Taking the name of the Lord in vain

Many people have heard of the commandment God gave against taking his name in vain,¹ but far fewer understand what it means. To take the name of the Lord in vain is to profess to be a believer in God while feeling, thinking, or acting contrary to how God would in your place. It is not about saying names of God, but about failing to live up to his character while pretending to believe in him. The Hebrew word used in the phrase “take the Lord’s name” (Strong’s 5375 nasah ) does not mean “speak,” but (among other things) accept, bear, desire, marry, magnify, raise up, respect, wear, and swear. The description of what it means to take the Lord’s name upon you given in the prior chapter should seem obviously relevant to these synonyms.

You take the Lord’s name in vain when you fail to live up to the Lord’s example in front of others, profaning his character instead of helping them see more of his goodness. One reason that God grants his children what they ask for in prayer is to manifest his name to people who otherwise would not know it.² As you gain knowledge of and power with God, you increase in your capability to more fully demonstrate how God is to others,³ helping them increase the goodness they perceive in him.⁴ The Lord punishes those who profane his name to preserve the reasons his children have to believe in him.⁵

You take the name of the Lord in vain when you end a prayer in the name of Jesus, when you lack sufficient information to suggest God’s will, when you know his character or will is opposed to what you are saying, when you have more you can do to bring to pass what you are asking him for, or when you are living differently than you believe he would outside of your prayer. When your prayers are vague, weak, or ineffectual, you make the Lord seem capricious, aloof, and weak, when you could be showing others how to communicate sincerely with God and how doing so results in the outpouring of his peace and power.

When you mindlessly “testify” of something being good or true without actually researching or testing it against alternatives, you are taking the Lord’s name in vain and bearing false witness.

Taking the Lord’s name in vain is a serious sin carrying strict penalties.¹⁶⁰⁰ God considers taking his name in vain so seriously because of the harm it does to those who do it and to those in front of whom they do it.¹⁶⁰¹