Whatever Happened to the Ten Commandments?

The Third Commandment

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
(Exod. 20:7).

Nobody knows your name unless you tell it to him or he finds out from someone else. When you tell someone your name, you have made a gift to him. In truth, however, human names, in comparison with the import of God’s names, are fairly insubstantial and insignificant.

When God tells us his name, something of tremendous significance happens. Think how great it is: God came out of nameless, unapproachable majesty into our realm and gave us his name. When he gave the commandments, he said, ‘I am Jehovah thy God. 1 am the LORD thy God’. Think what a marvellous thing that is! He gave us a gift, an insight.

DUTIES REQUIRED IN THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

According to the Larger Catechism, the Third Commandment requires ‘that the name of God, his titles, attributes, ordinances, the word, sacraments, prayer, oaths, vows, lots, his works, and whatsoever else there is whereby he makes himself known, be holily and reverently used in thought, meditation, word, and writing; by an holy profession, and answerable conversation, to the glory of God, and the good of ourselves, and others’ (Question 112).

We can single out the following requirements of the Third Commandment:

The duty to use God’s Name holily and reverently:

1. In thought and meditation:

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,
And the LORD listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the LORD
And who meditate on His name (Mal. 3:16).

O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth,
Who have set Your glory above the heavens!...
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?...
O LORD, our Lord,
How excellent is Your name in all the earth! (Psa. 8:1, 3—4, 9)

2. In word:

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (Col. 3:17).

Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
Talk of all His wondrous works!
The Third Commandment

Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth
(Psa. 105:2, 5).

3. In writing:

This will be written for the generation to come,
That a people yet to be created may praise the LORD (Psa. 102:18).

4. In holy profession and conversation:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear (1 Pet. 3:15).

For all people walk each in the name of his god, But we will walk in the name of the LORD our God Forever and ever (Mic. 4:5).

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel (Phil. 1:27).

SINS FORBIDDEN IN THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

The sin of not using God’s Name as we ought:

‘If you ‘will not hear,
And if you will not take it to heart,
To give glory to My name,
Says the LORD of hosts,
‘I will send a curse upon you,
And I will curse your blessings.
Yes, I have cursed them already,
Because you do not take it to heart’ (Mal. 2:2).

The sin of using God’s Name in an ignorant way:

For as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you (Acts 17:23).

The sin of using God’s Name in a vain, irreverent, or profane way:

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 (Prov. 30:9).

The sin of using God’s Name in a superstitious and presumptuous way:

And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, ‘Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.’ So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook (1 Sam. 4:3—5).

The sin of mentioning his titles, attributes or ordinances blasphemously:

Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ . . . But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand? (2 Kings 18:30, 32—35)

Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel (2 Kings 19:22).

And Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go’ (Exod. 5:2).

For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain (Psa. 139:20).

But to the wicked God says:
‘What right have you to declare My statutes,
Or take My covenant in your mouth,
Seeing you hate instruction
And cast My words behind you?’ (Psa. 50:16, 17)

The sin of wicked cursing, vows and oaths:

Now when King David came to Bahurim, there was a man from the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei the son of Gera, coming from there. He came out, cursing continously as he came (2 Sam. 16:5).

How shall I pardon you for this?
Your children have forsaken Me
And sworn by those that are not gods (Jer. 5:7).

You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the LORD your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God (Deut. 23:18).

And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul (Acts 23:12).

The sin of misapplying God’s decrees and providences:

But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world? For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? (Rom. 3:5—7)

Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil (Eccles. 8:11).

This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead (Eccles. 9:3).

The sin of misinterpreting, misapplying, or in any way perverting the Word of God:

Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life (Ezek. 13:22).

As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures (2 Pet. 3:16).

Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, justify his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven.’ (Matt. 22:24—30).

The sin of making profession of religion in hypocrisy or for underhand ends:

Having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (2 Tim. 3:5)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation (Matt. 23:14).

Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward... And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward . . Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward (Matt. 6:1—2, 5, 16).