Take Not the Name of God in Vain
What comes to our minds when we hear the 3rd commandment “Take not the name of God in vain”? If you are like most believers in our times you think of the use of the name of God as a profanity, an exclamation in passing speech, or a careless or irreverent speech of God’s sacred name as taking the name of God in vain. This is not untrue, it is one important way we break this commandment, but if this is all we understand about this commandment we are far from the core meaning and application of this commandment. There is another much more harmful way we sin against this commandment and it has to do with what we do with the name of the Lord after we take it upon ourselves as we enter into a covenant relationship with Christ.
Vain: producing no result; useless. Having no meaning or likelihood of fulfillment.
The meaning of vain in the context of this commandment means that we must not take Christ's name unto ourselves with no meaning, as a useless gesture, or with no result or likelihood of fulfillment of the purposes of God in our lives. This commandment is related to the law of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as expressed in the first four principles and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is the purpose of this commandment that we exercise faith through obedience, continually and wholeheartedly repent, enter the waters of baptism, and seek to retain the gift of the Holy Ghost throughout our lives through virtuous living. In so doing we grow nearer to God, firmer and firmer in our faith, and our natures are transformed and we become saints "through the atonement of Christ the Lord." In this newness of life our profession of belief in Christ is not in vain and we have surely taken His name upon us to the fulfillment of the purposes of his gospel.
Related to the third commandment is the commandment to be baptized and born again through water and his Spirit that we become a new creature, a son or daughter of Christ, a Christian, a Saint in his covenant church. It is in obedience to the commandment, ordinance, and covenant of baptism that we enter into his church, his path, and begin our discipleship. As we continue in the covenant path and continue to make and keep sacred covenants of the gospel of Christ that we go from being willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ to actively wearing his name day to day.
In order to keep this third commandment we must:
As you can see the third commandment is expansive and contains all the commandments related to our personal relationship with God and the bringing forth of the fruits of righteousness. At this point in our study we can see that there is purpose in the order of these first three commandments, they represent a pattern of conversion and transformation as we come into God. The first commandment is concerned with our thoughts and desires to put God above all else and to love as God loves. The second commandment is a prohibition against the worship of things over or in the place of the one true and living God; to have faith in God alone and to expel pride from our hearts. This third commandment is to put us under obligation to God to act upon our love of God, worship, and praise of him, and to become “examples of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity,” (1 Timothy 4:12) and to press forward with steadfastness in Christ until his name is engraved upon our hearts and we become saints through his sanctifying power.
Vain: producing no result; useless. Having no meaning or likelihood of fulfillment.
The meaning of vain in the context of this commandment means that we must not take Christ's name unto ourselves with no meaning, as a useless gesture, or with no result or likelihood of fulfillment of the purposes of God in our lives. This commandment is related to the law of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as expressed in the first four principles and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is the purpose of this commandment that we exercise faith through obedience, continually and wholeheartedly repent, enter the waters of baptism, and seek to retain the gift of the Holy Ghost throughout our lives through virtuous living. In so doing we grow nearer to God, firmer and firmer in our faith, and our natures are transformed and we become saints "through the atonement of Christ the Lord." In this newness of life our profession of belief in Christ is not in vain and we have surely taken His name upon us to the fulfillment of the purposes of his gospel.
Related to the third commandment is the commandment to be baptized and born again through water and his Spirit that we become a new creature, a son or daughter of Christ, a Christian, a Saint in his covenant church. It is in obedience to the commandment, ordinance, and covenant of baptism that we enter into his church, his path, and begin our discipleship. As we continue in the covenant path and continue to make and keep sacred covenants of the gospel of Christ that we go from being willing to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ to actively wearing his name day to day.
In order to keep this third commandment we must:
As you can see the third commandment is expansive and contains all the commandments related to our personal relationship with God and the bringing forth of the fruits of righteousness. At this point in our study we can see that there is purpose in the order of these first three commandments, they represent a pattern of conversion and transformation as we come into God. The first commandment is concerned with our thoughts and desires to put God above all else and to love as God loves. The second commandment is a prohibition against the worship of things over or in the place of the one true and living God; to have faith in God alone and to expel pride from our hearts. This third commandment is to put us under obligation to God to act upon our love of God, worship, and praise of him, and to become “examples of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity,” (1 Timothy 4:12) and to press forward with steadfastness in Christ until his name is engraved upon our hearts and we become saints through his sanctifying power.
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