“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God
in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes
His name in vain.”
(Exodus 20:7
NKJV)
Even so the
tongue is a little member and boasts great things.
See how great a
forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a
world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that
it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature;
and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of
reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by
mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly
evil, full of deadly poison.
(James 3:5-8
NKJV)
The Summer following my freshman year as a bachelor’s student at Lincoln Christian University, I was hired by a church of 300 to serve as their interim preacher. I had won several state, national, and international public speaking and preaching contests as a high school student, and, I guess, that is why the church wanted me, just for the Summer, to do the preaching and counselling for them while they conducted a search for a permanent preaching minister, even though I was not ordained at the time. Just three days before I started the position, a young husband and father, there, who had previously held a reputation as what we then called a “hood” had been baptized and was just beginning his Christian life. As I conversed with him, he shared with me his strategy for becoming a better Christian. First, he had given up alcohol, because he knew drinking was a sin and, although he was an alcoholic, he fought his way through the addiction. Second, he gave up smoking, despite also having been addicted to nicotine. In retrospect, I now think to myself, “This man was seriously hungering and thirsting after righteousness; he was seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; he was trying to make his righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.” He told me, however, that he was really struggling with his language problem. Vulgarity and profanity had so thoroughly infiltrated his vocabulary for so many years that he would just blurt out the offensive language before he could even catch himself. I thought of James 3:8 (cited above) that “no man can tame the tongue.”
Speech and God’s Image
As a
professor of Communication, I have long been struck by Kenneth Burke’s
observation that the single characteristic that differentiates humans from all
other animals is the human’s capacity for speech/language/symbol-use. The
Greeks called it “Logos.” It means “Word” with the added
connotation of “Logic” since logic is required to formulate and understand
words. John 1, of course, identified Logos as being “with God” and as “being
God” en archē. It is a simple deduction, then, that our use of
logos/speech/language/word is the major way in which we were created in God’s
Image. The reference to the “creation” aspect of Logos indicates how much immense
power is actually contained in words. With words (such as “Let there be Light!”),
God formed the world! With the words “Peace, be still” Jesus calmed a raging
storm at sea. Conversely, the use of cutting words uttered by a husband or wife
can completely destroy a marriage. The use of words directed at our children
can either uplift them to take on the world and excel or entirely deflate them
and ruin their self-esteem. Jesus told his disciples at the Sermon on the Mount
that they should rejoice and be exceeding glad “when [others] revile and persecute
[them], and say all kinds of evil against [them] falsely for [His] sake.” We
should not return insult for insult. Instead, He said, “love your enemies,
bless those who curse you” (Matthew 5:43 NKJV). Jesus’s
admonition applies not just to members of our families, but even to those whom
we oppose: “whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca! shall be in
danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger
of hell fire” (Matthew 5:22 NKJV).
Vulgarity
The
third commandment (Exodus
20:7 cited above) deals with the use of the tongue. Specifically,
the commandment forbids using THE LORD’s name in vain. Of course, the
vocabulary of vulgarity is not the same thing as taking THE LORD’s name in
vain. The Latinate word “Vulgate,” as in the Latin Vulgate translation
of the scriptures—used by Catholics—does not refer to bad language. “Vulgate”
means “common or colloquial speech.” The Latin Vulgate Version attempted to
translate the Bible into common, everyday language. From the same root,
“vulgarity” refers to the use of “common or colloquial speech,” typically using
short four-letter words to identify bodily functions and body parts. Such
four-letter words generally dishonor and degrade those body parts and
functions, rather than represent our bodies and their various functions with
respect and dignity. Vulgarity, therefore, engages in crassness and
tastelessness and devalues actions that are better viewed with gentility and
decorum, even with respect, honor, and sacredness. While the use of such vocabulary is typically
the province of the non-Christian world, it does not yet rise to the level of a
violation of the third commandment. Like the new convert I was counselling, we
should continually try to purge vulgarity from our vocabulary, which is
sometimes difficult in today’s world. Even TV shows are replete with offensive
language. Just as vulgate means “common,” use of vulgarity makes those parts
and functions of our bodies that should be held in “honor” common and devalued (1
Corinthians 12:23 NKJV: “And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our
unpresentable parts have greater modesty”). There are other
forms of vulgarity that are used in society that do not refer to the parts and
functions of the human body—such as the phrase Mike Huckabee quoted his
friend Larry Gatlin as euphemizing as “bovine droppings.” Other vulgar terms
are written using the first letter and **. Nevertheless, the sad fact is that
we are easily able to substitute the offensive language in our minds, due to
the much too common use of vulgarity in society. Rap music is a veritable
conglomeration of vulgar terminology. Virtually all politicians use at least
some of the terminology. President Carter may be the only exception to the rule
in my lifetime, but his interview with Playboy Magazine was probably intended
to reverse the impression of him that he was too clean. Franklin Graham
urged President Trump to say the same things Trump says, but without the vulgarity.
Good advice. Trump has stated that he is trying to comply. The vulgarity with
which my new convert struggled and many others today struggle should be avoided
but vulgarity itself does not yet rise to the level of taking THE LORD’s name
in vain.
Cursing
Cursing,
from which the American term “cussing” derives, is the act of condemning (or
damning) someone or something to hell or to death or to an undesirable circumstance.
While the Bible indicates that cursing does definitely occur, even in the
Bible, it is an activity generally reserved to God alone. In Genesis, God
cursed the ground because of Adam’s sin; He cursed the Serpent who had tempted
Eve; He cursed the woman with pain in childbirth; He cursed mankind with death
for having eaten of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. While He alone stipulates
those actions that are to be cursed, God instructed His people Israel to utter
curses from Mount Ebal upon those who did not follow the commandments
while blessing were to be uttered from Mount Gerazim upon those who did
follow the commandments (Deuteronomy 11:26-29). Individuals may be
violating the third commandment when they casually call upon God to condemn
someone to hell, even though they do not technically use the “name of THE
LORD.”
Swearing
We use swearing
in courts of law to proscribe the committing of perjury: “I solemnly swear to
tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me, God.”
In days past, this oath was accompanied by placing one’s hand on a Bible.
Presidents and other public office holders are still “sworn in” by placing
their hand on the Bible and reciting their oath of office. We are expected to
realize the gravity of such oaths, when we say “so help me, God.” This is not
taking THE LORD’s name in vain, unless we intentionally commit perjury
following our oath. Nevertheless, Jesus told his followers:
“But I say to you, do not
swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the
earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city
of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head,
because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’
be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil
one.” (Matthew 5:34-37 NKJV).
Some Christians, out of
respect for this command from Jesus, change the language from “swear” to
“affirm”: “I solemnly affirm …”
God’s Name
Since
we are comparing our righteousness to the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, however, it should be pointed out that they were careful NOT EVEN TO
PRONOUNCE the Name of God, lest they be found guilty of taking His Name in
vain. To this day, Jewish writing frequently even spells the word “God” as:
“G_d,” even though “God” is not His Name, only His title. The Hebrew Bible
(which we now use overwhelmingly), as written down by the Masoretes (from the 5th
Century AD on), adds vowel points to the Hebrew letters, so that those who are
less proficient in the Hebrew language can pronounce the Hebrew words.
Technically, there are no vowels in written Hebrew—only consonants. The
Masoretic text adds vowel “points” so that we know how to pronounce each
specific Hebrew word. For example, in the modern Jewish spelling of the word
“G_d,” they would add an “o” vowel point, so that it could be pronounced “God,”
if they pronounced it at all. The Hebrew word for God’s Name (sometimes called
the tetragrammaton—meaning four letters) is (Yod Hē Vav Hē) יהוה . Hebrew writing is backward,
read from right to left, unlike English, which is read left to right.
Therefore, the first letter is Yod, which is pronounced either “ē,” “i,” “y,”
or “j.” The second and fourth letters are the identical; the letter is Hē
(pronounced like the English word “hay”). In writing, it is either silent or
pronounced “h.” The third letter is Vav (with the “a” pronounced as in the word
“father”). In writing, it is either pronounced “v” or “w” or “o” or “u.”
When the Masoretes added the vowel points, however (to keep individuals from
pronouncing God’s Name and taking it in vain), they substituted the vowel
points from a different Hebrew word, Adonai / אֲדֹנָי, meaning “my Lord.” Some Bible translators started using
the resulting composite form Yehowah, Iehouah, and Jehovah from the 12th
to the 16th centuries, which would be a conflation of the consonants
from the tetragrammaton and the vowels from “Adonai.”
Jews simply call him אֲדֹנָי / Adonai (my Lord) or הַשֵּׁם / Ha-Shem (The Name).
Later, some (Christians) speculated that His Name should be pronounced YAHWEH,
but (as I was persuaded by my major professor in Hebrew at Indiana University) even
this pronunciation is incorrect. My Jewish professor trusted me enough not to
use God’s name in vain that he shared with me exactly how it was pronounced. I
have shared that pronunciation with very few others, because I have no desire
to facilitate someone taking His Name in vain, even accidentally. In most
translations of the Bible, the tetragrammaton is simply translated
as “THE LORD.” Amazingly, throughout the New Testament, no one (including
Jesus) is recorded as having pronounced His Name. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus
simply states “Hallowed be Thy Name” and refers to Him in direct address as
“Our Father (Who art in Heaven).” Since YAHWEH and Jehovah are not the correct
pronunciations of His Name, anyway, and since Jesus simply called him “Father,”
I suggest that we follow suit and call Him Father.
Ask in My Name
There is another very
important aspect of taking God’s Name worth considering. The rabbis taught that
the power of pronouncing God’s name was so vast that it could transport people
to Heaven. In Jewish folklore from around the time of the New Testament, the
story is told of a young virgin maiden who tricked angels into telling her how
to pronounce the name of God. Once they did, she immediately pronounced His
Name and was transported into the heavens as the constellation “Virgo” or she
was transported to God and the constellation was then named “Virgo” in her
honor (Lindsay, Angels and Demons, 33-35). One can imagine the sense of
how powerful “taking the Name of THE LORD” is (and, by extension, taking Jesus’s
Name) when Jesus comments in John 14:13-14 (NKJV): “And whatever you ask in My
name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If
you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” This is why we end
our prayers “in Jesus’ Name I pray.” In John 16:24 (NKJV), he says: “Until now
you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may
be full.”
Some are disappointed that, since they have asked for something “in Jesus’ Name,” they have not received it. Jesus even warns those who “will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:22-23 NKJV). Note that these three passages promising fulfilled requests when asked “in My Name” occur in John’s Gospel (and were directed to his twelve apostles). In Matthew 7:7-8 (NKJV), Jesus says something similar, but addresses it to many of his followers in the Sermon on the Mount: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” The “in My Name” language in John appears to be the stronger promise of the two. Perhaps, in John, when Jesus states “in My Name,” He is using that terminology as the equivalent of His other Johannine terminology: “in Me.” In John 17:23 (NKJV), Jesus prays for his apostles: “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect, and that the world may know that You have sent Me.” In John 14:16-19 (NKJV), the same chapter of John where Jesus promises to do whatever is asked in His Name, Jesus says: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth … ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. … At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” In my blogpost on Monotheism (“Excessive Righteousness 2”), I observe: “Not only are all of God’s works known to Him from eternity, but they are also known to Logos and Logos-become-flesh. If, therefore, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit know absolute truth, concerning everything, there is no point of disagreement between them concerning anything. People do not disagree about things that are considered ‘known facts.’” I think this is the essence of asking “in My Name”: being “in Me!” If we, like the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all “know absolute truth, concerning everything, there is no point of disagreement between them [and us] concerning anything.” EVERYTHING we ask “in that state of being” will be given to us, because we will understand everything and being in the same spirit (and Name) as God and Jesus, we will never ask for something that they would disagree with.
So,
by all means, “take God’s Name,” but NEVER “take it in vain.” If you take His
Name inside you, so as to have Him “in you,” you will always try to keep in
mind what is in His mind. When you pray “in Jesus’s Name,” don’t just say the
words as some sort of incantation. Pray “in the Spirit,” meaning that you are
merging God’s and Jesus’s spirit with your own. Ask for those things that you
know God and Jesus would agree with you asking for, and whatever you ask in
His Name, He will do it.
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