The Third Commandment

In our modern age of technology we are able to keep in touch with each other quicker, faster and easier. Everything from texting to social networking has opened doors for ease in communication. It is used with such frequency that it now has its own language.

SMS language, textese, txt talk, txtspk. There are so many abbreviations to words out there that even the name for this cyber-language has its own abbreviations. With SMS language, words like "great" become “gr8”, "tomorrow" becomes “2mro”, "your" becomes “ur” and my least favorite and the impetus for writing this article, the highly used “OMG”, to be used in place of “Oh My God”. I see this posted often. It is used more to establish a level of urgency that can be hard to instill in cyber-language. Here’s the deal. Our society has become desensitized to the Holiness of the name of the Lord. So much so that even the self-proclaimed Christians are using “OMG” in their own personal short hand. My first thought is “why can’t they see that they are breaking the 3rd commandment?” Then I was talking with Jeramie about why this bothers me so much and he asked me “what EXACTLY does it mean to break the third commandment?”

Even though we live in the dispensation of the church age and even though no one is righteous, the commandments are still meant to be upheld and used as a compass to increase our awareness of our sin. Do not take the commandments lightly because Paul wrote in Romans 3:19,20;

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law become conscious of sin.”

And again he makes a statement about the law in Romans 3:28-31;

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.”

Well then. There you have it. We should not neglect the commandments. But have you really ever studied the commandments? I was taught them as a kid and have never looked back. And recently, because of the bitter taste “OMG” leaves in my mouth, I have been convicted to find out exactly what the third commandment is saying. This is what I have learned.

Of all of the commandments (ten all together), the third is probably the one we most easily over look. In Sunday school as a kid you are taught to not use Gods name as a curse word. That means no “OMG”. Hey, I can do that. Good enough and moving on. If anything the one I need the most help with is number ten “do not covet your neighbor’s house.” This is what my NIV translation writes the third commandment to say:

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”

Easy enough to understand. Don’t misuse his name. Don’t use it where it isn’t meant to be used. But the NKJV writes it like this:

"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.”

Upon comparison of the two translations I can’t help but be compelled to break them down and research the differences. I mean the first glaringly obvious difference of the use of the language is the word “misuse” for “take”. Even in the English language they have different meanings. But to find out exactly what this is saying I had to hear it in the Hebrew language. The second point that this commandment caught my attention on was that God attached a consequence to it. When he does this it is to impress upon us the severity and authority in which he means it, a.k.a. this is a big deal. I have taken the three words from the NKJV that seem to me to need more definition and compared them to what the Hebrew word really translated to.

Take, throughout the Old Testament, is translated into English from seventy-four different Hebrew words. This one means "to lift up," "bear," "carry," "use," and "appropriate."

“Take” is to me extremely different than “misuse”. When I take something I am removing it from one place and putting it in my hands. The best analogy I could visualize was marriage. God uses this imagery A LOT. He refers to Christ as the bridegroom and the church or his Christians as his bride. When I married Jeramie, I took his name. I made an oath in front of God, our friends and family to enter into a covenant with him. I promised to be his wife and all that it means to be a wife. I was previously referred too by my maiden name and now I am referred to by my married name. Jeramie offered me his name to “bear” (although some days I wander why he did). So now, I bear, or wear, his name. If I use my last name which labels me as married but continue to live a life of a single, foolish woman, I misuse Jeramies name. Now I am able to see how “misuse” works here. It damages Jeramies credibility as a husband. It damages his authority as a husband. If as Jeramies wife I use his name then as the bride of Christ, I use or bear his name as well, that of Christian. Christian means “Christ Ones”. When I confessed that Jesus is the son of God I entered into another covenant. I gave another oath. I promised in front of God, my friends and family that I understood what God was offering me. He was offering me Christs name. 1 Corinthians 6:17 states:

“But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”


Vain has the sense of shallowness; "that which lacks reality, purpose, value, or truth." It may also be translated into "lying," "false," "worthless," "profane,"

In the NIV translation, “vain” isn’t even in the scripture. It appears that the word “misuse” merges the meanings of “take” and “vain” into one word. But when we look at the NKJV vain is used and I think it is important that when we hear the words that we use it as well. It describes the WAY we misuse Gods name. Look at the definitions of the word in Hebrew. False, worthless, profane. Lacks purpose or truth. I don’t like the use of “misuse” in place of take and vain. It leaves room for the reader to fill in the blanks with his own personal definition of “misuse” which is relative. Yes, there is always the dictionary to verify the true definition but so many of us attach our personal take on the definitions that the dictionary becomes a starting point to the result that makes sense to us. We will start with profanity because I have supporting scripture that uses profane elsewhere in the same context as seen in Leviticus 19:12;

“Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.”

To say the Lords name in a profane way would be to use it in an empty manner or attach it to a position of authority that God did not attach it to himself. An empty manner could be “OMG”. You use the term as an empty expression, in fact you probably aren’t even thinking of God when you use it. However, God is the term universally known as the name our Yahweh, the Lord God Almighty. So when you say the name of the Lord in an empty manner you misuse his name. It doesn’t just stop with “OMG” though. One might be curious to explore how easily Christians throw around “God bless You” in a worthless manner. How many of us say that without ever saying a prayer before we say it or after we say it for the people we say it to? The most irritating thing I see within the church right now is “tell me what is going on so that I can pray for you” which to me, means “what is the gossip I just have to know so I will ask with the intention of the use for the Lord so that it really can’t be considered gossip”. If you ask me to pray for you then I do ask this question but I will not use it to initiate the exchange of the low-down at your expense. Matthew 12:36 states;

“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Psalm 34:13 warns us to –

“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.”

Which can be complemented with Proverbs 10:19 –

“When words are many sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.”


I will leave the details of all that up to you to decide though. I also like the use of the word false. The reason that I think the word “false” fits so well here is because when we do these things we do them with false motives. Which brings us back to the bride-groom covenant. The US has an astonishing divorce rate, it is higher now than it has ever been. Don’t quote me but it is something like 57%. All I can say is that the majority of these people entered into their covenants with no intention of keeping the promises they made. The made a false oath to their spouse. Because of this, the covenant of marriage no longer means what it is suppose to mean. Because of this marriage no longer represents what God intended it for. The reputation of marriage is damaged. When we take the Lords name in vain we state a false oath. Anyone who proclaims to be a Christian but doesn’t strive to live a pure and righteous life is misusing Gods name. The example speaks louder than words and the example is a misrepresentation of God, his character and his nature. It represents God in a profane way. In a way that is dirty, valueless and empty. When we take the Lords name in vain, we damage God’s credibility. I believe Matthew 5:33-37 outlines some of the areas of Gods authority where we should be careful in referring to God carelessly.

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Guiltless means "free," "clear," "innocent," "clean," "blameless," "unpunished."

All right. This is were it starts to hurt. The consequence of not valuing the name of God. We have talked about the multi-faceted meaning of taking the Lords name in vain but now we get to decipher what he intends to do about it if we do. He says “for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain”. Lets insert “clean” in place of “guiltless”. It is by the cleansing of Christs blood we will enter the gates of heaven. We are washed clean of all of our sins. It seems to me that God is stating, not warning but stating, that he will not have mercy on those of us who falsely wear the name of “Christian”. James 1:22-27 clearly tells us what he thinks of anyone who damages his authority, credibility and name.

“If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”

I firmly believe that we will not see these representations of Christians inside the gates of heaven. Not necessarily the people who are still learning to use discerning words and will eventually “clean their temple” by not referring to God in a cursing manner but the ones who wear the cloak of Christianity for their own use. For their personal gain and advancement that will not reach beyond this world. People who deceive themselves also known as “false converts”. God shows us this in Malachi 3:13-18;

“You have said harsh things against me” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ “You have said ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’” Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. “They will be mine,” says the Lord Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

Again in Ezekial 36:20-23 he explains that it was said of them that they were the Lords people and yet they had to leave his land because he had a concern for his reputation.

“And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the Lord’s people, and yet they had to leave his land.’ I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”

My challenge thoughts are this, what do you think the third commandment means and how seriously do you take the third commandment?

I believe the third commandment is about not taking God and his saving grace lightly and being intentional in our relationship with him. I believe that if we claim to be christians for our own personal benefit that we are not at all saved but rather going to hell. God is jealous and will protect his name. Do not underestimate him by believing he will make the exception for you. I know that I will never overlook the strength of the third commandment again because its true meaning has put fear and trembling of the Lord in my being.

"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in they sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."

To you all out of love - Dawn