What “Using the Lord’s Name in Vain” Actually Means…

What a vast majority of us have been taught is not biblical Christianity.

So, it’s useful misdirection to teach that this commandment, using the Lord’s name in vain, is actually about the literal verbalization of His name.

Which, like most good lies people believe, it’s partially true. The internet describes using one’s name in vain as “speaking idly or casually of or about someone.” Yet, conveniently many pastors, and/or Christians alike, forget to teach the fact that it’s also about action. The idle and casual use of God’s name is done in vain if your actions don’t back your words.

The Hebrew Bible (i.e. essentially, our Old Testament)

While it’s true, “Religiously observant Jews and those who follow conservative Jewish traditions do not pronounce יהוה, nor do they read aloud transliterated forms such as Yahweh; instead the word is substituted with a different term, whether used to address or to refer to the God of Israel. Common substitutions for Hebrew forms are hakadosh baruch hu (“The Holy One, Blessed Be He”), Adonai (“The Lord”),^[3] or HaShem (“The Name”).”

And, yes, on top of this the Vatican in 2008 did rule that the Tetragrammaton, “YHWH,” shouldn’t be uttered as “Yahweh”.

But, from a Protestant Christian perspective (i.e. using the protestant bible as our main source of reference):

“The Hebrew לא תשא לשוא is translated as “thou shalt not take in vain”. The word here translated as “in vain” is שוא shav’ “emptiness, vanity; emptiness of speech, lying”, while “take” is נשא nasa’“to lift, carry, bear, take, take away” (appearing in the second person as תשא). The expression “to take in vain” is also translated less literally as “to misuse” or variants.^[4] Some have interpreted the commandment to be against perjury,^[5] since invoking God’s name in an oath was considered a guarantee of the truth of a statement or promise. Other scholars believe the original intent was to prohibit using the name in the magical practice of conjuration.^[6]”

You see, even In the Hebrew Bible it’s not pointing towards someone using it verbally; it’s pointing towards someone claiming God’s name while living contrary to the life He expects.

The perfect example is when we see Isaiah rebuking Israel for bearing the name of God, swearing by him,  as the Babylonian Captivity moved in; Isaiah went on, “pointing out that they bore the name of God and swore by him, but their swearing was hypocritical since they had forsaken the exclusive worship of Yahweh for the worship of idols.^[11] As we read on we see that “The Israelites had been told in Leviticus that sacrificing their children to idols and then coming to worship God caused God’s name to be profaned, thus breaking the commandment.^[12]”

To be clear, the OT and the commandment itself is directed to those who are abusing the name (e.g. by living hypocritical lives; swearing by it in court to convey honesty when they’re intact lying, etc.).