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by Katie Erickson

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” (Exodus 20:7)

This week, we’re looking at the second commandment in my series on the Ten Commandments: You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. According to Luther’s Small Catechism, this commandment means that, “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.”

But what does that mean? As we’ll see in the coming weeks, Luther’s meanings for these commandments basically all start with “We should fear and love God so that…” When I had to memorize the commandments and their meanings in grade school, I appreciated that part because it was always the same! Now, however, I see the meaning behind that: all of these commandments are not simply to control our behavior, but rather so we can express our fear (awe or reverence) and our love toward God. By obeying these commandments, we show God how much we respect and love Him.

This is especially notable with this particular commandment, regarding not misusing the name of God. A person’s name is linked closely to their reputation, so a name is very important. Have you ever met someone with the same name as a celebrity? Even before you get to know that person, you may think they’re just like that famous person with the same name, whether that’s good or bad. We name so many things in our lives because it helps us organize them, categorize them, or refer to them. We name our pets, and we even name our vehicles in my family (my little yellow hatchback is named Tweety, for example).

Names often tell us something about the identity of a person, especially in the Bible. God has many names in the Bible, and His names tell us about who He is. The first name for God that we see in Genesis 1:1 is Elohim in Hebrew. Elohim is the majestic name for God, since He is our majestic, awesome Creator. This particular name for God tells us something about who He is. In Hebrew, Elohim is a plural noun, but it’s always used with a singular verb, which doesn’t happen anywhere else in the Hebrew language. This shows us the triune nature of God - He is three persons in one God.

Another name for God is Yahweh, which is not really a word at all in Hebrew (see this post for more on that). When reading in Hebrew, the word we see as Yahweh, we generally pronounce as “Adonai,” which means Lord or master. This name of God is unpronounceable, because God is so amazing we can never fully understand Him or fully know His identity. Many Jewish people would pronounce that name of God as “Hashem,” which literally means “the name” in Hebrew (but always sounds like a sneeze to me).

So, God commands us to not misuse His name because His name is so important. We show our respect, love, and reverence for Him by treating His name with the utmost respect. Slandering a person’s name will harm their identity and their life, and the same is true with God. How we treat His name is how we treat God. When others see us treating God’s name with respect and not misusing it

But what exactly is misusing God’s name? Some examples are given in Luther’s explanation of this commandment above: “we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name.” Yes, saying “God d*mn it” or even saying “Oh my God” (unless you’re praying to Him) is misusing God’s name and breaking this commandment. Swearing on God’s name is too. Even lying or deceiving someone else with God’s name attached to it is misusing His name.

Swearing may not seem like a big deal in our culture today, but just because many people do it doesn’t make it right in God’s eyes. If you truly desire to follow Jesus Christ with your life, I encourage you to stand out from the crowd and honor God by honoring His name in your speech.

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