God's name

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. - Exodus 20:7 ESV

Rev. Dwight Yoo

The essence of the command

God considers his name as vitally important. Important enough to be one of the ten commandments. How so? In our current day and culture, we pick names because they are cool or unique. But in the times of the old testament, names were very important. Jacob was named for grasping his brothers ankle. It also meant schemer which was proven true later in his life in his planning to obtain his father's blessing. God was asked by Moses what His name was. God called himself, Yahweh, I am. The supreme being of all creation shared his name with Israel. In doing so, he was sharing some of himself. To disrespect God's name is to disrespect God himself. This is how God sees it.

To call on Jesus name, not in a perfunctory way is to call on God. The power is not in the name, but it does represent Him. Jews were so careful that they often used alternatives rather than writing his name.

The expansiveness of the command

Vain means worthless, emptiness, and even evil. To use Jesus' name as an exclamation were be considered empty. Or saying something like oh my god. This is a reducing of God's name. This seems old fashioned but this isn't my opinion, this is God's point of view. And using God's name in an oath, so help me God, with no intention to uphold that oath is evil. To use God's name for our personal gain, like false prophets. They prophecy for their own purposes. Some say that God is leading them to certain actions, but this is simply using God to justify our personal desires. It even covers perfunctory prayers and songs. It is evil to sing praise or pray to God when our hearts are not in it.

In calling ourselves Christians, we are literally bearing God's name. Our actions, behavior, and character are seen as reflections of our parents. When kids are well behaved or ill mannered, the assumption is that their parent's values are reflected there. When Christians act in ways that are contrary to God's agenda and desires, God's name is dishonored. 

The effect of the command

We see this command and we see how we fail to live this out consistently. We fall short in our lives in so many ways to keep not just this command, but all ten commandments. To bring shame on God's name brings guilt. But Jesus lived perfectly and fulfilled these commands consistently in his life. He did this as the way to pay for our guilt.