The Third Commandment is, “You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain: for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless, that takes his Name in vain”.  “To take” the Name of God means to speak it, and “in vain” means unnecessarily, idly, frivolously.

Perjury

The chief way of breaking this Commandment, though not the only way, is by what is called perjury; that is, the breaking of an oath made, for example in a Court of Law.  When anyone is brought into court and accused of having broken the law, evidence is given by witnesses, and it is largely on this evidence that he or she is found innocent or guilty.   Each witness swears, that is makes a solemn promise, to speak the truth.

Oath-taking

There are different forms of oath-taking for different religions.  The Christian version is, “I swear (promise) by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.  Alternatively, witnesses can make a non-religious affirmation, “I do solemnly sincerely and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth”. (1) Regardless of which procedure is followed, perjury is committed if a person gives false information, such as telling lies or hiding part of the truth and so telling half-lies. 

We should only take an oath in very special and serious circumstances, such as in a Court of Law.  We should not swear by God in other circumstances.  So Jesus has told us, “Do not swear at all…Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’ …” (NRSV, Matthew 5:34, 37).  Or as St James puts it, “…do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘Yes’ be yes and your ‘No’ be no (NRSV, 5:12).  In other words, all we have to do is to speak the truth in a straightforward way.  And quite apart from its being wrong to use an oath, if what we say is true, no amount of oaths is going to make it any more true.

Reverence

It is also a sin to use the Name of God or of Our Lord Jesus Christ as a swear word.  That is something which Christians, who are supposed to be Soldiers and Servants of Christ, should never do; or if they do it, they should immediately be ashamed of themselves.  Such swearing is very common because sin is very common, but God will not hold those people guiltless.

The Catechism explains the Third Commandment by saying that part of our duty to God is to honour his holy Name.  That is to say, it teaches us to be reverent.  So we should always speak God’s Name reverently and seriously, never idly or frivolously.

Example of the Jews

This is something which the Jews went to great lengths about.  When God appeared to Moses in the desert and told him that he was to rescue the Israelites from Egypt where Pharaoh had made them his slaves, Moses said, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you’, and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?’  God said to Moses, ‘…you shall say to the Israelites, I AM has sent me to you’ (NRSV, Exodus 3:13,14).  By his Name ‘I AM’ God showed that he is the One who always is, and to whom past, present and future are all alike.

Now in Hebrew, the language of the Jews, I AM is Yahweh, which appears in the Bible as Jehovah.  The Jews treated God’s Name of Yahweh so reverently that they would not even pronounce it.  If they came across it when they were reading, they substituted for it the name Adonai, that is, The Lord.  From this we learn always to treat God’s Name with great reverence and seriousness.

Bowing

Whenever the Name of Jesus is said or sung, we should always remember to bow our head.  Indeed, this is ordered by one of the Canons or Laws of the Church of England: “All persons present in the time of divine service shall… give due reverence to the name of the Lord Jesus …” (2) We should also bow in honour of the Holy Trinity when we say the “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit”.  Bowing in this way is not only an outward act of reverence to God, but it actually helps to make us reverent in ourselves.

Genuflecting

So we should always speak reverently of all holy things, and especially of the Blessed Sacrament which hides Jesus himself.  And we should always remember to honour him in his Holy Sacrament by genuflecting (going down on one knee) whenever we pass the place where the Sacrament is kept or reserved.  A white light burns at that place day and night.

SUMMARY

1. To take God’s name in vain means to speak it unnecessarily, idly or frivolously.  It is very wrong to lie on oath in a Law Court; oaths should only be taken in very special and serious circumstances.  It is very wrong to use God’s Name as a swear-word.

2. We must always speak God’s Name reverently, bow at the Holy Name of Jesus, genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament, and in general speak with reverence of all holy things.

References

1. Criminal Justice System Northern Ireland (2005) The trial.  Giving evidence.  Available from: http://www.cjsni.gov.uk/victim_walkthrough/FAQ/faq_thetrial.htm (Accessed 20 August 2010) (Internet).

2. © The Archbishops’ Council (2000) The Canons of the Church of England, 6th edition.  B9 Of reverence and attention to be used in the time of divine service.  Available from:
http://www.churchofengland.org/media/35579/sacraments.pdf (Accessed 09 December 2011) (Internet).