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Luke 11:1–4
“When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name’ ” (v. 2).
In our look at Exodus 19 and its account of Israel’s gathering at the foot of Mount Sinai to enter into a covenant with the Lord, we have stressed how the manner of God’s appearance there and the restrictions on Israel’s access to the Lord manifest the truth of His holiness. That provides us with a good opportunity to pause our study of Exodus to look in more depth at what Scripture says to us about holiness, one of the divine attributes. Dr. R.C. Sproul will help us do this as we base our next week or so of daily studies on his teaching series The Holiness of God.
As in any study, defining our terms is especially important. Given the way that words such as “holy” and “holiness” are commonly used, many Christians likely think of holiness as equivalent to righteousness, ethical purity, or right living. It is not entirely wrong to make such an association, for Scripture does speak of holiness in terms of conduct or actions (1 Peter 1:15). But God’s Word does not define holiness primarily in terms of ethical action. Instead, the foundational meaning of holiness is to be set apart, unique, or different from what is common.
We see this in several biblical texts. First Chronicles 23:13 has Aaron “set apart” unto the Lord in his unique office as high priest who sacrifices to God. Not only people can be set apart as holy, but also objects, places, and time. For instance, Moses met the Lord on holy ground (Ex. 3:1–6), and the part of the tabernacle containing the ark of the covenant was the holiest place (Lev. 16:1–2). Old covenant festivals are examples of holy time (Lev. 23). “Holy utensils” were used in old covenant worship (1 Chron. 9:29). These things were holy because they were associated with the Lord, who is the most “set apart” being in existence. After all, Scripture speaks often of the Lord’s transcendence, His exaltedness, His distinction from creation in His power, glory, and purity (Ex. 15:11; Isa. 33:5).
God is so holy, so set apart, that even His name must be set apart as holy—hallowed—as we read in today’s passage (Luke 11:2). In fact, one of the fundamental marks of the believer is that we hallow God’s name, treating it and the person of the Lord whom it signifies as above all. Left to ourselves, we would have such a low regard for God that we would not make a law to respect His name, but the Lord reminds us of His transcendence by having us hallow Him in every respect, down to His very name (Ex. 20:7).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
In our day, there is a great failure in the culture at large to treat God’s name as holy. But we cannot expect the culture to hallow the name of the Lord if the church fails to do so. If we are not publicly acknowledging God as holy through reverent worship and obedience to His revealed will in Scripture, then we cannot be surprised when the culture refuses to hallow His name.
For Further Study
- Leviticus 24:16
- Deuteronomy 5:11
- Luke 12:8–10
- 1 Timothy 1:1–7