Set Apart Your Name

²He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Luke 11:2

As we continue learning from the teaching of Jesus, we find our first goal in prayer, after fully recognizing the identity of the One to Whom we are praying.

We ask our Father to set apart the Name that is His. The Greek verb most often translated "make holy" (αγιασθητω) is passive, aorist and imperative. So we ask the Father to do something (imperative). We ask Him to do it at a point in time (aorist). And finally, we ask that He do it to His Name, not that the Name does it by itself, or that we do it on our own.

At first, we may wonder why the Lord would use the aorist tense for this, and in fact for all the requests of the Father He tells us to make. If this is a prayer not only as a model but that we also "say" (λεγετε), then why not use the present or participle form of these requests, showing a continual action from a continual request?

One possibility may be that this is the ingressive form of the aorist tense, which still reflects the punctiliar (i.e., specific point in time) nature of the aorist, but has its effects continue. So then we ask that the Father set apart the Name that is His, knowing that it will have an ongoing result. When He does this, each time we ask Him as His people, it will continue to happen in response to our request, with necessary results.

We are addressing the Father, as His people, and we are asking Him to "set apart the Name that is His."

I translate the end in this way because there is a definite article before "your name" (το ονομα σου), so that it is literally-"the name—yours." Thus the Lord speaks the truth of the revelation of God throughout the Old Covenant and before, that He possesses a Name that is to be His memorial forever.

¹⁵God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations. Exodus 3:15

⁸“I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images. Isaiah 42:8

Although this is true, it is important to recognize that the Lord does not have us address God in this model prayer as "Yahweh," but as "Our Father." Although Jesus recognizes the Father has a single Name, He desires us (as the Assembly) to seek Him as our Father. This mindset will reinforce the relationship we have together with God, that He is our Father and we are His children. We are not just His creation, and He the Creator (reflected in the Name "Yahweh")—but we have entered into a much deeper relationship: that of parent and child.

Additionally, ονομα ("name") encompasses more than just the literal, lingual appellation. A name represented the person behind the label, their character, their essence. There is even one instance of "the Name of Yahweh" being personified ("his" can also be translated "its"):

²⁷Behold, Yahweh’s name comes from far away, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire. Isaiah 30:27

⁵Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed Yahweh’s name. ⁶Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, ⁷keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.” Exodus 34:5-7

In many scriptures, such as above, God's Name Yahweh is directly connected with His Nature: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, loving and faithful, forgiving, yet just and righteous. He is the Creator—He Who Causes To Become—therefore His glory can in no wise be given to idols, or other created beings.

This concept of a name being synonomous with the person continued on as Jews began to be wary of ever pronouncing the Name. Even now, many of them refer to Yahweh as "HaShem," which is Hebrew for "the Name." This reflects the ancient meaning of "name," that it is not only a lingual appellation, but an outward reflection of a person's true essence. It is a symbol of their very self.

The apostles and disciples reflected this belief when referring to God and His Son in the New Covenant scriptures (the original Greek text of Acts 5:41 has only "the Name" and not "Jesus" also):

⁷because for the sake of the Name they went out, taking nothing from the Gentiles. 3 John 1:7

⁴¹They therefore departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name. Acts 5:41

⁷Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called? James 2:7

Throughout the Old Covenant we see this concept of Yahweh's Name as holy being lived out through His people. It is by His people that His Name either remains set apart, reflecting Him as the only God and Creator, or becomes common, putting Him alongside the other false gods of the nations, such as Baal, Ashteroth, etc. Do His people treat Him as the One Who alone is Lord, obeying His commands as truth? Or do they speak His Name and do not do what He says?

⁶“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says Yahweh of Armies to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ ⁷You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’ ⁸When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?” says Yahweh of Armies. Malachi 1:6-8

²¹You therefore who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn’t steal, do you steal? ²²You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who glory in the law, do you dishonor God by disobeying the law? ²⁴For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written. Romans 2:21-24

How then do these two halves go together—that we ask our Father to set apart His Name, yet at the same time it lies upon us to practically do it?

It is because of His Son, Whom He sent, that we might become His true sons and daughters. Only by the authority Jesus has given us to become the children of God (John 1:12) might we truly live in a way that sets His Name apart from all others; not just the Name—Yahweh—but as we call upon Him as "our Father."

It is only because of Jesus, sent by the Father, that we can call Yahweh our Father, therefore it begins with Him to set His Name apart.

³⁶For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen. Romans 11:36

This is the irony of God that only those who know Him as Father might ask Him to keep His Name set apart, for it is only through them that it can happen.

We need the power from Yahweh that enables us to live holy lives, that when we refer to Him as our Father, it might not lose its meaning and become a common thing. Knowing Yahweh as Father is indeed a noble thing, something different from any other relationship people might have. It cannot become common by those claiming to know Him as Father living as though not in communion with Him. Therefore, we ask Him to do the setting apart, because His Spirit in us enables us to live in a way that will keep this truth pristine.

Therefore, we must ask Him, as His people, to do so!