The Lord’s Name in Vain

I suspect that if one hundred, or one hundred thousand, people were interviewed, and asked what is meant by “taking the Lord’s name in vain”, the response, from more than ninety percent, would be incorrect, or incomplete. Based on personal experience, it would have to be that high.

What do you think it means? Without reading any further, I would suspect that most of you would include language that references God, or Jesus, in a trite or meaningless way. And, that should be included in any definition of “taking His name in vain”. When people utter the name of God in a curse, or as space filler, it would certainly meet anyone’s definition of “vain”.

I remember a time, several years ago, when I asked a co-worker, who said “GD and JHC” (or some derivation thereof) constantly if he would refrain from doing so, particularly in my presence. He asked me why, and I asked him if he realized he was taking the Lord’s name in vain. He was Catholic, and thus familiar with the concept, and his reply stunned me. He said, “I’m not taking His name in vain, I don’t mean ANYTHING by it”. So, I asked him to define “vain”, and he said, “malicious or harmful”. When told that “vain” meant “meaningless”, he disagreed and went for a dictionary. His intent to not mean “ANYTHING” by his use of God’s name is precisely a “vain” usage of something very meaningful.

I remember a small boy visiting my house, and referring to me as Mister and sir, all the while calling out God’s name as if he were ordering a sandwich. I suspect he learned both habits at home.

It is a serious matter to take the Lord’s name in vain. Yet, the misuse of our tongues, in our language, is secondary to something else.

I have heard ministers say, during wedding ceremonies, that the “groom to be” is paying his bride the ultimate compliment, by giving her his name. She is taking his name as an act of honor for her husband. She is leaving behind her old identity and taking on a new identity, or at least that’s God’s stated intent in Genesis 2. When we become members of the body of Christ, and submit to him as the head of the body, aren’t we doing the same?

When we put on Christ, aren’t we taking his name? When we describe ourselves as a Christian, whose name is it that we bear?

In Acts 15, James reinforces Peter’s current claim, and the claim of the prophets of old, that God had taken from among the Gentiles, “a people for His name”. Paul, the missionary to the Gentiles, rebukes his fellow Jews, in Romans 2; and quoting Isaiah, says “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you”. And Peter encourages his readers to keep their “behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God.” As you can see, vain behaviors are being addressed in these passages.

Our language is an integral part of our behavior. It is paramount in the making and breaking of reputations and influence. But it is only part of our behavior. Never interpret “taking the Lord’s name in vain” as just a tongue problem. It is a heart problem, and it is a behavior problem.