The Name of the Lord | Exodus 20:7

Introduction

What comes to your mind when you hear these brands: Chick-fil-A, Costco, Trader Joe’s, John Deere, Maytag, Toyota, Patagonia, Apple? What about Pfizer, TikTok, CNN, Facebook, BP, Wells Fargo, or Target?

Companies spend millions to develop brand recognition and work hard to maintain a positive brand reputation. Some brands—by their very name, logo, or colors—evoke positive connotations of quality, reliability, and integrity. Other brands, not so much.

The Axios Harris Poll annually ranks the most visible brands in America by their reputations. As you can imagine, the list is constantly changing. Some brands skyrocket to the top as they win favor, while others plummet after scandals, marketing fails, and product flops.

Proverbs 22:1 says, ​​“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.” Marketing strategists and corporate execs might say a good name is gold.

Today, we come to the Third Commandment, which is all about the name of the Lord. Actually, it’s about the name of the Lord and you. You have something to do with whether God’s name is revered or reviled on earth.

“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

It is widely assumed that this commandment merely forbids using God’s name as a cuss word or making empty promises, but the significance and application is far wider than that. To grasp the full meaning of the third commandment, we should start by considering the name of the Lord, which is mentioned twice. Did you catch that?

“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.” Right in the middle is a sober warning that breaking the third commandment brings guilt that God will not ignore or leave unpunished. 

First, God makes a name for himself.

That’s what the book of Exodus is all about. It’s the story of how God made a name for himself by taking a people for himself. In Exodus 9:16, God spoke to Pharaoh through Moses and said, “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” God’s purpose for the exodus in God’s own words was to make a name for himself. And that is what God did. God’s actions in Egypt and at the Red Sea established his name and reputation for generations and generations, down to our own day.

Five hundred years later, when God established a covenant with King David, David prayed:

“Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. [That’s God’s reputation.] And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O LORD, became their God. … Your name will be magnified forever.”
—2 Samuel 7:22–26

How does a hero make a name? By doing heroic deeds and glorious feats. St. George slays the dragon. Beowulf kills Grendel. And God made himself a name by doing great and awesome deeds for his people.

Hundreds of years after David, prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah repeated the same theme:

“Where is he … who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths? … So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.”
—Isaiah 63:11–14

God didn’t just make a name for himself. He made a glorious and everlasting name. 

Jeremiah says, “You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day.” (Jeremiah 32:20). The most glorious feats are told and retold, celebrated in poems and songs, generation after generation. An established name has staying power. 

Fast forward to Nehemiah, when the people of Israel returned from exile. They prayed, “You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land …. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day” (Nehemiah 9:9–10).

But not only did God make a name for himself when he took Israel to be his people, he also revealed his name in a personal and specific way to his people. At the burning bush, one of Moses’ biggest questions had to do with God’s name. When Moses asked what he should say if the people asked what God’s name was, God said, “I AM WHO I AM. … This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations’” (Exodus 3:14–15).

God’s name establishes God’s relationship with his people. Think about it: you can’t have a relationship with someone without knowing their name. God’s name gives his people a way to locate him. You can find someone by calling their name. And God’s name reveals God’s character and identity, who he is and what he’s like.

In fact, as the theologian John Frame says, “God’s name is his glory.” Later in Exodus, Moses asks to see God’s glory. Listen to God’s response. 

“Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.’ And he said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name “The LORD.” And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.’” 

—Exodus 33:18–20

And the next chapter describes how God kept his word: 

“The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’”
—Exodus 34:5–7

Moses asked to see God’s glory. God answered by proclaiming his name. And notice that his name includes a description of who God is and what he is like: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving sin, punishing the guilty. God’s name is not reduced to a set of letters or sounds that he answers to; God’s name refers to the fullness of who God is. God’s name is synonymous with God himself.

So God made a name for himself—an awesome and glorious name—when he took a people for himself and revealed himself to them as the LORD.

Next, God’s people take God’s name.

The third commandment says, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” The verb translated “take” means to lift or to carry or to bear. There are other Hebrew words for speaking or uttering or swearing oaths, but the commandment says, “You shall not bear the name of the Lord your God in vain.” 

There is a close parallel in Exodus 28. It’s close because it’s only a few chapters away and because it uses the same verb (to take or bear) in connection to names. God gave these instructions for the high priest’s garments: “And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders for remembrance” (Exodus 28:12; cf. v. 29). Aaron literally carried the names of the tribes of Israel, engraved on two onyx stones and sown into his holy garment.

So to take God’s name is to bear God’s name, to represent his name. This is yet another way that we see the covenant ceremony at Sinai is like a wedding between God and his people, establishing an exclusive covenant bond. Just like a bride takes her husband's name (cf. Isaiah 4:1), the third commandment establishes the fact that God’s people take God’s name. To be the people of God is to be called by God’s own name, to bear his name. Notice how the third commandment stresses the covenant relationship between God and his people: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.” You are his people; you bear his name.

According to Deuteronomy 28:10, one of the blessings of covenant faithfulness is this: “And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you.” The people of God are called by God’s name. This is how they are known and identified in the world.

In Numbers 6, God commanded Aaron and the priests to bless Israel: 

“Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, ‘The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.’ So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.’” 

—Numbers 6:22–27

In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God refers to his people as “my people who are called by my name.” In Isaiah, God speaks of “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isaiah 43:7). Jeremiah appealed to this when he prayed for deliverance: “You, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us” (Jeremiah 14:9).

And this same truth—that God’s people take God’s name—extends into the New Testament as well. Disciples of Jesus are baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, the apostle James cited the prophet Amos, who spoke of “Gentiles who are called by my name” (Acts 15:17; cf. Amos 9:12). The early church recognized that through the gospel of Jesus, God was bringing all the nations into covenant relationship with himself, which meant Gentiles, too, are now called by his name. And at the end of Revelation it says, “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (Revelation 22:4).

So God made a name for himself by taking a people for himself, and God’s people take God’s name.

Therefore, God’s people live for the fame of God’s name. 

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.”

To take God’s name in vain is to bear his name in a way that is false, deceptive, empty, or meaningless. Taking God’s name in vain refers to all hypocrisy, which mischaracterizes and misrepresents God.

A survey of OT shows that God’s name is profaned, not just by speech, but by any behavior that tarnishes God’s name. Leviticus 19:12 gives one of the more familiar applications of the third commandment: “You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.”

The prophet Jeremiah mentions false prophecy as another way that God’s name is dishonored: “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’” (Jeremiah 23:25). All false teaching and false prophecy violates the third commandment. It falsely claims the authority of God’s name to approve something false.

Of course, God’s name is often reviled and blasphemed directly. In Leviticus 24, there is a case where two men got into a fight. It says that one man, who had an Egyptian father and an Israelite mother, “blasphemed the Name, and cursed” (Leviticus 24:10–11). The consequence is given a few verses later: “Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death” (Leviticus 24:15–16). In the nation of Israel, the civil penalty for blasphemy was death. That sounds extreme today, in a culture that values the creature’s right to say anything he wants over the Creator’s right to be worshiped and obeyed.  How little we honor and esteem God’s name is evident in how lightly we take blasphemy. 

In Malachi 1 (vv. 12–14) we see that begrudging and half-hearted worship also violates the third commandment. There God says his name is profaned when his people say things like, “What a weariness this is [to worship God],” and when they bring a sacrifice that is lame or sick, or even stolen. 

One more example: Proverbs 30:8–9 says, “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 30:8–9). Now, stealing violates the eighth commandment, but it also violates the third. Like the First Commandment, the third commandment is foundational. It doesn’t address a tiny sliver of life—those brief and occasional moments when God’s name is on your lips. It’s not limited to OMGs and oaths. Because you bear God’s name all the time, everything you do causes God’s name to be revered or reviled.

Taking God’s name in vain means living in a way that causes God’s name to be discredited. In Romans 2, Paul confronts self-righteous hypocrites and says, ​​“For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you’” (Romans 2:24). And Ezekiel says this: “But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land’” (Ezekiel 36:20).

Think about what God has done in taking a people for his own possession and calling them by his name. He connected his name—his honor and reputation—to his people. And his name is profaned and blasphemed, not because God ever fails, but because people refuse to trust him and obey him.

Think of online reviews. When you’re shopping, do you pay attention to the reviews? Reviews can be extremely helpful, but they’re not all accurate or true. Any time anyone refuses to trust God, it’s like leaving a false negative review. Unbelief says God is not good, not gracious, not glorious, not great and awesome. Of course, God’s character and glory is unaffected by false reviews, but God’s name and reputation is besmirched and dishonored. Anything that undermines God’s trustworthiness, obscures his glory, impugns his character, and dissuades others from trusting God is a violation of the third commandment.

We have all violated the third commandment. So how can God’s reputation be repaired? This is why God sent his Son, Jesus—to glorify the Father and repair the damage that third commandment violators have done to God’s glorious name.  Everything Jesus said and did, he did in his Father’s name (John 5:43; 10:15). Jesus perfectly honored the Father. He fully trusted in and relied on the Father.

We have blasphemed God’s name, damaged his reputation, and slandered his glory. But Jesus lived and died to uphold the infinite worth of God’s name. 

What does it look like when the glory of God is maligned? Look at Jesus on the cross—the glorious Son of God mocked and maligned. Jesus willingly endured the ultimate loss of glory in order to vindicate the glory of God’s name. So now he—and he alone—is able to save insolent blasphemers.

As Paul writes, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11).

And Acts 4:12 says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

So, Christians now keep the third commandment by living for the fame of Jesus’ name. The third commandment is fulfilled, not only when we avoid speaking God’s name in flippant or irreverent ways, but when the fame of God’s name is the passion of our lives. 

The fame of God’s name is God’s own passion and the plotline of human history: 

“From the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.”
—Malachi 1:11

The fame of God’s name is also to be the passion and purpose of your life:

“Your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul” (Isaiah 26:8).

“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” (Psalm 115:1).

“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:1).

And, as Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9).

Conclusion

There is no other name in heaven or on earth so great as the name of the Lord. And though many profane and revile the name of the Lord, God has acted and will act to vindicate the honor of his name. He does that by working for your good in Christ Jesus.

I can’t close without asking, Are you a Christian? Do you trust in Jesus and bear his name?

And for you who are Christians, may the Holy Spirit fan into flame your passion for the global fame of Jesus’ name.