This week, I’ve been reflecting deeply on the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “Hallowed be thy name.” At first glance, it seems like a strange request. After all, God’s name is already eternally and infinitely holy. Why would we need to ask for it to be hallowed?
Saint Cyprian addressed this in one of his treatises. He wrote that we do not pray for God’s name to become holy—as though our prayers could confer holiness upon the Holy One. Instead, we ask that God’s name would be hallowed within us. Cyprian reminds us that God is the very source of sanctity, lacking nothing in holiness.
So the question arises: How do we hallow God’s name? And why would Jesus teach us to pray this way?
Peter’s exhortation in 1 Peter 1:16 points us to the answer: “Be holy, for I am holy.” Echoing Leviticus, this command reveals God’s desire for His people to be sanctified. But still we ask: How does our holiness contribute to the hallowing of God’s name?
Throughout Scripture, God’s name is not a title He hoards—it is an identity He shares with His people.
- In Deuteronomy 28:10, God proclaims that His people will be a testimony to the nations, and “they shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord.”
- Jeremiah 14:9 and Daniel 9:19 recount the prophets’ appeals for mercy, grounded in the reality that Israel bears God’s name.
- In Acts 15, James invokes Amos 9:11–12 to explain that Gentiles who bear God’s name are included in the restored house of David—showing that this divine identity is extended even further.
- Jesus prays in John 17 that His disciples would be kept in God’s name.
- And in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19), He sends them out to baptize into (εἰς) that same name—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
All of this points to one astounding truth: God has chosen to let us bear His name. To be in His name. To be called by His name.
So when we pray “Hallowed be thy name,” we’re not asking God to make His name holy “out there.” We are praying for the holiness of God to take root in us—that His name might be made holy through us, in the particular places where we live, and in the time we are given.
My prayer today is simple:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Make your name holy in me, O Lord. Amen.
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