“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).
What does it mean to take the Lord’s name in vain? Is it enough to avoid flippantly saying “Oh my God,” or is this Commandment about something deeper? And what does this have to do with us, as a community?
St. Augustine, one of the most influential figures in all of Christian history, in his commentary on the Third Commandment, wrote, “The name of Lord our God Jesus Christ is Truth: he himself said ‘I am the truth.’ So truth purifies; futility defiles… [The Third] commandment means love of the truth.”
According to Augustine, then, to take the Lord’s name in vain is not just to say His name with disrespect. To take the Lord’s name in vain is to speak dishonestly.
On the other hand, to keep the Commandment means to love and speak the truth. More than that, it means to love and honor Christ, who identifies Truth with Himself (John 14:6).
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil” (Matthew 5:33-37).
According to Jesus, who is Himself the Truth, we are to avoid taking oaths. My mother was not wrong when she taught me not to say “Oh my God” when I got spooked or upset or angry. But more than that, this teaching from Jesus is about us becoming, together, a community of truth.
This is absolutely necessary if we are to be a healthy school community.
Just before speaking on anger, lust, divorce, and oaths, Jesus calls His followers to be salt and light in the world. He calls them a city on a hill. He then speaks on anger, lust, divorce, and oaths, because those are dangers that threaten to destroy communities–to make our salt lose its taste.
This is a very practical teaching and a very practical Commandment. God has bound us together by His name according to His Truth. If we, as a community, do not love the Truth, we will fall apart.
This means we must avoid gossip. Jesus tells us what to do when we have a complaint about someone–and it’s not to tell a third party that we have a “prayer request for so and so.”
This means we must train our children to be honest, and to model it for them. Family life suffers more from dishonesty and lack of trust than almost anything else. Your children will feel more free to learn, grow, and love when they know that they can trust you (and the rest of this community, too!).
This feels heavy, doesn’t it? But thankfully, God knows our weakness, and He knows that we need help.
To obey the Third Commandment, we must be a people of prayer.
We cannot love Him, the Truth, unless we speak to Him and listen to His voice. We need Him to teach us.
We need Him to give us grace so that we can hear truth spoken from others, even when it’s painful.
We need Him to give us courage so that we can speak truth to others in love, even when it’s uncomfortable.
It’s a hard task! But His power is made perfect in our weakness.
— Anderson Underwood
