Leviticus 24.15, 16

¹⁵ “Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. ¹⁶ And whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the LORD, he shall be put to death.’”

Here, undoubtedly, is what most people think of when they hear the third commandment – swearing falsely or idly, using God’s Name as an oath or exclamation, or in a vulgar manner.

Such proscriptions are implied in these statutes; however, there is more. We must not “profane” the Lord’s Name by treating it in any way other than with utmost respect for its great holiness. You probably know that, in the Hebrew Bible, the Name of the Lord is considered too holy even to pronounce. The Hebrew spelling of the Name is given vowel points designed to lead the reader to say, “Adonai” rather than “Yahweh” whenever the divine Name is encountered.

Christians, of course, are not bound by such formalities. God is our Father, and we relate to Him as such. He has no qualms about our using His proper Name, nor should we.

We must not make God’s Name a common thing, or curse the Lord, or use His Name to curse others. His is a holy Name, and we have taken it in order to promote the cause of holiness. Anything contrary to that is a violation of the third commandment.

T. M. Moore

The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.