When things aren’t right in the world, when God’s people are being hounded, brutalized, enslaved, and killed by their enemies, when injustice rules the day, when the created order is threatened with chaos, God’s name is at stake. God has made promises, tying his character, his name, to certain people and their well-being. In order to vindicate his name, he must deliver on his promises.
Throughout the Scriptures we find God’s people appealing to the vindication of God’s character in this way. Moses prays this way when God threatens to destroy Israel when they sinned at Mt. Sinai (Ex 32.11-14). David prays this way throughout the Psalms (cf. e.g., Pss 23.3; 25.11; 31.3; 79.9). Yahweh himself declares through Ezekiel that he will deliver his people for his name’s sake (Ez 36.16-32). Jesus teaches us to appeal to our Father for the vindication of his holy name when he teaches us to pray, “Hallowed be thy name.”
Our English word “hallowed” speaks about being holy or sanctified. Holiness is integrity, which is purity that can withstand challenges without compromise, maintaining boundaries. This integrity is without weakness, flaw, or fault. When we speak about a piece of wood or metal that has integrity, it is solid through-and-through, uncompromised by flaws. When we speak about a man who has integrity, he is one who is honest, faithful, and uncompromising, maintaining proper boundaries between himself and that which is wrong.
God’s integrity is complete. There is not the slightest impurity that compromises his character. He is strong, dependable, and faithful. His name is holy. God’s integrity, his holiness, is not an immovable, static purity that sits in heaven unconcerned, separated, uninvolved, and inactive in the world. God is active. He reveals his character in what he does. God’s holy name, therefore, is revealed by acting in accord with his character. When Jesus teaches us to pray, “Hallowed be thy name,” he is teaching us to pray, “Father, vindicate your holy name by acting in accord with your promises.”
The vindication of God’s name is inexorably united with his people because his people bear his name. Whether it is the priest pronouncing the benediction upon God’s people placing his name upon them (Num 6.22-27), the children of Israel taking on God’s name at Sinai as Yahweh’s bride (cf. Ez 16), or taking on the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in baptism (Mt 28.19), God’s name is bound up with the destiny and character of his people. His holiness is displayed in the way he acts toward his people and the way his people act before him in the world.
For God’s name to be hallowed, he must act in accord with his promises toward his people. Since God has promised to deliver his faithful people, his name is hallowed when he delivers us through the destruction of our enemies. His holiness burns fervently on behalf of his people and consumes our enemies. When we pray, “hallowed be thy name,” we are petitioning God for salvation, looking for our ultimate deliverance from sin and death through the resurrection of our bodies. When God delivers on his promises, his name will be hallowed.
But praying “hallowed be thy name” is not only appealing to God’s commitments. In the petition, we recognize that we are the ones who bear the holy name of God, and we are not to bear that name emptily (Ex 20.7). Having taken on God’s name in baptism, we are holy ones, saints, distinguished from all those who don’t bear this name. Maintaining that boundary is incumbent upon us. We are to be holy because the one who has called us is holy (Lev 11.44; 1Pt 1.15-16). We are not to profane the name, but rather to live lives consistently with God’s character. God’s name is blasphemed when those who bear his name don’t live faithfully (Rom 2.24). To pray this petition is to commit yourself to live so that God’s name is not blasphemed because of you. You are signing up to live a holy life.
May our Father hear and answer our prayer.
