What Is In A Name?

“Taking the Lord’s name in vain” is a bad thing. I mean, it’s so bad that it makes it into the “top 10” of God’s commandments, right? Unfortunately, growing up, I didn’t have a very good understanding of what it meant to “take the Lord’s name in vain”. Somewhere along the line, I picked up the idea that it meant that we shouldn’t say the words “God” or “Jesus Christ” except in the most reverent of circumstances and certainly not as expletives. I later picked up the idea that there was some sort of superpower in the mere utterance of the name of Jesus Christ. After all, the scriptures say that we are saved through faith in his name and that we should take upon us his name, call upon his name, believe on his name, and do things in his name. His name seems pretty important. But what if “taking his name in vain” means something much deeper and much more meaningful than just having his name roll off your tongue in a moment of anger or frustration?

I have mentioned before that I have a large family. Welcoming a child into the world comes with many responsibilities. One of the first responsibilities is that of naming the child. This has always been kind of a big deal for me. The name has to “fit.” It isn’t enough to select a name that is trendy or cute. The name has always had to have some meaning, purpose, and depth to it. It not only has to identify the individual, but it also needs to convey ideas, concepts, characteristics, and attributes that either reflect something already present in the individual or that I hope the individual will develop.

This is not an uncommon practice. Scripturally, people have been given names that disclose something about them from the very beginning.  In Hebrew, many names of individuals are derivatives of other words. For instance, Adam (אדם ah-dahm) was taken from the ground (אדמה ah-dah-mah). Noah, Abraham, Jacob’s sons, Moses, Samuel, and others too many to list here were given names that were meant to convey something about the individual to anyone that would hear the name.  If you knew nothing about the lives of these individuals, their names would not seem particularly interesting, but when you learn about certain aspects of their lives, their names become rich with meaning and significance.  In the busyness of life, we do ourselves a disservice by simply using these names as a means to identify people. If we slow down and contemplate not only the meaning behind the name—what the name is intended to represent, but also the attributes of the person and of his life and assign those to the name, we gain much more (and much more meaningful) information.

This is nowhere truer as it is in our understanding of Jesus Christ and his name (or his names, for that matter).  Every time we learn more about his character, we can assign our understanding to his name. And each of his names is a means by which he teaches us things about his character which, when we emulate, teach us more about his name.

When we “take upon ourselves the name of Christ,” we do something more than just identify ourselves with him. We take upon ourselves his characteristics and attributes. We come to the point where we think as he thinks, we feel as he feels, and we do as he does. When we “call upon his name,” we are making an appeal to the aspects of his character that make him who he is. When we “believe on his name,” we exercise our faith by submitting to the things that he teaches us about the perfections of his character and attributes, believing that it is in obtaining these that we obtain salvation. When we “do things in his name,” we act as Christ would, humbly submitting to the Father in all things.

2 Nephi 31:13 provides an excellent example of how we SHOULD take the Lord’s name:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.

Nephi is trying to tell us about what it is like to properly take the Lord’s name. We have to be able to say that his ”name” says the same things about us that it does about Him. We have to have full purpose of heart. We cannot have any hypocrisy or deception before God. We must have real intent and we have to turn away from sin. It is then that our water baptism qualifies as an acceptable and effectual witness to God that we are, indeed, willing to take Christ’s name upon us. It is only through offering an acceptable sacrifice that we are able to receive the Holy Ghost, speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises to the Holy One of Israel. Anything less than this is:

VAIN, a. [L. vanus; Eng. wan, wane, want.]  

1. Empty; worthless; having no substance, value or importance. 

2. Fruitless; ineffectual. 

3. Proud of petty things, or of trifling attainments; elated with a high opinion of one's own accomplishments, or with things more showy than valuable; conceited. 

4. Empty; unreal; as a vain chimers. 

5. Showy; ostentatious. 

6. Light; inconstant; worthless. 

7. Empty; unsatisfying.  

8. False; deceitful; not genuine; spurious. 

9. Not effectual; having no efficacy

This is an account of just one event in Christ’s life that gives us a glimpse of his character—his “name.” Nephi does an excellent job of explaining the condition of Christ’s heart so that we might exemplify him. There are many other stories in the scriptures that do not give a detailed account of God’s mind, will, and character. To obtain those accounts, you will need better access to the Spirit of God, and it is important to note that this is exactly what is given to you when you are baptized “in Christ’s name.” As His character unfolds to you and as you assimilate aspects of his character into your own, you will truly “take upon yourself his name” and it WON’T be “in vain.”