The Third Commandment

If the First Commandment directs our internal worship and the Second Commandment directs our external worship, then the Third Commandment shall commend the former Commandments by profession of the mouth from the heart in true adoration of God.


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


The Third Commandment begins with a precept: a warning of the misuse of God’s name or the use of God’s name with no purpose. The “name” of the LORD stands for more than just mere pronouncing it, but rather: 1) God’s nature, being, and very person. 2) God’s teaching and doctrine. 3) God’s moral and ethical teaching. God’s fame and reputation is so closely related to His name that it is an extension of what He is. Instead we should take great care to revere and honor His name. The biblical name of this transgression is called blasphemy. It refers to the impious and irreverent speech against God. In the Old Testament, the penalty for blasphemy against God was death by stoning.


Take note of how Thomas Watson shines light into the depths of this Commandment. We take God’s name in vain:

  1. When we speak slightly and irreverently of His name. Deuteronomy 28:58
  2. When we profess God’s name, but do not live answerably to it, we take it in vain. Titus 1:16, Romans 2:24
  3. When we use God’s name in idle discourse. He is not to be spoken of but with a holy awe upon our hearts.
  4. When we worship Him with our lips, and not with our hearts. When we seem to worship God, but withdraw our heart from Him, we take His name in vain. Isaiah 29:13
  5. When we pray to Him, but do not believe in Him.
  6. When in any way we profane and abuse His word. To bring Scripture therefore to uphold us in sin, is a high profanation of Scripture, and taking God’s name in vain. To bring Scripture to defend any sin is to profane it, and to take God’s name in vain.
  7. When we swear by His name. If God will reckon with us for idle words, will not idle oaths be put in the account?
  8. When we prefix God’s name to any wicked action. Mentioning God in connection with a wicked design, is taking His name in vain.
  9. When we use our tongues any way to the dishonor of God’s name.
  10. When we make rash and unlawful vows.
  11. When we speak evil of God. When we murmur at His providences, as if He had dealt hardly with us. Murmuring accuses God’s justice.
  12. When we make a promise, and mention God’s name in it, but never intend to keep it, it is a double sin; it is telling a lie, and taking God’s name in vain. When we falsify our promise.

The Third Commandment ends with a penalty: the condemnation of the guilty by God. Here the Lord speaks as a judge; the charge is ‘taking God’s name in vain’. The accused is found guilty and condemned for ‘the Lord will not hold him guiltless’. If God justify a man, who shall condemn him? If God condemn him, who shall justify him? If God lay a man in prison, where shall he get bail? God will take His full wrath at the sinner in hell. The question is not if you’ve committed this offense, but how many times have you used God’s name loosely, without reverence; to align His name as a punch line in a joke. Instead of using a cuss word to express disgust, you use His name, the Giver of life, and drag it through the mud. We don’t even use Hitler’s name as a mild expression, but how would you feel if you heard someone blaspheming your mother’s name?


Jesus was accused as a blasphemer by men. Yet He did everything in obedience to please His Father in thought, word, and deed. But in His early thirties, He underwent a scandalous trial and was falsely charged guilty for blasphemy and treason. Under Roman authority, He was sentenced to death by crucifixion. Unknown to Jesus’ accusers, this was part of God’s divine plan. In God’s sovereignty, He sent His Son to bear the penalty  for those whom He would not hold guiltless, by suffering in place of the guilty so that He can impute His righteousness to them. Now because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, blasphemers can be worshippers of the One, True God who is both just and justifier. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).