Michael Horton’s fourth chapter, “Guarding God’s Reputation,” deals with the third commandment.  What is the third commandment?  “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain”  (Exodus 20.7, ESV).

In typical style, Horton drives straight to the heart of the matter, pointing out that it is neither the misuse of God’s name by non-Christians nor the absence of the exaltation of God’s name in the public square that is the greatest issue, but the misuse of God’s name by Christians and the absence of God’s name in church.  He asks “Why should Christians lament the day when the Ten Commandments were taken down from the wall in the classroom when few of them can name these decrees themselves” (Horton, 96)?  There are a great many parallels between the church in 2010 and the Israelites of the Old Testament on this very issue.  With this sobering analysis laid out, Horton turns to Hosea to show how God prosecuted the Israelites for their failure to hallow his name.

Horton breaks down our violations of the third commandment into four categories:  Using God; Hypocrisy Heresy and Error; and Blasphemy.  It is easy enough to see these categories and think we have nothing to worry about; however, Horton does an excellent job of working through these issues in order to show us our own deficiencies.  One statement I found particularly pertinent was “It is easy to use God’s name instead of fearing it” (Horton, 100).  This thought left me asking myself, “Why do I pray?”  Do I invoke Jesus name in prayer in order to seek my own will or the will of God?

There are many other great points in this chapter.  What are your thoughts?