How do you personally sanctify the Name of God? This is actually a complex question as there are many opinions, practices, and beliefs. This is the subject I’m contemplating as I’m studying the ninth positive commandment as enumerated by Maimonides.
P9 – To sanctify His name, as Leviticus 22:32 states: “And I shall be sanctified amidst the children of Israel.[1]“
The full verse quoted above reads as follows:
Leviticus 22:32 (TLV)
You must not profane My holy Name, for I will be made holy among Bnei-Yisrael. I am Adonai who makes you holy
We will return to this verse again when we look at N63 as it contains both the positive and the negative form of the command and thus two different commandments. For now, I will strive to remain on task looking at only the positive command.
Sanctification of God’s name is a big deal in Scripture. God doesn’t take it lightly. This is displayed in various ways in the New Testament. Jesus demonstrates it in His actions, His speech, and His teachings. I’m going to highlight three ways this commandment makes an appearance in the New Testament.
Overt Reference
I can find one explicit reference to this command in its positive context, and it’s reiterated by two of the synoptic Gospels. In the famous account of the Lord’s Prayer, the Disciples of Yeshua asked Him to teach them to pray. In response, He taught them the famous prayer that the whole of Christianity prays.
Luke 11:2 (TLV)
Then Yeshua said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father, sanctified be Your Name, Your kingdom come. (also Matthew 6:9)
Jesus took the opportunity to plug this commandment into this prayer. “Sanctified” is in the imperative form as a command. God’s name is proclaimed and sanctified regularly through these words. We aggrandize the Father and His Name, just as we were taught by our Rabbi Yeshua. God commanded that we sanctify His name, so Jesus ensured that every disciple throughout the ages would do exactly that with this prayer.
Circumlocution
In Jewish understanding, starting from at least the time when the Septuagint was translated into Greek, God’s Name is not commonly spoken. In the Septuagint, God’s Name is translated as “Lord” and this same tradition passed into the writings of the Apostles and into pretty much every English translation of the Bible (with some exceptions of course). God’s Name doesn’t appear a single time in the New Testament manuscripts. Jesus and His Apostles made a practice of using alternate words to overtly reference God’s Name, but without speaking it. Words like Father, Heaven, God, Lord, Adonai (Hebrew for My Lord), and the modern version of HaShem (literally ‘the Name’) are all used as circumlocutions. This was in an effort to avoid making God’s Name common and in direct reference to P9, the purpose is to sanctify God’s Name.
This is a seriously deep and complex conversation, but from my current understanding, I strive to imitate Yeshua in this, and I don’t speak God’s Name. There are many theological considerations and understandings on this topic that I’m not covering here, but I encourage you to prayerfully study your way through this and follow the Spirit’s leading.
Yeshua’s Teachings
A less obvious reference to this command comes from our Master’s teachings. It’s subtle and you won’t even know it’s happening unless you come at it from a cultural perspective. A famous teacher within Judaism highlights some of the ways that the Jewish people sanctify God’s name.
The Rambam in his writing Yesodei HaTorah[2] gives several examples of the behavior that sanctifies the name of God and they are spread throughout his book. I’ll highlight a few here.
A person sanctifies the name of God when they:
1. Speak pleasantly with others.
2. Do business faithfully.
3. Are humbled by others but do not humble them in return.
4. Carry out his deeds beyond the letter of the law.
Consider number 4 above. Does Yeshua call us to live beyond the letter of the law? During His Sermon on the Mount, our Master had several sayings where He said “You have heard it said…but I tell you.” An easy example is His teaching on murder. The letter of the law speaks of murder, but Yeshua demands His Disciples to live beyond the letter of the law and says:
Matthew 5:21–22 (ESV)
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
The prohibition against murder obviously stands, but Yeshua brought it to a higher level beyond the literal reading of the commandment. A second example Jesus specifically addresses in the same set of teachings is number 1 above.
Matthew 5:47 (ESV)
And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Business ethics falls into a wider category of ethics and can become a pretty deep conversation that probably extends beyond the scope of P9. However, you can easily make this mental leap through the various teachings by the Apostles urging us to conduct ourselves honorably before others.
1 Peter 2:12 (ESV)
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Lastly, looking at number 3, the topic of humility is constant in the teachings of our Master and His Apostles. We can pull out any number of verses where He is encouraging you to remain humble and not to humble others in return.
Ephesians 4:1–2 (TLV)
Therefore I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you were called— with complete humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love
As the Rambam says, “Such a person sanctifies [God’s] name.[3]”
There is SO much more here, including the recurring teaching on our suffering for the faith. If we suffer on God’s behalf, we sanctify His Name. If we lay down our lives for God, we sanctify His Name. If we lay down our lives for others, we sanctify His Name. Every book of the New Testament speaks of the suffering that we must endure so in that vein of thinking, we can say that the idea of sanctifying God’s Name is one of the main themes of the Apostolic Writings. It’s everywhere.
2 Thessalonians 1:12 (TLV)
so the name of our Lord Yeshua may be glorified in you, and you in Him, in keeping with the grace of our God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.