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The Baptist Catechism

Question 60

    What is forbidden in the third commandment?

    The third commandment forbiddeth all profaning and abusing of any thing whereby God makes himself known.a

    1. aMalachi 1:6-7, 12; 2:2; 3:14
    Beddome's Scriptural Exposition 18 questions answered from Scripture

    1. Is it a great sin to profane God’s name? Yes.

      “They profaned my holy name” Ezekiel 36:20

    2. Is it a profanation of God’s name to use it as an expletive in discourse? Yes.

      “Let your communication be yea, yea, and nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil” Matthew 5:37

    3. Or as a charm? Yes.

      “As those exorcists who said we adjure you by Jesus” Acts 19:13

    4. Or as a sanction for cruelty? Yes.

      “Your brethren that hated you and cast you out, said, Let the Lord be glorified” Isaiah 66:5

    5. Is God’s name also profaned by putting a slight upon sacred things? Yes.

      “Cursed be he that voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing, for I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my name is dreadful” Malachi 1:14

    1. Is blasphemy a breach of this commandment? Yes.

      “Foolish people have blasphemed thy name” Psalm 74:18

    2. And hypocrisy? Yes.

      “For unto the wicked God saith, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes” Psalm 50:16

    3. Is this a great sin? Yes.

      “Their heart is divided, now shall they be found faulty” Hosea 10:2

    4. And a destructive sin? Yes.

      “The hypocrites in heart heap up wrath” Job 36:13

    5. Should we therefore be careful to avoid it? Yes.

      “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” Luke 12:1

    1. Is this commandment broken by sinful and unnecessary lots? Yes.

      “They cast pur, that is the lot, before Haman from day to day” Esther 3:7

    2. And by profane cursing? Yes.

      “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing, my brethren, these things ought not to be” James 3:10

    3. And by rash swearing? Yes.

      “Above all things, my brethren, swear not” James 5:12

    4. And by false swearing? Yes.

      “Ye shall not swear by my name falsely” Leviticus 19:12

    1. Is it a great sin to swear falsely? Yes.

      “For it blasphemeth that worthy name, by which we are called” James 2:7

    2. Is it a sin that brings a curse upon the persons who are guilty of it? Yes.

      “Will ye steal, murder and swear falsely, therefore I will cast you out of my sight” Jeremiah 7:9, 15

    3. And upon their families? Yes.

      “It shall enter into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name” Zechariah 5:4

    4. And upon the land? Yes.

      “Because of swearing the land mourns” Jeremiah 23:10

    Benjamin Beddome (1717–1795), pastor at Bourton-on-the-Water. Verses from the King James Version.

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