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Though the Bible commands and demands that we have fear and reverence for God and that we are not to blaspheme His holy name by taking it in vain (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11), most people today completely ignore and disregard this. The names “God” and “Jesus Christ” are regularly used alongside all sorts of other profanities. Even the word “holy” which is supposed to be ascribed to God has been ascribed to worldly and unholy things instead (e.g., holy cow). Now contrast this attitude with the ancient Jews who had so much reverence and respect for God that they wouldn’t dare to even pronounce His name or even spell it out! We see one example of this in the work the first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. In his Antiquities of the Jews while describing Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush he reports that God revealed to Moses “his holy name, which had never been discovered to men before; concerning which,” says Josephus, “it is not lawful for me to say anymore.”1 Even today, “When reading the Torah or praying, Jews who come across the name of God (transliterated into English as YHWH) will substitute the word Adonai [which means Lord]. In other contexts and in casual conversation, Jews who encounter God’s name will substitute Hashem instead” which is Hebrew for “the Name.”2 Interestingly, even the English translators of the Bible followed suit by replacing all the occurrences of God’s four letter personal name YHWH with the four letter word LORD in all capitals so that God’s name would remain unwritten and unpronounced.3 Bible scholars refer to this replacement of YHWH with LORD as the Tetragrammaton which is just a fancy sounding Greek term that means “a word of four letters.” Hence the Jews and the later translators had a tremendous amount of reverence for God’s name!
While God certainly demands that we revere Him and His name, nowhere in the Bible does He forbid us from using His name. “In fact, if God didn’t want us to use His name, He wouldn’t have given it to us.” 4 After all, there’s power in His name and power in the name of Jesus. But He commands that we use it properly and not “in vain.” But this command goes far beyond just using God’s name flippantly or as profanity. It also refers to carrying His name falsely or using God’s name “in such a way as to bring disrepute upon His character or deeds….”5 As the Hebrew scholar Michael Esses explained, “ When we have professed before men that we are Christians, we have taken His name. If wehave taken His name but we continue to live a pagan life, doing things which are not Christlike, we are guilty of having taken His name in vain.”6 This also means that any sort of filthy language that comes out of a Christian (or even professing Christian’s) mouth would be a form of taking God’s name in vain. The breaking of this commandment would also include making an oath falsely in God’s name. As John MacArthur wrote,“ To fail to perform an oath in which His name had been legitimately uttered (cf. 22:10,11;Lev. 19:12;Deut. 6:13) was to call into question His existence, since the guilty party evidently had no further thought of the God whose name he had used to improve his integrity.” 7 With such high standards
there’s not a human being on earth who hasn’t broken this command in one way or another. And that’s the point. None of us are perfect before God. We’ve all broken His laws. As the Apostle Paul declared,“ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23;see also 1 John 1:8) This sin separates mankind from God and the penalty for sin (even just one sin) is death (Rom 6:23). This realization is meant to create sorrow in us and draw us to repentance before God(2 Cor7:10). And when we ask for forgiveness and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, God“ is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
Thus, the Ten Commandments point us towards Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God who came to take away the sins of the world and provide salvation for those who will believe.(John1:29; 2 Cor 7:10)
Ryan Hembree is a daily co-host, speaker, and writer of Bible Discovery. He also hosts a YouTube channel that shows the unity of the Bible and how science and Scripture fit together. Ryan also has an honorary Masters of Ministry in Creation Science from Phoenix University of Theology.
1. Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, Chapter XII.
2. What is the Meaning of Hashem?https://www.gotquestions.org/meaning-of-Hashem.html
3. Most scholars identify between 6800-7000 total occurrences of YHWH in the Old Testament.
4. What is the Meaning of Hashem?https://www.gotquestions.org/meaning-of-Hashem.html
5 John MacArthur,NKJV MacArthur Study Bible, 2nd Edition,Note on Exodus 20:7.
6 Michael Esses, Jesus in Exodus, P.118.
7 John MacArthur,NKJV MacArthur Study Bible, 2nd Edition, Note on Exodus 20:7.
