Welcome to my first Controversy post, What does it really mean to take the Lord's name in vain? According to many biblical scholars, its not what you think. And its actually much worse, because its something we still do every day.
There are many places in the Bible where God warns us about our speech. We, as Christians, believe in the New Covenant, and as such, the Ten Commandments fall under the new commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind (Luke 10:27, Mark 12:30, Matthew 22:37) and Love your Neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27, Mark 12:31, Matthew 22:39). If we follow these two commandments we will also follow the others. But the Ten Commandments are really great guidelines on how to Love your Neighbor as yourself and Love the Lord your God. But still Jesus specifically warns us in Matthew 12:36-37 that our speech is something for which we are still held accountable: “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.” While this is a little broader than "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain" it can be assumed it still contains the same command not to use the Lord's name in vain.
Hopefully one of my guest posters will be taking this a little further in our first conflict dual author post, one about swearing and foul language that we've had in the works for awhile. But for now, lets keep our narrow focus.
For most of my life people told me that using the Lord's name in vain meant (and forgive me but I am going to type them out in their entirety) "Oh my God," "God Damn It!," "Lord Almighty," and using the epithet Jesus Christ as an exclamation. But this never felt right to me, reading the verse, and taking it to the Hebrew as well, In Vain seemed to mean something much deeper than this.
A lot of research revealed that in the time in which the Ten Commandments was given to Moses there were two major traditions which apply to the understanding of this verse. One was a tradition among pagan tribes. This tradition was one that, when someone wished to lend authority to their actions, or claim a strong reason for something, they would claim their Pagan god had told them to do it. "Baal said this." "Marduk told me to do this." "If you don't do this, Asher help me I'll". They were using the name of a false god to add authority to a statement, and in most cases, even the one saying it didn't believe that their god had told them this. Another tradition, and this was one already common among the Israelites, was to swear by the name of a deity. This was considered the most binding of vows, and was held to be ultimate truth. The Israelites had begun to swear by the name of God, (Yahweh).
Mark Driscoll, who did a great deal of research into this same verse defined "in vain" in this context as meaning "emptiness, falsehood, in a way that is trivial, light, inconsequential or small". Strong's Hebrew lexicon reveals that "vain" in this verse is the Hebrew word Shav. Shav is also translated false, lying, lies, falsely, and vanity. Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon defines it as emptiness, vanity, or a falsehood. By these definitions, "a falsehood or something inconsequential" seems to concur with the idea that this verse warns against using the Lord's name to add authority to something of triviality. Or using the Lord's name to affirm something by swearing, when that something was not worthy of such a binding vow. It means using God's name and applying it to something inconsequential, when His name is the most consequential thing, He is the most consequential thing, there is.
I believe there are three things which fall under this verse, Deceitful Announcements, Deceitful Affirmations, and Deceitful Affectations.
Deceitful Announcements is like false prophesy. It means that when we say "God told me this" or "The Lord told me this" and are not 100% certain, this is the same as false prophesy, and it is using God's name to add authority to something that has no authority, therefore falsely or in vain. For me this is the most insidious possible sin from this verse because I know many Christians who say "God said" or "God told me" so much that I feel it is not possible God is speaking so often. I also know others who say "I think God was saying" or "I'm pretty sure God is telling me." That is entirely different. That is not an announcement, prophesy or proclamation, it is simply a thought. My fear is that with so many people saying "God told me" the fact that this sin is equated with false prophesy and false teaching (which is warned against dramatically in the Bible) has Satan created another vicious trap that we haven't even seen coming? Jeremiah 14:14 says "And the Lord said to me: 'The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.'" And we know what the Bible says about false prophets - Matthew 7:15 says "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Personally, the punishment of being "thrown into the fire" is enough for me to want to avoid that particular sin especially, haha. But my point is this, make absolutely sure that you are really hearing God say something before you say you are.
Deceitful Affirmations is very similar to false vows or promises. It's when people say "I swear to God!" this is what I was talking about in the sinful traditions the Israelites picked up from the pagans. James 5:12 says "But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation." I think this is very similar to "Oh my God!" at least in the way that we mostly avoid it as Christians already, so I will not put a lot of emphasis here.
Deceitful Affectations is another that I find very concerning. The reality is that many people claim to be Christians or of God who or not. Or Christians claim to be 100% right with God when they are not. This sin can be far more detrimental to spreading our faith than any of the other religions we sometimes seem to think we are "fighting" against." There is a reason there are so many stereotypes of Christians being "Hypocritical" or the idea that being a Christian means no fun, and all rules. They exist because many claim to be Christians who are not actively seeking to become Christlike. Its also because sometimes we fall into the trap of dishonest appearances. Sometimes when we are witnessing we try so hard to appear holy, but we forget to say that we screw up sometimes, but God still loves us. Then when those who are seeking see us screw up, they wonder what exactly the benefits of Christianity are when we just do all the same stuff anyway. There are many forms of deceitful affectations. Get ready, because what the Bible says about people who pretend to be Christians but aren't really in their hearts is pretty harsh. Matthew 7:21-23: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'"
Understand, I still think saying "Oh my God," or "Jesus!" in the wrong situations (outside of prayer or literal speech regarding Christ) falls on this list of things we should avoid. I just don't think this is the meat of the sin which is being addressed here. We can't look at the ten commandments and cross this one off because we never said one of those phrases. There is a lot more involved, and some of the things involved are things Christians do mistakenly consistently.
Have you ever heard the saying "The greatest trick Satan ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist?" Well, I believe that may apply here, because so many falsely believe they have checked this sin off their proverbial list, when in actuality this is something very important on which they have to work. On which we all have to work.
Good night, and God Bless.
Here are some other great blogger's posts on this subject:
Disclaimer: I read the Christian Post article before the post was completed and quoted it twice.
Being Filled - Jeremy Myers linked to this one by the way.
Reclaiming the Mind
Christian Post: Mark Driscoll Warns against Four ways we Take God's Name in Vain
Mary Demuth
As well as one blogger who covers the other interpretation of the verse briefly:
Apologetics Press
