The Second Commandment

Just as the first commandment shaped the heart and taught faith, this commandment moves us into the outer world and trains our lips and tongue to speak rightly toward God. Words are, after all, the first outward expression of what lives in the heart. As I explained above that you must understand what it means to have a god, you must also learn to grasp the meaning of this commandment in a straightforward way, as with all the others, and be able to answer for it accordingly. If someone asks you how you understand the second commandment and what it means to take God's name in vain, answer as simply as this: it is a misuse of God's name when we invoke the Lord God to lend support to falsehood or wrongdoing. The commandment therefore forbids us from speaking God's name falsely, or placing it on our lips when the heart knows, or should know, that deception is involved. This is what happens when someone takes an oath before a court of justice and then bears false witness against the other party. There is no more direct abuse of God's name than lying and deceiving by means of it. Let that be the plainest possible meaning of this commandment.

With that understanding in hand, anyone can readily judge for themselves when and how God's name is being misused, even though it would be impossible to catalog every form that misuse can take. Generally speaking, the wrong use appears first in everyday affairs involving money, property, and reputation, whether in open court, at the marketplace, or anywhere else where people swear falsely or invoke God's name or their own souls to back up what they're saying. A common example appears in matters of marriage, when two people secretly pledge themselves to one another and then later deny the engagement under oath. But the gravest abuse of all, the one that strikes most deeply against the conscience, occurs in spiritual matters, when false preachers arise and pass off their own invented teachings as the Word of God.

Notice that all of these are strategies for using God's name as a veneer, making oneself appear attractive and trustworthy, whether in ordinary worldly business or in the high and subtle matters of faith and doctrine. Liars belong in this same category, and not only the crude, obvious ones that everyone recognizes, who dishonor God's name without a second thought (they belong in a criminal's school, not ours), but also those who publicly blaspheme the truth of God's Word by calling it the word of Satan. There is no need to say more on that point.

Let us learn from this commandment and take it seriously, guarding with great care against every misuse of the holy name, which is the gravest sin that can be committed openly. Lying and deceiving are serious sins on their own, but they become far worse when people, wanting to justify themselves, invoke God's name as confirmation of their lies, using it as a cloak to cover their shame. What begins as a single lie multiplies into two, then many more.

Because of the weight of this commandment, God attached a solemn warning to it: "The Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name" (Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11). This means that no one who violates it will be overlooked or escape without consequence. Just as God will act against anyone who turns their heart away from Him, He will not allow His name to be used as decoration for a lie. It is also a tragedy common to the whole world that few people avoid using God's name in falsehood and all kinds of wickedness, because so few are those who truly trust in God alone.

We all naturally possess this charming little virtue: whoever has done something wrong will go to great lengths to hide and disguise the shame of it, so that no one ever sees or hears about it. No one is bold enough to stand before the world and boast openly about the wickedness they've committed. Everyone prefers to do their dirty work in secret rather than let anyone find out. Then, when they're called to account, God must lend His name to the affair, so that the rascality gets dressed up as righteousness and the disgrace passes itself off as honorable conduct. This is simply how the world works. Like a great flood, this practice has swept across every land, and so we receive exactly the reward we've earned: plague, war, famine, fire, floods, unfaithful spouses, spoiled children, worthless servants, and every kind of misery imaginable. Where else would such suffering come from? It is a great mercy that the earth still holds us up and feeds us at all.

Above all else, then, we should faithfully train and accustom young people to hold this commandment and the first one in genuine reverence. When they fall short, the rod must be applied immediately and the commandment kept constantly before them, pressed into their minds until it takes root. That way, they will be raised not only in discipline, but in the fear and reverence of God.

Now you understand what it means to misuse God's name. To put it plainly: it means either lying outright and publishing falsehoods under the cover of God's name, or cursing, swearing, conjuring, and generally practicing wickedness in any form. But you also need to understand how to use God's name correctly, because in the words "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," God is simultaneously telling us that we should use His name rightly. His name has been revealed and given to us for regular use and genuine benefit. So since this commandment forbids using that holy name in the service of lies and evil, it necessarily follows that we are, on the other hand, commanded to use it in the service of truth and everything good: for instance, when we swear an oath to the truth wherever it is needed and required, when we teach the truth faithfully, when we call on His name in times of trouble, or when we use it in praise and thanksgiving for the blessings we receive. All of this is captured in the command found in Ps 50:15: "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." In all these ways, God's name is used in the service of truth and for our salvation, and is thereby hallowed, just as we pray in the Lord's Prayer.

Now you have the core of this commandment laid out clearly. This also resolves a question that has troubled many theologians: why does the Gospel forbid swearing (Matt 5:33-34), when Christ, Paul, and other saints clearly swore oaths themselves (John 14:12; 16:20, 23; 2 Cor 1:23)? The answer is straightforward. We are not to swear in support of something evil, meaning a lie, or to swear without good reason. But swearing in support of what is good, and for the benefit of our neighbor, is entirely right. That kind of oath is a genuinely good work: it honors God, establishes truth and justice, exposes falsehood, restores peace, reinforces obedience, and puts an end to quarrels. God Himself steps in and judges between right and wrong, good and evil. If one party in a dispute swears falsely, the verdict is already built into the act itself, because that person cannot escape punishment. It may be delayed for a long time, but he will not prosper. Whatever he gains through that false oath will slip through his fingers and never bring him any real satisfaction. I have watched this play out with many people who broke their marriage vows: they never had a truly happy hour or a healthy day afterward, and in the end they perished miserably, body and soul, along with everything they owned.

For this reason, I urge and strongly advise, as I have before, that children be trained through clear warnings, healthy fear, firm boundaries, and real consequences to avoid lying, and especially to never invoke God's name in support of a lie. If they are left without that kind of discipline, nothing good will come of it. It's plain to see that the world today is more corrupt than it has ever been. There is no real government, no obedience, no integrity, no faithfulness; only arrogant, ungovernable people whom no teaching or correction can reach. All of this is simply God's wrath and judgment on those who have willfully despised this commandment.

On the other side of this, children should be encouraged and guided to honor God's Word and to keep it readily on their lips in every situation and circumstance they face. True honor to God's name means looking to it for all comfort and therefore calling on it; so that the mouth, through its confession, follows where the heart leads, glorifying God by faith, as we have already seen.

This is also a blessed and genuinely helpful practice, and a remarkably effective one for resisting the devil, who is constantly circling around us, watching for any opening to drag us into sin and shame, misery and want. He hears God's name very unwillingly and cannot stay long in any place where it is called on from the heart. Many a terrible and shocking disaster would fall on us if God did not protect us because we call on His name. I have tested this myself and learned through direct experience that sudden, serious calamity has often been immediately turned aside and removed in the very moment of such invocation. So that we might frustrate and overcome Satan, I say, we should keep this holy name constantly on our lips, so that he cannot harm us as desperately as he longs to do.

Also helpful in this regard is the daily practice of committing ourselves to God's protection, including our souls, bodies, spouses, children, servants, and everything we have, guarding against every unexpected need and disaster. This is where our tradition of saying grace and giving thanks at meals originated, along with morning and evening prayers. From the same source came the practice of children crossing themselves when they witnessed or heard something frightening, crying out: "Lord God, save us! Help, dear Lord Jesus!" and similar words. Likewise, when we unexpectedly receive something good, however small it may be, we say: "God be praised and thanked. He has given me this!" and similar expressions. In earlier times, children were raised in the custom of fasting and praying to St. Nicholas and other saints. These other practices, however, would be far more pleasing and acceptable to God than all the monasticism and Carthusian piety.

This approach could train young people through fitting and almost playful methods to fear and honor God, so that the first and second commandments would be observed and consistently practiced. Some good would then take root in them and bear fruit; some would grow up to be people in whom the whole land would rejoice and find blessing. This is the right way to raise children: to shape their character through kindness and positive methods. Whatever we drive into them only through punishment and force produces poor results. At best, under such treatment, they remain godly only as long as the rod is on their backs. But under the other kind of training, godliness takes root in their hearts, and they fear God more than they fear any rod or club. I speak this plainly for the sake of the children, so that my words might sink into their minds. Since we are speaking to children, we must speak in a way they can grasp. So we have warned against misusing the divine name and taught that its right use should consist not only in how we speak, but also in how we live and conduct ourselves. We want them to know that God is genuinely pleased when His name is used rightly, and that He will reward that as richly as He will terribly punish its misuse.