To Profane and to Blaspheme – The Kingdom Curriculum VII (1)

To Profane and to Blaspheme

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain…” Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11

“You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:12

God’s Name is no expletive.

What does it mean to “take the name of the Lord” upon us? Clearly God intends for us to do this, to be so closely associated with Him that, as our surname defines our family group, our conduct and speech makes clear that we belong to the family of the children of God (Jn. 1:12). The first believers were so effective at this that their neighbors took to calling them by the Name of the One they loved, served, and proclaimed–-“Christians” (Acts 11:26).

From childhood, perhaps most of us have associated the third commandment with vulgar speech. To take God’s Name in vain is to invoke Him in a curse. We take God’s Name in vain when we express the wish that God might condemn someone who displeases us, as if we could manipulate God to do our sinful bidding. Or we pronounce His Name in anger, or as part of an expletive, without any thought as to how this may affect the honor of God.

God wants us to take His Name upon us, but not in these empty, presumptuous, and sinful ways. It may be quite typical to hear God’s Name used this way in the common culture, but this must not be the case for the believer. We are to take God’s Name in such a way as to honor and exalt Him and to attract others to His beauty, goodness, and truth.

God’s Name is not a convenient invocation or expletive for denouncing others. We are right to be offended when we hear God’s Name used in these ways. He certainly is. And we must be careful to work at a more comprehensive application of this part of the Kingdom curriculum to our daily walk with the Lord.

Get your copy of The Law of God today, and begin making meditation in God’s Law part of your daily discipline. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.