The Real Meaning of the Third Commandment

The idea for this video came about after I heard someone reference the third commandment in a sermon. The way that the person referred to the idea of taking the Lord's name in vain seemed very shallow and legalistic to me. The sermon seemed to imply that taking the Lord's name in vain simply meant to speak the name of God as a curse word, and that God would count such an action against a person, presumably because He finds it personally offensive.

I don't condone using the name of God as a swear word, but this understanding of the third commandment never really made sense to me. I don't personally know of any other situation where you would understand the words "take a name" as meaning "say a name". So I started looking at the original Hebrew language for this commandment to try to understand it better.

I don't believe that God is ever arbitrary. He is not self-seeking. He would not give us a commandment that only benefits Himself. All of God's instructions for mankind are for our own blessing and benefit. If we try to obey God simply because we want to avoid punishment, or because we are trying to earn a reward, then we will fail because our heart will not be in it. If we actually take the time to try to understand God's law, we will see that obedience to it is in our best interest. We will be convinced. We will obey the law because we will trust the Lawgiver.

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Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Wedding illustration by Lydia Hall
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