Meaning of "Hallowed be thy name"

Hallowed be Thy Name

I want to point out that there is a sense of “Hallowed be thy name” in the Lord’s Prayer that is probably original but is not the usual sense given to that phrase.

The archaic English word “hallowed” means to sanctify or to make holy. In the OT, there are two basic senses of hallowing: 1) humans hallow God’s name or do not profane God’s name by being rightly related to God; 2) God sanctifies his own self or name. The first is the more usual sense given to “hallowed” and so on this reading the phrase in question is really a pious exclamation. The second sense, however, is the more common one in the OT, and it is this sense that I want to claim is the one Jesus meant. On this reading, Jesus is asking God to sanctify his own name. God does this by manifesting his Godly qualities. This is especially true in Ezekiel (20:41; 28:22, 25; 36:23; 38:16, 23; 39:27).

One argument for the second sense is to analyze the structure of the Lord’s Prayer which is certainly obscured in English translations (I’ll take Matthew’s version):

Our Father, the one in the heavens,

     Let be revered the name of you

     Let come the kingdom of you

     Let be done the will of you

As in heaven also on earth

The three middle phrases all share a similar grammatical structure and all are not connected by the word “and”. These facts help tie together the three phrases. Once the three phrases are treated on par, then it is easy to take the sense of hallowing as something God himself does. If Jesus is asking God to rule as king and to do his will, then it is likely that he is asking God to sanctify his name. The last phrase most likely pertains to all three middle phrases and not just to the last as is commonly thought. Jesus is asking God for the eschatological realities to be realities in the here-and-now.

Another argument for the second sense of hallowed comes from the Gospel of John 12:28 where Jesus says “Father, glorify your name.” Note the use of “Father”, which is all we find in Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer. It is clear that Jesus is asking God to glorify his own name.

Good Friday 4/15/22