God’s Image Study • Commandment 3: God’s Name
Having examined God’s name and the authority entrusted to His Son, we return to the third commandment itself.
Exodus 20:7 forbids taking the name of YHWH (יהוה) in vain and warns that God will not leave its misuse unpunished. The name belongs to Him. We are accountable for what we attach to it. Read Exodus 20:7.
The Hebrew verb translated take is נָשָׂא — nasaʾ, which can mean to lift, carry, or bear. The word translated vain, שָׁוְא — shavʾ, carries senses of emptiness, worthlessness, or falsehood.
These words direct our attention toward how the name is taken up and used. The connected passages help us examine the responsibility involved. Read Exodus 20:7 in Hebrew alongside English.
Attaching His name to a falsehood
Leviticus 19:12 explicitly prohibits swearing falsely by God’s name, identifying that act as profaning His name. The surrounding instructions also prohibit stealing, deception, and lying to one another. Read Leviticus 19:11–12.
The connection is direct: someone invokes God’s name while making a false claim. The name is being used to give credibility to something untrue.
That deserves examination beyond the formal setting of an oath. When I claim that God has spoken, commanded, or approved something, what am I asking another person to accept?
Am I faithfully conveying what He has given, or placing His authority behind what I want?
Jeremiah 23 gives us the example already examined: prophets speaking in God’s name whom He had not sent. Their claim and their actual commission did not agree. Read Jeremiah 23:21–32.
Confidence does not resolve that difference. Neither does repetition, popularity, or a religious position.
A people associated with His name
Numbers 6:22–27 describes the blessing God gives Aaron and his sons to pronounce over Israel. God connects that blessing with placing His name upon the people and declares that He will bless them. Read Numbers 6:22–27.
The name therefore also concerns belonging and identification.
Ezekiel 36 shows how seriously God regards that association. Israel’s conduct had defiled the land, and God scattered them among the nations. There, His holy name was profaned as people identified them as His people who had nevertheless gone out of His land.
God’s concern for His name is explicit. Their conduct, judgment, and identity as His people had become connected in the sight of the nations. Read Ezekiel 36:16–23.
This gives us a further connection to examine when speaking of bearing His name: what do others come to associate with God through those who claim to belong to Him?
If I use His name while acting deceitfully, showing partiality, or mistreating someone, my claim places those actions beside the God I say I serve.
Love belongs within this responsibility
First Corinthians 13:1–3 prevents us from treating impressive religious abilities as a substitute for love. First John 4:8 connects knowing God with love because God is love. Read 1 Corinthians 13:1–3 and 1 John 4:7–8.
We therefore need to examine both the truth of what we say and the way we treat those who hear it.
Do I use God’s authority to pressure someone into accepting my preference? Do I attach His disapproval to someone merely because they disagree with me? Have I spoken about another person inaccurately while presenting myself as a defender of truth?
These questions belong within my own examination before I apply them to others.
Remembering His name includes respecting its use
God’s instruction that His name be remembered remains before us. So does His warning against misusing it.
The passages bring several responsibilities together: speak truthfully, distinguish God’s instruction from personal claims, and examine the conduct associated with belonging to Him.
The question is not finished when I have spoken His name correctly. What have I asked His name to stand behind?
Threads to Follow
The name in the written text: Examine passages where English translations use LORD in place of YHWH (יהוה).
Words attributed to God: How does Ezekiel 13:6–7 describe a claim that God has spoken when He has not?
Truthful speech: How does Matthew 5:33–37 connect oaths with responsibility for what we say?
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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