Third Word - Exodus 20:7

20:7 – The third word is from verse 7 which says, “Thou shalt not take then name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” I always had been taught that the only meaning of this statement was that you can’t say “oh my g*d,” and that’s it, that’ the only interpretation I was ever aware of. However, the IM and TB both teach that there is much more significance to it than that. To put some context on it, TB notes that in about 95% of the time where the word “God” or “Lord” appears in our Bibles, the original Hebrew version is his actual name Yehoveh. This would be like “don’t take the name of God in vain,” then have the whole rest of the book refer to this God as David or something. This sets a completely different context because my understanding of this would be like if it said “thou shalt not take the name David in vain,” and then the entire rest of the book calls God David.

Anyway, the main teachings about taking God’s name do touch on using profanity, and how it is unreverent. This is a problem for me because I swear a lot, I always have, or at least I did until I had kids, then I stopped and just recently started swearing a lot again. There is probably a long and complex explanation as to why, and I know I probably shouldn’t, I think it’s just a way to make people leave me alone and I’m angry, so I don’t feel like hiding my anger right now. I am working on it though. Another way this commandment is interpreted, as the I tells us, “an integral part of living the gospel is the making of oaths and covenants with God. When a person is baptized he covenants to take the name of Christ upon himself. If he forgets that solemn oath made at baptism, he has taken the name of the Lord in vain. At temple altars men and women covenant to abide by sacred commitments. If they leave those temples and live as though the promises have no meaning, they violate the third commandment even though they may not speak actual profanity.”

Taking covenants seriously as an interpretation of not taking the Lord’s name in vain is an interesting concept. I’ve also heard an interpretation as speaking truth, because as representatives of Christ, our word are a representation of Him, so if we do or say something that is inconsistent with His character, then it is a misrepresentation of who He is. We aren’t perfect, but when we are trying, we demonstrate the power of His atonement in our lives, therefore we are not taking His name in vain. But when we aren’t trying, when we aren’t doing our best, it’s like we are dismissing His power and atonement as not important, and that would be taking His name in vain. Very interesting concept, I’m going to have to think about that.