• Benny Nalkara, CMI

The prayer “Our Father” consists of seven petitions made to God. “Hallowed be thy name” or “May your name be revered as holy” (Mt 6:9) is the first petition among them and it comes as the first one among the three “You” petitions. This petition asks that the holiness of God’s name be vindicated and this one is considered as the most “Jewish” petition among the seven.

The grammatical construction used in expression, “be made holy” or “hallowed” is a divine passive voice occurs repeatedly in the OT to indicate implicitly and reverently a divine action but without explicitly naming God. Thus the full sense of the petition is: ‘May your name be made holy by you.’ In the NT also we find that Jesus and the authors of the NT using this reverent, implicit way of indicating some divine action many times. The act of “Making holy” primarily belongs to God and the divine action. The first “you” petition of the Lord’s prayer lines up with and summarizes the words of God reported by Ezekiel: “I will prove my greatness and holiness, and make myself known in the sight of many nations, thus they shall know that I am the Lord (Ez 38:23).

In Hebrew, the name means the nature, the character, the personality of the person in so far as it is known or revealed to us. In the OT, utter reverence was given to the name of God. They never pronounced the name of God- YHWH, revealed to Moses (Ex 3:1-16) but substituted it with Adonai (Lord) or Kyrios. Praise and salvation were frequently linked to the name of the Lord. When delivered from some fear or troubles, the Psalmist invited his congregation to “exalt his name together” (Ps 34:3). Praising the name of God was the language of prayer for the Israelites (Ps 113, 116, 79). In a real way, by proposing for prayer, ‘hallowed be your name,” Jesus was underlying a constant theme in the Psalms. In Phil 2:11, as part of the Christological Hymn, Paul says that, as a consequence of his sacrificial love, God gave Jesus the name which is above every name in order that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things upon the earth, and things below the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Thus, we find that name- the nature of God is exalted everywhere and the same “making it holy” act is expected from us!

The word which is translated “hallowed” is a part of the Greek verb hagiazesthai means to regard as different, to give a unique and special place to etc. The Greek verb hagiazesthai is connected with the adjective hagios, and means to treat a person or a thing as hagios. Hagios is the word which is usually translated holy; but the basic meaning of hagios is different or separate. A person who is hagios is separate from other people. So, when these two things put together, this petition means, “Let God’s name be treated differently from all other names; let God’s name be given a position which is absolutely unique.” Therefore, when we pray “Hallowed be Thy name,” it means, “enable us to give to thee the unique place which thy nature and character deserve and demand.”

The Holiness of God was a central divine attribute for OT faith. God is awesomely holy. In the Book of Leviticus we find the Code of Holiness (17-26) with its repeated injunction: “You shall be holy, because I, the Lord, am holy.”  According to St Paul, the living out of the gift- call to holiness was the deepest challenge for the Christians. This petition should create a unique intimacy between God, our Father and we the children. The petition, “Hallowed be thy name” expresses something that inspires awe and reverence, and it claims the first place in the Lord’s prayer because the first and principal duty of a Christian is, to love his God with his whole heart and soul, and therefore the first and principal thing he ought to desire and pray for is, the great honor and glory of God.

Though the petition, “Hallowed be Your Name,” evokes the divine action, it’s also a reminder to humans to emulate the holy God. It is not merely by giving reverence to God and making his name holy, but through making a change in ourselves, not in God. God is infinitely holy; He cannot be more holy than He already is. That means the intent of this petition cannot be to somehow make God holier. Rather, the words are for our benefit, and this is a hint to us that prayer has more to do with changing us than changing God. We want to recognize the reality of His holiness, and for Him to be glorified and magnified in our lives. Thus, when we pray, “Hallowed be thy name,” we are praying, “May You be made holy in our lives.”