I recently read a book where the writer replaced “hallowed” in the Lord’s Prayer with “treasured.” “Treasured” was placed in brackets, so he was not saying the original Greek word for “hallowed” could be translated as “treasured” per se. He rather was teaching that the Lord’s Prayer “hallowed be your name” essentially meant “treasured be your name.”
Is this accurate? Is it right and helpful to think “treasured be your name” when we pray the Lord’s Prayer? I believe so. And as we’ll see, it’s not only beneficial but also beautiful to think this way whenever we recite the Lord’s Prayer.
“Holy”: Set Apart, Other
We can start with the word “hallowed” itself. The word mean “to be/become holy.” Sharp knives are made sharp. Solid rocks are created solid. A holy God is hallowed.
What makes using this in a prayer to God difficult is that God is already holy. “Holy” means set apart, other, distinct. God is already holy, meaning, he is unlike any other: “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One” (Isaiah 40:25). He is in a category of his own. He is distinct. He is holy.
But if he is already holy, what does the Lord’s Prayer mean for the Father to be “hallowed”? It cannot imply that we’re asking for God to become more holy (that would be impossible). Rather it means something like “may your name been seen as holy” or “may people see you as holy.” This is “hallowed be your name.”
The Greater Question: In What Sense Is God Holy?
That being said, many Christians when they pray the Lord’s Prayer understand what’s written above: God is other, distinct, holy, and we pray in the Lord’s Prayer that he be recognized as such.
But here’s the greater question we need to ask: In what sense is God holy?
When we say he’s distinct and other, what do we mean? What is this “holiness” that we’re praying for the world to see?
We might automatically answer that God’s holiness means he’s God and we’re not. Or similarly, that he’s the Creator and everything else is created. By explaining it in this way, we’re talking about ontology (forgive the long word). Ontology, meaning, we’re describing God’s being, explaining what God is as God. We speak of who God is in his being when we talk about God as God, about him as the Creator while we are the created.
What type of being is he compared to us? He’s God, and that’s what makes him holy.
In sum, when we answer in what sense is God holy, we default to the ontological answer: “What is God’s holiness? He’s a totally different Being.”
So What?
But we’re not supposed to stop there. The Bible doesn’t. And if we do, we’ll miss much of what it means that God is “holy.”
In fact, on this point, we could even play devil’s advocate and ask about God’s ontological holiness: So what? We might ask: “What’s the big deal that he’s a different Being? So what that he’s not created? What does that matter?”*
God’s Value, Beauty, and Loveliness
To answer this so what we must go beyond mere ontology (beyond what God is). We must tread into the realm of value, beauty, loveliness. We must not only talk about what type of Being God is, but what he’s like.
And this, then, brings us to the answer to the greater question about in what sense God is holy: God’s holiness is not just that he’s a different Being, but that he’s better and best, that he alone is of unique, surpassing value (Philippians 3:7-8).
Or to say it even simpler: God holiness is not just that he’s Creator while everything else is created, his holiness is also that he’s so much more valuable, beautiful, and lovely than everything else.
Comparing the creation (and us in it) to God is not only like comparing a tiny ant to a magnificent lion (a comparison of being). It’s also like comparing a paper clip to ten trillion dollars (a comparison of value), a splash of paint to the Mona Lisa (a comparison of beauty), a stranger to your spouse (a comparison of loveliness).
He’s more valuable, beautiful, and lovely than everything else. He’s in a different category of value, beauty, and loveliness. This is what it means that he’s our holy God.
He is “Worthy” and “Great”
We can explain this idea using other biblical words, too. God’s holiness isn’t only about his being, it’s about his worth. This is why the angels sing, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”, and then in their next breath exclaim, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power” (Revelation 4:9-11). He’s holy. Why? Yes, because he’s big and strong; yes, because he’s the unique Being; but also, because he’s worthy. He’s surpassingly valuable, beautiful, and lovely.
The same goes for why God is great. One of the most sung worship songs today is “How Great Is Our God.” It’s a wonderful song. But let’s ask, how great is he? In what ways is he “great”? Well, God’s not just great because he’s a big and powerful unique being. He’s also great because he’s valuable, beautiful, lovely.
He’s great, like how a mountain is greater than a rock (great in strength and power), but also like how a diamond is greater than a pebble (great in value, beauty, and loveliness).
Back to the Lord’s Prayer
This all finally brings us back to the Lord’s Prayer. Because of how we define “holy,” many of us initially think “hallowed be your name” simply means “let people see that you’re a powerful, totally unique Being.” Now it’s true: Asking for God to be hallowed does include that (“let the nations see that they are but men” [Psalm 9:20]). But stopping there would be missing the splendor of God’s holiness (Psalm 29:2). God’s holiness is much more, much greater, much more beautiful than that.
Because God’s holiness also is about his value, beauty, and loveliness, Jesus’s prayer “hallowed be your name” also means, “Lord, let people see you as more beautiful and lovely than everything else. Let them see you as distinct and unique because of how valuable you are. Let them praise your worth, your greatness.”
“Hallowed be” must mean this because this is what God’s holiness is: he’s not only a totally different in what Being he is, he’s also of incomparable value, beauty, and loveliness.
Treasured Be Your Name
So, when we recite the Lord’s Prayer and plead “hallowed be your name,” we’re not just asking God to help people see him as a distinct Being. Nor are we only asking God to make people see him as important or powerful. Those are great and true prayers, but that’s not all. God’s holiness is more.
When we pray “hallowed be your name” we’re also pleading with God to help the world recognize his value. We urging him to enable the world to taste and see his beauty, his loveliness, his worth, and his greatness. That’s our prayer.
Essentially we’re praying, “Our Father who is in Heaven, treasured be your name.”
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*Side note: It’s fascinating to think that such a so what type of argument literally is advocating like the devil. Why? The devil understands that God is God ontologically. He knows that God is the God. What the devil doesn’t grasp or taste or savor is God’s superior value. The former is mere knowledge. The latter is worship. (I’d love to meditate on this more in a blog post in the future.)
