This article is an expansion of my earlier treatise “What’s In a Name?”. I have edited the body of that article but added the implications and applications of the word “name” as we come across it in the Bible. This version will add some more depth to the meaning of the word “name” as it is used in the Bible.
When we mention the interrogative statement “What is your name?” the only answer we expect from that is a proper name because that is what we normally understand what the word “name” means. It is what our parents gave to us to identify us from the other siblings and other people, and sometimes it is what close friends assign to us out of their fondness for us. Of course, when friends do this, it’s often done out of levity and jest and to make us memorable to them. There is always a story behind such friend-given names. The names given by parents have other meanings and purposes. They often express the parents’ desire for what they want the child to become. But let me show here what the Bible means by that word.
Let’s Start Here.
Take this statement from John 3:18. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
That statement, as you may know, was part of what the Lord Jesus said to the Pharisee Nicodemus who sought honest answers from the Lord, as narrated in John 3.
If extracting a new statement out of that verse I tell you illustratively – and I want you to read this slowly now – “Believe in the name Anax Jos and you will not be judged”, what does that mean? Nothing. Because first of all, who is Anax Jos to you? And for what reason should he judge you? And what should be believing in Anax Jos have anything to do with being judged? And what should I believe about Anax Jos?
Let’s see what happens when expanding the word “believe” as it was originally rendered in Greek. It can then be rephrased as, “Have faith, or entrust your spiritual well-being in the name Anax Jos and you will not be judged?” It still means nothing because it doesn’t answer the attendant questions we have from the beginning. Our comprehension of such a statement remains incomplete; it begs the questions: (1) what is exactly in that name, or, (2) what does that name accomplish? And, (3) why trust in the name and not the person himself?
Let’s break this down some more and look deeper.
This third chapter of John introduces the character, Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee. But so what? Well, wait. The verse continues to describe him as “a ruler of the Jews”. This man is not an insignificant person. Today, Nicodemus would have a Ph.D. after his name. A doctor of philosophy, divinity, or theology. After verse 1, only his name stays, because he was already properly introduced at the beginning. The next time his name is mentioned, we connect that with his title, a ruler of the Jews.
So from here, we understand that the name Nicodemus refers not just to the person but to his office, his influence, his power, and authority. When he speaks or does something, that cannot be divorced from his being a ruler of the Jews.
Now if we brought the definitions of “believe” and “name” back into our verse, we can rephrase this as: “…he who does not have faith or entrust his spiritual well-being is condemned already because he has not put his faith or entrusted his spiritual well being in the authority of (Jesus) the only begotten Son of God (His title).”
Now the verse makes better sense. But wait, there’s more!
Why did Nicodemus introduce himself to Jesus? He could have just asked his questions in the same way as those nameless and hypocritical Pharisees and scribes, and Jesus would have answered him anyway! Well, from hindsight we learn that Nicodemus got saved from that evening encounter with Jesus. We see him defensively, but discretely lawyering for Jesus in John 7:50-52. He comes into the scene again in John 19:39 bringing a hundred pounds of a mixture of myrrh and aloes (preservative used on cadavers) after Joseph of Arimathaea managed to take possession of Jesus’ dead body to bury him in what might have been the sepulcher personally owned by Joseph.
God used two people who were not among the daily (popular) followers of Jesus, who were merely bit-players in this drama of His passion and death, but whose names have been immortalized in the New Testament for all eternity! Digressing a bit, this tells me that if we just do what is right and what is within our capacity and power to do for Christ, God never forgets that!
You see, Nicodemus didn’t come to get an answer to any religious question! Listen to his opening statement to Jesus in John 3:2. I’m supplying the definitions by Thayer to the keywords so you’ll know where I’m going with this.
“Rabbi (a title used by Jews to address their teachers), we know that thou art a teacher (one who teaches concerning the things of God, and the duties of man) come from (of origin of a cause which is) God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.”
Nicodemus came to Jesus already convinced of Who Jesus was and his heart desired to have a master-follower relationship with Jesus because he understood His AUTHORITY! He sorely wanted to be a disciple and wanted Jesus to know that. His opening statement readily gave him away. And so Jesus prescribes to him the prerequisite for discipleship – “You must be born again!” On a footnote, tradition has it that Nicodemus was stripped of his position as a Pharisee, was kicked off the Sanhedrin, and was eventually banished from Jerusalem by the hostile Jews along with other Jewish Christians during those times of persecution, all of those are but a cheap price to pay for the priceless eternal life offered by Jesus Christ!
It’s His Character!
The Greek and Hebrew word for name also takes another meaning – CHARACTER!
Let me take you to the story of Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8. Simon was a popular magician in Samaria and had made a good living and reputation among the people because he was a decent person and was not known to be immoral. Therefore, he was able to exploit the people’s respect for him and he marketed himself as someone “great”. Now we have no idea if the Samaritans had another meaning for being great or if “Great” represented someone divine. But he held a high standing in society so that they would speak of Simon as “This man is the great power of God”. So one day, Philip the evangelist came to this place and preached the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ (remember that word “name” right there). The result of this was that people got saved and got baptized, including Simon himself! He continued with Philip and was amazed by the miracles and signs that were performed. This revival continued for a while and the apostles in Jerusalem heard of it. They came down to Samaria so that the new believers would also receive the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that when the apostles imparted the Holy Spirit when they laid hands on the believers, he wanted to have this for himself and was even willing to pay for it! He might have thought this would be a good addition to and even highlight his repertoire!
This is where it gets interesting. Instead of a warm reception to his offer, Peter rebuked him saying, “Your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” And how did the sorcerer respond? He answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.”
This pagan magician had a serious heart condition – it was toxic with bitterness and it was held captive by iniquity. Let me just briefly digress and say that bitterness comes after wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking (Ephesians 4:31 in reverse order). When an offended person starts to dislike someone and speaks evil of him and this deed doesn’t get arrested, it degrades into clamor where the offended spreads the bad-mouthing to groups of people. If this doesn’t get the results he wants, it turns to anger, and then high-level anger, as in murderous anger or rage. If all this still doesn’t satisfy him/her, and it won’t unless he allows God to correct him/her, this turns into bitterness in his/her heart. There, I just had to put that in. That’s certainly something to make sure we check about regarding our feelings for others who offend us every now and then. Now let’s go back to Simon.
Notice his reply to Peter – it was full of self-worship – “Pray to the Lord for me”. “Nope,” Simon thought, “I can’t condescend to that. I’m too socially respected to do that myself. People consider me as a moral person and some even believe I represent God. I can pay you for that service.” This guy had himself for an idol, and worshipped himself. People who are ashamed to be identified as born-again Christian value their image before people more than the Christ Who saved them.
After this encounter, we never hear of the magi ever again. I’m pretty sure he lost plenty of followers, views, and likes after this encounter with God because many people had become born-again Christians and had lost a taste for the occult. Bad business decision.
It Means The Same Thing Everywhere – Watch This!
Usually, a word means slightly different when it is rendered in the Old Testament and when it appears in the New Testament. For example, the word “hate” in the Old Testament means, “enemy, foe, odious” which is the extreme left opposite of the emotion of love on the right side of the scale. However, in the New Testament, hate means “to love less” which is closer to the emotion of love but certainly far from considering another person as odious or hateful. The New Testament rendering is on the right side of the scale. But we see that in both Old Testament and the New Testament, the word “name” means the same thing. It means “authority, character” in the New Testament. Surprisingly, the Old Testament has another word meaning added to it – “honor”.
Now Do You Get It?
Can you now see where we’re going with this? When God commanded Israel to “not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain”, what does this mean and what are its implications for the present-day Gentile believer? Many commentators think taking the name of the Lord God in vain is using His Name as a cussword. They reason, even sensibly, that if we don’t take our mother’s name and use it as a cussword – because we love and respect our mother – how could we disrespect our Creator? Now that’s a perfectly rational reason that should immediately make us feel guilty about our OMGs or “Jesus Christ!” expletives does it not?
But let me propose that such an understanding is just the skin of the grape and not the whole fruit of the matter. Because if we now apply the correct meaning of “name” to the Third Commandment, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” – hold it and take a deep breath now – we find ourselves in deep water and dangerous territory.
The Third Commandment is practically or actually ordering us: “You shall not bear/lift yourself up/carry/wear the authority/character/honor of the Lord your God in guile/deceptiveness/idolatry; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless…”. This is where every believer gets knocked down and is declared guilty as violators of. After all, how many times have we done things bearing His authority but have done them out of guile because we wanted to impress people as being spiritually authoritative? How many times have we donned His character deceptively because we had a selfish agenda to push? How many times have we lifted up our personal honor because we wanted to be known as “the Billy Graham of the “, or with the ambition of making a name for ourselves in the ministry? Can you tell me? How many times have we acted in an unChristian manner before the brethren and dishonored God? How many times have we responded in an ill manner toward unbelievers who rubbed our feathers the wrong way and thereby misrepresented the character of God? Did we consider the possibility that this maltreated person would one day find his/her way into the same church you attend and find you – that rude person he met last Wednesday at the groceries – leading worship, praying publicly, or even preaching there? What might the effect of such an encounter be on this about-to-be-converted soul?
BUT GOD has anticipated our weakness and our proclivity toward sin. This is why Christ came to pay the penalty for our sins even if He knew we would still break the Third Commandment. He foreknew that on our own we just cannot pass this one, not by a long shot. I am not saying because we’ve been forgiven we can continue violating the commandments. Far from it. This article is simply to remind us of our hopelessness at attaining righteousness before a Holy God, and to keep us from getting too smug about our standing with God in Christ. A shallow understanding of God’s commands does not make us innocent of violating them and of the attendant penalties that come with them. Awareness of our sins and our frailty makes us walk our paths with more care and diligence. It makes us hold on tighter to God’s hand because we know that without His hand upon us, we fall. Taking His Name in vain is not just all about talking, it’s all about doing and doing things out of a wrong heart position.
Dear Reader, do you already know Who Jesus is, but just like Nicodemus, don’t know how to get into a living relationship with Him? And just like Nicodemus, perhaps all you have is religion. You know what and what not to do, but all these still leave you empty, unfulfilled, and aimless! You can be very devout and sincere about following your religion and yet be sincerely wrong!
Here’s how to get into a relationship with God.
Admit that you are a sinful person and will be judged guilty before God’s court because you have broken His commandments many times over.
Believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Who came to this world as the sacrificial Lamb of God Who would lay His life at Calvary as payment for the sins of all who would put their trust in Him.
Confess from your lips with your own words of repentance, asking for forgiveness for all your sins, and that Jesus is Lord over your life by accepting Him as your personal Lord and Savior.
If you do these, the Bible says you will be saved, a person born of the water (Word of God) and of the spirit (the Holy Spirit indwelling in you as you accept Christ).
Let me know if you’ve prayed that prayer. I’ll be very happy to help you along with your new life in Christ!
Musings of Anax Jos 