up our language because what we say is not only what our children will say but it will shape their understanding of God and in time their relationship with God. If God’s name is used in meaningless ways then in time God simply becomes meaningless. So we need to watch what we say and remember that our words have all kinds of consequences.
But this commandment isn’t just about what we shouldn’t say, it’s also about what we can say because the commandment doesn’t say we can’t use God’s name at all, which means that God’s name can be used by his children in ways that are appropriate and Jesus tells us that we need to keep God’s name holy, which means set apart as something powerful and special. What this means is that we can call upon God’s name for assurance, forgiveness, help, strength, power, healing and life. God’s name can be used in prayer and praise and worship. It can be preached and shared and celebrated and Jesus even said that in his name we can move mountains. It is because God’s name is so powerful and good that we need to make sure that we don’t misuse God’s name or misrepresent God to the world around us.
Since we can use God’s name, I believe that one of the ways to help us overcome our misuse of God’s name is by using it more and more in right ways. The more we use God’s name in praise and prayer, the less likely we will be to use it in vain. The more we call on God’s name in faith and trust, the less we will use in disrespectful or inappropriate ways. So here’s an exercise for us all this week. Find 10 ways to use God’s name in faithful and powerful ways every day. Ask God to bless people – not in the meaningless way many politicians ask God to bless the USA, but in genuine and specific words of blessing and praise. It doesn’t have to be said out loud to the person, but in our hearts and minds we can specifically ask Go to bless those around us. We can thank God for what we have and what we see. Verbally we ask a blessing for each meal so we actually hear our mouths praise and thank God for the food we have. If we will pray more and call on God’s name more and claim God’s promises more, in time our misuse of God’s name will disappear.
Now I do want to end on a note of encouragement, if you have never really thought seriously about how you have used God’s name in the past and you realize that using God’s name in vain has been a habit in your life, don’t feel like all is lost. While you may have struggled to honor God’s name, God has never failed to honor your name and offer you forgiveness and grace. We need to remember that some of the names given to God have been:
Jehovah – Shalom : which means God is our peace
Comforter
Deliverer
Friend of sinners
Lamb of God
Merciful God
Redeemer
Savior
So if our past doesn’t look very good in light of this command, we don’t need to give up hope, we need to call upon the name of Lord for forgiveness, and for the strength to live a new life which includes honest and faithful speech.
