Hallowed Be Thy Name

 Hallowed Be Thy Name Commentary

"Hallowed be thy Name" is the first of the prayer's seven petitions (the first three address God, the second four are prayers related to our needs and concerns). Due to the fact that the term "Hallowed" is not widely used in current English, its meaning is not immediately evident. The term "hallowed" refers to the act of consecration, of making something holy. Thus, when we pray "hallowed be thy name," we are pleading for His name to be revered. 

This follows from the opening phrase of the prayer, "Our Father in heaven," who is distinct from us and lives in eternity. There is, however, another aspect to this. This is how the Good News Translation puts it. "May the respect of your holy name be accorded" (Matthew 6:9). To maintain the reverence for God's name on Earth, we must respond. We cannot truly pray this verse unless we aspire that our lives mirror this wondrous sanctity. Honouring God as holy will draw us closer to our Creator and help us build our own holiness.

Albert Barnes's Commentary

Thy name be hallowed. The term "hallowed" refers to the act of rendering or pronouncing something holy. God's name is fundamentally holy, and this plea reads, "Let thy name be recognised, venerated, and esteemed as holy throughout the world, and receive suitable honours from all men." Thus, it is a statement of the worshipper's yearning or desire that the name of God, or God himself, be kept in proper veneration across the world. Barnes' Notes on the New Testament. 

Matthew Henry's Commentary 

The petitions, and those are six; the three first relate more immediately to God and his honour, the three last to our own worries, both temporal and spiritual; as in the ten commandments, the four first teach us our responsibility toward God, and the final six our duty toward our neighbour. The manner of this prayer teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then to expect that other things shall be added. 1. Hallowed be thy name. It is the same term that in other places is translated sanctified. But here the old word hallowed is kept, solely because people were familiar to it in the Lord's prayer. In these words, (1.) We give glory to God; it may be understood not as a petition, but as an adoration; as that, the Lord be exalted, or glorified, because God's holiness is the greatness and glory of all his perfections. We must begin our prayers with thanking God, and it is quite fit he should be first served, and that we should give praise to God, before we expect to receive mercy and favour from him. 

Let him receive praise of his perfections, and then let us take the benefit of them. (2.) We fix our end, and it is the correct end to be sought at, and ought to be our principal and final end in all our pleas, that God may be glorified; all our other requests must be in subordination to this, and in pursue of it. "Father, praise Yourself in providing me my daily bread and pardoning my sins," &c. Since all is of him and through him, all must be to him and for him. In prayer our thoughts and passions should be carried out most to the glory of God. The Pharisees made their own name the major end of their prayers (Mt 6:5, to be seen of mankind), in opposed to which we are told to make the name of God our chief end; let all our pleas centre in this and be guided by it. "Do thus and so for me, for the honour of thy name, and as far as is for the glory of it." (3.) We wish and pray that the name of God, that is, God himself, in all that whereby he has made himself known, may be sanctified and praised both by us and others, and especially by himself. "Father, honour thy name as a Father and as a Father in heaven; magnify thy goodness and majesty, thy majesty and mercy. 

Allow thy name to be sanctified, for it is a holy name; regardless of what happens to our dirty names, what wilt thou do with thy great name, Lord?" When we pray for the glory of God's name, we [1.] Make a virtue of necessity; because God will sanctify his own name regardless of our desires; I will be exalted among the nations, Ps 46:10. [2.] We pray for something we are certain will be granted; for when our Saviour asked, Father, honour thy name, he received a prompt response, I have glorified it and will glorify it again. Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible, Volume V (Matthew to John)

Adam Clarke's Commentary

As the term sanctified, or hallowed, is frequently used in Scripture to refer to the consecration of a thing or person to a holy use or office, such as the Levites, first-born, tabernacle, temple, and their utensils, which were all set apart from all earthly, common, or profane use and employed entirely in the service of God, similarly, the Divine Majesty may be said to be sanctified by us, in analogy to those things, [Thine own name.] That is, GOD himself, in all his Divine attributes—his might, wisdom, justice, and mercy—we honour God's name. To begin, with our lips, when all our talk is holy and we speak of matters fit to offer grace to our hearers. 2dly. 

In our thoughts, when we suppress all growing evil and allow his grace and Spirit to manage our tempers. 3dly. Throughout our lives, as we begin, continue, and complete our works for his glory. If we approach all we do with an eye toward God, then each act of our common job becomes an act of religious worship. Fourthly, in our households, when we strive to raise our children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord; training our servants as well in the way of righteousness. Fifthly, in a particular calling or business, when we distinguish it from common deception, deception, and lying; buying and selling as in the eyes of the pure and just God. Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary

Read Also: Our Father Who Art In Heaven