Q.53. What is the third commandment?

A. The third commandment is: You shall not misuse the name of the Lord you God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Have you ever wondered, with all many varied things you can say to express shock, surprise, or disgust, why do so many people use God’s name? Why God’s name and not something else? It is so prevalent and so accepted anymore that you now here God’s name being used in vain in advertising commercials. Why do people misuse God’s name?

Is it just our perverse, sinful nature, that we do what is forbidden? Do people use God’s name in vain just because of the third commandment, like the people who walk on the grass just because there is a sign that says “Don’t walk on the grass”? Perhaps that is it. We have a desire to touch something that is labeled “Do not touch.” And since God has commanded that we not misuse His name, we have a desire to misuse it.

We must never misuse God’s name. God’s name represents who He is and what He does. To be disrespectful of His name is to be disrespectful of Him, and if we are not careful with His name, He promises to bring judgement.

In Exodus 34, we see an example of how God’s name is more than just a label for referring to Him, and we also see that the correct response to God’s name is worship.

Exodus 34:1-8

¹ The LORD said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. ³ No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” ⁴ So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. ⁵ The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. ⁶ The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” ⁸ And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.