{"id":34979,"date":"2018-06-20T06:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T10:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=34979"},"modified":"2018-06-19T16:23:36","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T20:23:36","slug":"bearing-the-name-of-the-god-who-takes-our-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2018\/06\/bearing-the-name-of-the-god-who-takes-our-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"“Bearing” the Name of the God Who “Takes” Our Sin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou shall not take the name of the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0your God in vain\u201d (Exodus 20:7).\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard discussions about what \u201cthe name of the Lord\u201d means and what \u201cin vain\u201d means.\u00a0 But what does \u201ctake\u201d mean?\u00a0 The Hebrew word means \u201cbear,\u201d as in \u201cYou shall not bear the name of the Lord your God in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n

So says the learned Peter Leithart in his series of exegetical studies of the Ten Commandments at his Patheos blog.<\/a>\u00a0 In his post Bearing the Name,<\/a>\u00a0Dr. Leithart takes the Hebrew word used in the Commandment,\u00a0nasa\u2019,\u00a0<\/em>and shows how it is used elsewhere in Exodus with a whole range of meanings.<\/p>\n

\n

In a physical sense,\u00a0nasa\u2019\u00a0<\/em>is used to mean bearing or carrying objects such as the furniture of the Tabernacle (Exodus 27-28 and many other places).\u00a0 The word is also used more figuratively, as when Jethro suggests that Moses appoint judges to help him \u201cbear\u201d (nasa\u2019) <\/em>the burden of leadership\u00a0(Exodus 18:22).<\/p>\n

There is another use of the word in the Ten Commandments:\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cYou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor\u201d (Exodus 20:16).\u00a0 Comments Dr. Leithart:\u00a0 \u201cThe text isn\u2019t simply concerned with uttering false reports. The verb suggests its concern is with carrying them about, spreading false reports.\u201d<\/p>\n

And God uses\u00a0nasa\u2019\u00a0<\/em>to describe what He has done for His people:\u00a0 \u201cYou yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how\u00a0I bore you<\/em> on eagles\u2019 wings and brought you to myself\u201d (Exodus 19:4).\u00a0 This use of the word comes closest to the Commandment against bearing God\u2019s name in vain.\u00a0 Dr. Leithart observes,<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a symmetrical exchange: Yahweh bore Israel from Egypt, so Israel should bear His name well. Being borne places a weight of obligation on Israel, which they have to bear. The borne become bearers. Because Yahweh carried Israel, Israel now carries Yahweh\u2019s reputation\/name before the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Furthermore, God is said to bear (nasa\u2019<\/em>) our sins:<\/p>\n

Exodus 32:32; 34:7<\/em>: Moses intercedes for Israel after the golden calf, asking Yahweh to\u00a0nasa\u2019<\/em>the sin of Israel. It has the connotation of \u201ccarry away\u201d or \u201cremove,\u201d but with the possible overtone of \u201cbear the burden of.\u201d Moses is asking Yahweh to take Israel\u2019s sins on Himself. Yahweh does forgive, since that is essential to the name He proclaims before Moses. He is a God who bears iniquity (34:7).\u00a0That<\/em>\u00a0is the name Israel bears, the name of a God of mercy and justice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Actually, I would add, the English rendition, established by the King James Version, of \u201ctake\u201d is a pretty good reading.\u00a0 It is just that most of us today skim over the literal meaning of that word.\u00a0 When we \u201ctake\u201d something that has been given, we receive it and now carry it ourselves.\u00a0 God, in Christ, \u201ctakes\u201d our sins.\u00a0 He bears them.\u00a0 He carries them away.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s people bear His name.\u00a0 Christians were baptized in, or \u201cinto,\u201d \u201cthe name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 We have taken His name, and so we bear it, we carry it along with us.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking God\u2019s name in vain\u201d means much more than using bad or irreverent language, though it certainly includes that.\u00a0 It means that someone who bears the name of God treats this status lightly, bringing dishonor to God instead of glorifying Him.\u00a0 Or when someone who bears the name of God exploits that presumption of piety to lie, deceive, and teach falsely.<\/p>\n

Luther, who also knew well the Bible in the original languages, conveys just this sense of the Commandment in the Large Catechism<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0The greatest abuse [of this commandment] occurs in spiritual matters, which pertain to the conscience, when false preachers rise up and offer their lying vanities as God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n

Behold, all this is decking one\u2019s self out with God\u2019s name, or making a pretty show, or claiming to be right, whether it occur in gross, worldly business or in sublime, subtile matters of faith and doctrine. And among liars belong also blasphemers, not alone the very gross, well known to every one, who disgrace God\u2019s name without fear (these are not for us, but for the hangman to discipline); but also those who publicly traduce the truth and God\u2019s Word and consign it to the devil. (54-55)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illustration:\u00a0 Shield of the Trinity, with Tetragrammaton [the Hebrew name of God:\u00a0 YHWH + Elohim] by AnonMoos [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYou shall not take the name of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God in vain\u201d (Exodus 20:7).\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard discussions about what \u201cthe name of the Lord\u201d means and what \u201cin vain\u201d means.\u00a0 But what does \u201ctake\u201d mean?\u00a0 The Hebrew word means \u201cbear,\u201d as in \u201cYou shall not bear the name of the Lord your God in vain.\u201d So […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":35009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,15,25,26,47],"tags":[252,7151,7154,2173,7148],"class_list":["post-34979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible","category-ethics","category-language","category-law","category-theology","tag-baptism","tag-hebrew-bible","tag-taking-gods-name-in-vain","tag-ten-commandments","tag-the-name-of-god"],"yoast_head":"\n"Bearing" the Name of the God Who "Takes" Our Sin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Peter Leithart notes that the word "take" in "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," means, literally "bear." 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