The Ethos in the Commandments

The second commandment is the easiest to understand and is considered to be the least demanding in the development of a Christian ethos. That is not to say it is not important. Simply put, the 2nd commandment is God deciding how we are to worship Him. As The Creator He determines the correct diciplines for worship and praise; this includes the exclusion of graven images. Why, because graven images are deceptive and deceive us into believing something about God which isn t genuine? For example consider the bull image of ancient religions. The bull represented strength and power; but the bull is also a stupid animal with a cantankerous attitude. The bull is deceptive in that it would only represent Gods power; but none of Gods other attributes. This is akin to thinking of God as a bull in a china shop banging and breaking everything He touches.

The third commandment is probably the most miss-understood as to its true meaning. To take Gods name in vain is much more than a linguistic misuse of words. When you

hit your thumb with a hammer and say God damn it it is a vain response but it does not get to the crux of using Gods name in vain. In ancient cultures someones name revealed something about his/her character. God named Himself YHWH meaning I am who I am. We should understand this to mean God defines who He is and does not leave it up man to determine His character. It means God is not bound by anyone or any part of His creation. Therefore; anytime we try to put limits on God we are taking His name in vain. God considers us vain when we try to define Him by our expectations thus restricting who He is through our own ill-conceived perceptions. For example I have heard people say they cannot worship a God and question Gods love because He does not save everyone. It goes something like this, How can God be a loving God and send anyone to hell? This not only places our expectations on God but also defines who He is by our expectations. This is a vain use of His Holy name. So, what are the proper uses of His name? First we should always use His name in a positive sense which brings glory to the person of God. We should use His name to demonstrate our love as we spread His gospel. We should remember since we are created in Gods image and we call ourselves Christian the name of God is on us; thus everything we think, say or do is a reflection of how much or how little we value His name. The point is when we are hateful, un-loving and despising others we are taking the Lords name in vain. It is a rare Christian who has a statue on the mantel he/she worships but we all have our idols, whether it be money, power or something material we lust after. But as we worship our idols we need to understand the interrelatedness of these two commandments; worshipping an idol also takes the Lords name in vain. How do we make application of these two commandments to our Christian ethos? If God is going to be, and He must be, the foundation of a Christian character, then we must identify with His nature. His character necessitates that we demonstrate this understanding by relinquishing our idols and by speaking to God and of God in a manner deserving of The Lord of the universe.

Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it.
Gregg
I would like to thank Dr. Dan Doriani and Covenant Theological Seminary for making the course, Christian Ethics, freely available at: http://www.covenantseminary.edu/resources/courses/christian-ethics-doriani/