Second Commandment
What is the second commandment?
You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.
From the first commandment we learned two important things: first, that we have a God and second, that he alone is worthy of honor, fear, love, and trust. The second commandment builds upon this foundation and teaches us that this God we have has a name and that this name can be put to use.
The name of God is explicitly given in two places chiefly, once in the Old Testament and once in the New Testament. The first is Exodus 3, the story of the burning bush. Though a well-known story it bears repeating that God is present in and speaks from the burning bush and on account of this gracious presence Moses removes his sandals. In the conversation between Moses and God, Moses finally asks for a response if the people of Israel ask him who sent him. The answer God gives is, “I AM WHO I AM” or simply, “I AM”. In the Hebrew language this is pronounced, “Yahweh”. Yahweh is the one who rescues the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and brings them out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
The second place God gives his name is in Matthew 28, the so-called “Great Commission”. Here, Jesus commands his Apostles to make disciples of all nations by baptizing them with the name of the “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” It is noteworthy that Jesus says the “name”, singular, of the “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”, plural. This confusion of singular and plural accords with our understanding of the Trinity, that God is simultaneously one and three, or tri-une. With this name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, pastors baptize the people of God, freeing them from bondage to sin and bringing them into God’s promised rest.
Thus, God’s name is always associated with his saving activity and his personal presence. Wherever God’s name dwells, he is there. And wherever God’s name is applied, forgiveness, life, and salvation are given.
But how are we to use this name? As is typical of Luther’s catechetical method, in each explanation he gives a negative and a positive or a “don’t do” and a “do do” so to speak. A Christian should not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie or deceive with God’s name, but conversely, he should use God’s name in times of trouble by prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. In this way Luther teaches that God’s law instructs by use of negative prohibition, but also by positive command. The negative and positive are two sides of the same coin. When one is present, the other is as well. Luther’s “explanations” as such are less a detailed explanation and more a simple restating of what the thing is. This is echoed nicely in the German of Luther’s explanation question, “was ist das?” or “what is that?”
In light of this, it is also worth asking what is meant by each of the prohibited and commanded acts, especially in light of modern confusions of language. When ordinary people today think of “cursing”, for instance, what comes to mind is foul language, but “to curse” in the classic or biblical sense is literally to cast, declare, or pronounce a curse upon someone; to curse their life, happiness, property, family members, or anything else that belongs to the neighbor. Furthermore, to curse means to verbally give death to someone or something. The ancients knew something we have long forgotten, namely, that words have power. We say today, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” and this is rubbish. It ignores the fact that words do things and can indeed harm us. That being said, the proper work of God is to bless and not to curse, to bring life and not to damn, therefore when we use God’s name, we ought to use it for the benefit, blessing, and bliss of the neighbor. A good biblical example of cursing and blessing would be Balaam’s curses and blessings in Numbers 22-24.
Just as the prohibition against cursing is not about foul language, neither is the prohibition against “swearing”. In the biblical sense of the word, “swearing” is to make a solemn promise or oath. In swearing oaths, oftentimes, the names of people or sacred objects are invoked as solemn witnesses to uphold the truthfulness of the oath. A common example of such would be, “I swear to God…” or “I swear on my mother’s grave…” However, as Christ says in Matthew 5 in his Sermon on the Mount, instead of swearing with the name of God, we ought to let our “yes be yes, and our no be no” so that we do not swear or speak frivolously or falsely, but are built up as honest and forthright people. That being said, there are occasions when swearing oaths is necessary and godly. Such cases would be in a court of law or another such solemn occasion for the maintenance of justice and care for one’s neighbor. The key is to not use God’s name to uphold falsehood or evil and thereby make God false and evil.
The prohibition against “satanic arts” has struck many recent generations as primitive and ridiculous, but the Bible bids us to take it quite seriously. The practice of magic, sorcery, and other satanic arts are real and present dangers in our modern world just as in the ancient world of the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 18 forcefully condemns anyone who, “practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or [is] a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead…” This prohibition ends quite strongly with the warning that, “whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD.” In our modern context, this prohibition would apply to all the practitioners of Wicca and Satanism, and those who consult mediums, use ouija boards, are psychics, use good luck charms, or consult astral charts or horoscopes. All these call upon things, power, and gods other than the one true God who is the true source of every good and the one upon whom we rely. A good biblical example of this would be Saul consulting the witch of Endor in 1 Samuel 28.
Finally Luther prohibits lying and deceiving with God’s name. “I swear to God…” is a common companion to lies and falsehood, but deceiving with God’s name is found as often with common speech as sacred speech. Those who teach and preach falsely about God also lie and deceive using God’s name. Thus, those who teach in God’s name take up a weighty task and are under severe judgment according to 1 Timothy 4. It is in this same spirit that the church fathers of old can be found saying, “Mirum est si sacerdos salvetur” or “What a happy surprise it is if a priest is saved.”
Aside from negative prohibitions, Luther also lists positive commands attached to the use of God’s holy name. As Christians, which is to say, as ones to whom the name of God was given in the waters of holy baptism, we are to call upon God’s name in every trouble and put it to use in prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and petition. Christians have the beautiful command and promise from Psalm 50, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” God has simultaneously commanded us to pray and promised that he will hear us, answer our prayers, and give us all that we need according to his good pleasure.
In light of this, the second commandment finds its true home and fulfillment in the praying of the Lord’s Prayer where we call upon God as Father, sanctify his name, pray that his will and kingdom would come and be done, ask that he would give us all that we need, confess our sins and beg his mercy, implore him to deliver us from all evil, and firmly confess with our “Amen” that we believe that God will truly grant us all we ask. In this way, through the Lord’s Prayer we practice not only the second commandment, but also the first commandment because we both call upon God and faithfully flee to him as the source of our every good.
In addition to the Lord’s Prayer, the life of the Christian is full of prayer, in the morning, in the evening, at meal times, and during work. For this reason Luther included prayers for precisely such times so that we could truly, “pray without ceasing” according to the Small Catechism. If Luther’s rubrics in the Small Catechism are followed to the letter, then the simple Catechism Christian prays nearly eight times a day and prays the Lord’s prayer roughly five times a day. This devotion to constant prayer shapes the daily life of the Christian into one of constant intercession, confession, thanksgiving, and praising, which is to say, constant faith toward God and fervent love toward our neighbor.
Prayer: Holy Father, purify our lips from every misuse of your name by cursing, swearing, superstition, lying, or deception. Open our mouths to reverence your holy name, calling upon it in every time of trouble, praying for what you promise to give, praising you for your glory, and giving thanks to you as the giver of every good and perfect gift; this we ask in the name that gives us access to you, the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
-Rev. Philip D. Bartelt
