Taking God’s Name

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)

This is a decree, but it can also be read as a promise: If you call upon God, the one true God, the one God who is Three, if you cast your hopes on the name of Jesus Christ—you will not be calling upon that name in vain. God will come through for you. That is because God “obeys” this command as He does all the others. Or in other words, we see in this “law” the very representation of God’s character, what God is like and what He does all the time.

We can see this again clearly in our own baptismal vows. In baptism, God swears by His own name that He will wash you clean of your sin and guilt, pour out His Holy Spirit upon you, take you into His covenant family, give you a new start, and grant you an abundant, eternal life with Him. He also swears to take on your enemies, protect you from them, and defeat them for you. He swears to feed you, clothe you, provide for you in every way, and make you a full-fledged citizen of the one Kingdom that will outlast and outshine all others. There is more, of course, but you get the idea: God does not take His own name in vain, but what He swears by It He will perform.

For our part, we are to be like Him, that is, we are not to take His name, “the Name,” in vain. We are to be faithful to our covenant vows as well. In our baptisms we also swore in the name of the Trinity—to give God our lives, walk in His ways, and come to Him for our needs, which include forgiveness for our sins and His help in our repentance. When we take the name of Christ upon ourselves in baptism, we are calling upon the name of the Lord to save us, and in exchange we are vowing our allegiance to this one God alone, believing Him to be the True Source of Life, the One Way to Truth, the Only Standard for Right Living, the One Hope for the World.

Our baptismal vows are the most important, of course, but in marriage we swear by God’s name as well. When we “take His name” at our weddings, we are calling upon God to witness that we will perform what we vow: to take to ourselves no other, to have and to hold this one person alone, to love and to cherish them for the rest of our lives, indeed, to the day of our death. Just as our vows in baptism should guide the “performance” of our day-to-day, moment-by-moment lives, even so we should see that we did not take our marriage vows “in vain” but meant what we said and will do what we have to do—“in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer”—to fulfill the words uttered in the name of the Lord our God.

The one who dwells in God’s house is described in Psalm 15 as “he who swears to his own hurt and does not change.” Again, we see this is exactly what God has done for us. What did it cost God to fulfill His own promises to us? Nothing less than the humiliation, death, and sacrifice of His own Son. He swore to His own hurt. The cost was worth it to Christ—He saw the joy set before Him that enabled Him to endure the suffering. Give thanks to God for His faithfulness to keep His word, and pray God will enable you to follow in His steps, to stay true to your own vows, come what may.

“God, we give You thanks this day in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for Your covenantal love for us. We thank You for the fulfillment of Your own promises toward us in Christ—for the forgiveness of sins, abundant life in Him, the hope of eternal life, and the gift of Your Presence with us. We pray You would help us to keep our vows—not to take Your name in vain—and help us at all times and in whatever circumstances to walk worthy of the name You have placed on us in our baptisms. Hear us for Christ’s sake and through His name. Amen.”