The Second Commandment:
You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.
This could be one of the most convicting commandments in our world today. We hear and maybe even use God’s holy name in vain so often we probably don’t realize when we commit this sin. OMG, JC, G darn it, I swear to G. All these common figures of speech are sins against this second commandment. Though we may not consider it a bad sin God certainly does, and He warns us because of it. To help bring understanding of this sin, would you ever use your mom or dad’s name as a curse word. Would you appreciate it if someone at work or school was using your family name in an inappropriate way? If we sinners wouldn’t like our family names being drug through the mud, then how much more do you suppose our holy God hates it?
Our Small Catechism teaches that
“God’s name is misused when people speak God’s name uselessly or carelessly (see Ex. 20:7); and when they curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name.”
As grateful recipients of God’s name, it is truly sinful to then use His holy name in inappropriate ways. The reason we may not recognize this could be because we have become so worldly minded we aren’t aware of what takes place spiritually. We conclude almost every church service with a blessing like this; 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. If you didn’t know, that’s a blessing straight out of the Bible. God instructs the priests to do this for His people and says,
“So shall they put my name upon my people, and I will bless them.” When one considers the great blessings that God provides to us through His name it then becomes clear why it’s a sin to curse by the same name that blesses and saves us. James 3:9–10 With it [the tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
To be a Christian is to be received into God’s family by adoption with His holy name. As a child in His family we then have all the benefits and blessings of adoption. We benefit from and are blessed to use His name. “We should call upon His name in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.” This is the very reason we encourage the younger kids to come up for communion as well. Our children have been adopted into God’s family and are just as blessed with the benefits of His name as any adults. We try to impress this upon them by making
the sign of the cross on their forehead. All the benefits that come from being marked with God’s name are given in Revelation.
(Rev. 14) "Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him His people who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, 5 and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless."
This is why the blessing spoken in God’s name over our children is just as important as receiving communion.
When we start to consider all the blessings that come from adoption through God’s name and how we are given an eternal inheritance it makes it hard to misuse God’s name. The more grateful we are as His forgiven and redeemed children the easier this commandment is to keep.
For this reason, too, God has added a solemn threat to this commandment,
“For the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” [Exodus 20:7].
This means that this sin shall not be pardoned for anyone or go unpunished. For just as He will not fail to avenge if anyone turns his heart from Him, so He will also not let His name be used to dress up a lie. Now unfortunately, this sin is a common plague in all the world. There are so few people who do not use God’s name for purposes of lying and all wickedness in contrast to those who trust in God alone with their heart.
Besides this you must also know how to use God’s name rightly. For when He says,
“You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain,”
He wants us to understand at the same time that His name is to be used properly. For His name has been revealed and given to us so that it may be of constant use and profit. So it is natural to conclude that since this commandment forbids using the holy name for falsehood or wickedness, we are, on the other hand, commanded to use His name for truth and for all good, like when someone takes an oath truthfully when it is needed and it is demanded [Numbers 30:2]. This commandment also applies to right teaching and to calling on His name in trouble or praising and thanking Him in prosperity, and so on. All of this is summed up and commanded in Psalm 50:15,
“Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”
For all this is bringing God’s name into the service of truth and using it in a blessed way. In this way His name is hallowed, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer [Matthew 6:9].
Therefore, we advise and exhort as before that with warning and threatening, restraint and punishment, the children should be trained early to shun falsehood. They should especially avoid the use of God’s name to support falsehood. For where children are allowed to do as they please, no good will result. This is clear even now. The world is worse than it has ever been, and there is no government, no obedience, no loyalty, no faith, but only daring, unbridled people. No teaching or reproof helps them. All this is God’s wrath and punishment for such lewd contempt of this commandment.
This is also a blessed and useful habit and very effective against the devil. He is ever around us and lies in wait to bring us into sin and shame, disaster and trouble [2 Timothy 2:26]. But he hates to hear God’s name and cannot remain long where it is spoken and called upon from the heart. Indeed, many terrible and shocking disasters would fall upon us if God did not preserve us by our calling upon His name. I have tried it myself. I learned by experience that often sudden great suffering was immediately averted and removed by calling on God. To confuse the devil, I say, we should always have this holy name in our mouth, so that the devil may not be able to injure us as he wishes.
It is also useful that we form the habit of daily commending ourselves to God [Psalm 31:5], with soul and body, wife, children, servants, and all that we have, against every need that may arise. So also the blessing and thanksgiving at meals [Mark 8:6] and other prayers, morning and evening, have begun and remained in use [Exodus 29:38–43]. Likewise, children should continue to cross themselves when anything monstrous or terrible is seen or heard. They can shout,
“Lord God, protect us!” “Help, dear Lord Jesus!” and such. Also, if anyone meets with unexpected good fortune, however trivial, he says, “God be praised and thanked!” or “God has bestowed this on me! and so on.
“In this way we would prevent the abuse of the divine name and teach the right use. This should happen not only in words, but also in practice and life. Then we may know God is well pleased with this and will as richly reward good use of His name as He will terribly punish the abuse.”
God’s richest blessings to you in Christ! The One and only God in whom we fear, love, and trust above all things!
Pastor Lessman
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