I admit it. Before I became a Christian in my young adult years, I was a serial blasphemer. Even though I was an atheist, I regularly used God and Jesus to punctuate my speech. I would insert all kinds of other curse words between Jesus and Christ. Then I became a Christian, and one of the first things the Holy Spirit did was to clean up my language.
Origins
But it made me question why. Why did I use those names as swear words, even when I didn’t believe in God or Jesus? And why do people still use them today? I mean, our movies and TV shows are littered with them.
The use of Jesus, Jesus Christ, and God as swear words is nothing new. It’s been happening since the mid-1800s. Up to that time, people would utter short prayers like “Oh Jesus, help me” or “Jesus protect us.” In moments of sudden shock or fear, these were eventually shortened to just his name. Once-pious pleas and solemn religious oaths became profane, casual expressions of surprise, frustration, or pain.
The word profanity derives from the Latin profanus, meaning “outside the temple.” Profanity is the stripping of words or sacred terms of their holy context and dragging them into mundane, everyday frustrations. Over time, invoking a saviour during moments of trial or pain became an automatic, habitual grunt of surprise or anger, divorced from its original meaning.
Taboo Violation
Using “Jesus Christ” as a swear word stems from taboo violation. Because His name is historically considered the most sacred in Western culture, using it in frustration or anger became the ultimate way to express extreme shock, pain, or rebellion, and it eventually became embedded in everyday secular language as an expletive.
Thinking back, that was probably the reason, albeit unconsciously, I used God and Jesus in my exclamations. I didn’t like Christians and viewed the church as boring and irrelevant, so maybe my language reflected my disdain. It was my way of breaking the rules and venting my pent-up frustration.
According to the English Stack Exchange, religion is a taboo subject. We expect it to be discussed only in certain ways and contexts. Breaching that convention results in varying degrees of shock, and that potential gives expressions like ‘Christ!’ and ‘God!’ their power. Other taboo subjects include sex, bodily functions and ethnic groups, and swear words related to them operate in the same way.
Other Examples
Common English is strewn with religious expletives, often used without much thought. For example:
- Goddammit or God damn is a direct invocation of divine condemnation and is traditionally considered a severe sin. Darn is a softened substitute for “damn.”
- Hell: A term for a place of eternal punishment, used to express anger, emphasis, or a terrible situation.
- Bloody: Originates from “By Our Lady” (referring to the Virgin Mary) or from the “blood of Christ.”
- Gosh and Golly are euphemistic forms of the word “God” used to avoid blasphemy.
- Gee and Geez are softened forms of the name “Jesus.”
- Crikey is an expletive used in place of the name “Christ.”
- Gadzooks is a historical oath meaning “God’s hooks”, referring to the nails used in the crucifixion.
Other languages, such as French and Italian, have similar expressions.
Blasphemy
The word blasphemy appears six times in the Bible, and only in the New Testament—the Gospels, to be precise. Five of the six instances are used by the Pharisees as an accusation against Jesus and a reason to crucify him. The other is Jesus’ reference to the blasphemy against the Spirit.
The Greek word blasphémia appears eighteen times in the New Testament and is sometimes translated as slander. The word literally means to switch right for wrong or wrong for right. That is, it calls what God disapproves of right, or vice versa.
The Third Commandment—You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name—is often called blasphemy. Misusing God’s name means profaning His character and turning the covenant relationship into empty formality. I’ve met plenty of churchgoers who do that!
Opportunity
It’s easy for Christians to become angry when they hear Jesus’ name used as a curse. I’ve met people who feel they have to say something, push back, and defend God and Jesus—as if they need our defence. I believe there’s a better response.
I think back to my younger years, when I used Jesus as a swear word. When I was first introduced to Jesus by some Christians in Sydney, there was not a single moment when I felt condemned by God. There was no divine voice of judgement suggesting I needed to clean up my life, get my act together, or account for my blasphemous language. What I experienced was unconditional love and acceptance. From that moment, God’s Spirit lived in me, and I wanted to lead a life that pleased him. My language changed, and God began a transformation in my character—a work that continues.
Christians are called to offer the same unconditional love and acceptance to others rather than telling them off with words of judgement.
The Name Worth Knowing
Every careless use of His name reminds us that people still know who Jesus is—even if only vaguely. The challenge is to help them discover the person behind the name. Who is Jesus? Why has His name endured for twenty centuries? Why has He inspired hospitals, universities, charities, great works of art, and millions of transformed lives? Why do billions still worship Him today? Those questions matter far more than the profanity itself.
Many people use Jesus’ name in moments of anger, frustration or surprise without pausing to ask who He is. Yet the Bible says His name means “The Lord saves.” His name speaks not of condemnation but of rescue. Not of shame but of forgiveness. Not of hatred but of love.
Perhaps the next time you hear someone use Jesus’ name as a swear word, rather than simply feeling offended, let it remind you of the extraordinary influence of the man from Nazareth. After all, two thousand years after His death and resurrection, people are still speaking His name. The real question is whether they know the One they are talking about.
