Why Does God Tell Us Not to Take His Name in Vain, and What Does it Mean?

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

“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

If you are a Christian, especially if you were raised in a Christian home, or even if you are not a Christian but perhaps live in the “Bible-belt” of the U.S., you have most likely heard the phrase “do not take the Lord’s name in vain.” While many today consider it to be a law of the past that is applied differently today, it is actually a Biblical instruction. With the frequency that taking the Lord’s name in vain is used today, even in Christian circles, it is apparent that the reason behind this law is unknown or misunderstood. However, there is a reason that God tells us not to use His name in vain, and the definition of using God’s name in vain is much bigger than we think.

What does it mean by “in vain”?

When we think of “vain,” we might think of a person who is obsessed with their appearance, or someone who worked hard on an assignment but still got a bad grade. The Oxford English Dictionary defines vain as “Devoid of real value, worth, or significance; idle, unprofitable, useless, worthless; of no effect, force, or power; fruitless, futile, unavailing.” ¹ When looking at this text, it is a similar definition to how many Christian theologians would describe vain in the context of Exodus 20:7, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” To take God’s name in vain, then, means to empty His name of worth or meaning, to treat His name as insignificant, worthless, or powerless, yet truly His name is anything but insignificant. As theologian John Piper puts it, “It doesn’t just refer to a certain tone of voice or a certain use of the word. It’s dealing with God and speaking of God in a way that empties him of his significance.” ²

What does it mean by God’s “name”?

In my previous article I talked about the importance of God’s name and how we need to know His name to know Him. In the Bible, God gives His personal name to Moses “Yahweh” or “”I AM,” and God’s word also shows many other titles that are used to refer to God, such as Father, Creator, King, Lord, Savior, and Redeemer. Of course, whenever we are speaking of Jesus Christ, we are also speaking of God, God the Son, completely God but in the flesh so that He could walk among humanity. Most of all, especially in the English language, we call Him “God,” which is how He is most often referred to. We get our English word “God” from a translation of the Greek word theos, which means “deity.” But “God” is not simply a word we decided to call Yahweh. “God” truly is one of His titles that He is referred to as in the Bible because it comes from the Hebrew word Elohim in scripture, which literally means “God.” ³ When it is referring to God’s name in the command “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” it is talking about the titles by which we know God, especially those that separate Him as the Only and Supreme deity, such as “Yahweh” and “God.”

What does it mean by “take”?

When it says “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain,” for many of us it is confusing what exactly it means by “take.” The general interpretation is that it means not to speak God’s name with vanity, such as empty phrases when people say “Oh my God” in surprise or “Jesus!” out of frustration. While the meaning certainly includes using God’s name in empty phrases or exclamations like the previous examples, it includes much more than what we say but also how we speak about God and how we represent Him. This can be seen when we look at the context of profaning God’s name in the Bible. First, scriptures indicate that we profane God’s name when we disobey Him and claim to have righteousness that we do not live by, misrepresenting the kingdom of God and our Lord, as seen when Paul writes to the Romans:

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know His will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth – you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:17-24)

Paul is telling the Jews that they are blaspheming against the name of God because of their conduct. They are trusting in themselves rather than God, believing that they perfectly uphold the law even though they constantly fail to do so. By claiming to be of God yet trusting in themselves and disobeying God, they are profaning His name.

Another example shows how profaning God means forgetting about Him:

Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God (Proverbs 30:7-9).

The man speaking in this proverb is profaning the name of God because he no longer recognizes greatness in the name of God, asking “Who is the Lord?” By relying on the world and material gain instead of God, he profanes God’s name by failing to worship and praise His name.

Profaning God’s name can not only be committed in our speech but also in our actions. Yes, throwing out God’s precious and holy name in our day to day speech as meaningless as the wind is certainly blasphemous against Him, but we can also profane God’s name by misrepresenting Him. Consider 1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” As Christians, we recognize that the greatest part of our identity is not ourselves but Christ within us. We were once lost orphans, dead in the sins we committed against our holy God, yet Christ had mercy on us and suffered and died for us so that we would receive forgiveness from God and be adopted as His sons and daughters. We now belong to the holy nation, the kingdom of God; we are now His possession that He treasures. Old Testament Professor Dr. Carmen Imes shows this connection between profaning God’s name and belonging to the kingdom of God as she explains the meaning of “You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain” through the direct translation and historical understanding of it:

Just like if you wanted to say ‘pick your favorite backpack’... you might put your name on something to claim ownership of it, we put our names on things to claim ownership, so at Sinai, Yahweh puts His name on His people to claim ownership on them. And therefore, they’re not to live in such a way that His name is brought into disrepute, that His reputation is negatively affected. ⁴

She further explains that the direct Hebrew translation of take in Exodus 20:7 means “to carry/bear” or “to lift up.” As children of God, marked by His stamp of adoption, His name of belonging, we represent His name to the world. The previous verse from 1 Peter addresses this because Peter explains that as people who belong to God, we are supposed to “proclaim the excellencies” of God. Our words as well as the way we live should glorify Him, showing His greatness, rather than showing ourselves.

How to stop profaning God’s name

I ask this question because it is not as simple as avoiding saying “Oh my God” or even by wearing a shirt that says “God is good.” Profaning God’s name is a problem that starts in the heart, and the first step to killing sin in our lives is to recognize it. So dear friend, please recognize the severity of profaning God’s name. When we forget about God, when we live as children of the world rather than children of God, laughing with those who mock God, using His name as a meaningless expression in conversation, we are profaning the name of the greatest Being in existence, the God who loved us even when we did not return it. Profaning God’s name is very serious because His very name is holy, a precious treasure, beautiful, magnificent, because of who He is (see Luke 1:49). When we recognize this sin in our lives, it means that we are lacking awe and reverence for God in our hearts. This does not mean that profaning God’s name, by emptying it in words or representation, means you are not a Christian. Even though we are saved by Christ and we are a new creation, we will battle with our sinful flesh until we are united with Christ in heaven, and that includes all sorts of sins. How can we battle this sin of profaning God’s name? In order to take something away, such as profaning God’s name, it must be filled with something else, so as John Piper explains, “The positive way to look at it is to revere God, love God, delight in God, know God, fill up God with all that he is. And then out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak [from Luke 6:45].” ² This is how scripture instructs us to speak about God: “Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name’” (Matthew 6:9). But it is not simply an instruction, it our natural reaction to praise God and glorify His name when we have a posture of thankfulness, eager to count the blessings He has given us, as the psalmist says, “I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever” (Psalm 86:12). When our hearts are filled “with the weight of God’s truth” and “with affections for his name,” as John Piper puts it, there is no room for profaning God in our hearts.⁵ Rather than emptying God’s name in our words and misrepresentation, we must fill His name with the glory He is due, and this starts first with reverence, for all He has done for us, in our hearts.

References

1. "vain, adj. and n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, March 2022, www.oed.com/view/Entry/221083. Accessed 10 May 2022.

2. Piper, John. “How Do You Define the Sin of Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain?” Desiring God, 6 Mar. 2006, https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-do-you-define-the-sin-of-taking-the-lords-name-in-vain

3. “What do LORD, GOD, Lord, God, etc., stand for in the Bible?” Got Questions, https://www.gotquestions.org/LORD-GOD-Lord-God.html. Accessed May 10, 2022.

4. “Taking God’s Name in Vain?” from Bible Project, 19 Mar. 2020, https://bibleproject.com/podcast/taking-gods-name-vain/.

5. Piper, John. “How We Take God’s Name in Vain.” 18 April 2021. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-we-take-gods-name-in-vain