When Jehovah’s Witnesses come to your door, they often quote Matthew 6:9, “You must pray, then, this way: ‘Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified.'” Jesus here was teaching His disciples how to pray.
Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the name “Jehovah” is very special and believe this passage in Matthew teaches that. It does tell us to sanctify God’s name, doesn’t it? What’s interesting about this is Jesus as God’s representative on earth didn’t use Jehovah’s name but taught us to pray to God using the title, “Father.”
In fact, according to the New World Translation (NWT) published by Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus only used the name “Jehovah” 22 times in the New Testament Gospels (see chart below). 20 of those instances are within quotes from the Old Testament. Five are duplicate events and recorded in more than one Gospel. So, according to the NWT, Jesus only used Jehovah’s name in Old Testament quotes 15 times.
“What about the other two times?” you might ask. Those are both quoted in the Gospel of Mark (Mark 5:19; 13:20) and are not directed to God but are said in passing. In fact, according to the NWT, Jesus never used the name Jehovah in prayer nor did He teach His disciples to do so. Instead, He used the term, “Father” 165 times both in prayer and in teaching.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have come up with an answer to this problem. They say, “I wouldn’t use my father’s name when I speak of him. I would use his title. In the same way, Jesus doesn’t use His Father’s name.” That would sound reasonable except for the two verses mentioned above. There, according to the NWT, Jesus does use His Father’s name. So, Jehovah’s Witnesses really have no valid answer to this issue.
The central point, of course, is that Jesus did not think it important to use the name “Jehovah” very often. Once again, Jehovah’s Witnesses have made a big fuss over what was a minor issue to Jesus. In fact, He used “Father” much more often both in His prayers and in His teachings according to the NWT.
Since that is true, what does Matthew 6:9 mean when Jesus said we are to sanctify God’s name? We see in Exodus 3:14 that God says His name is “I Will Become What I Choose to Become” (NWT). God’s name isn’t a title, it’s a description of What and Who He is. To sanctify God’s name is to sanctify the fact that no matter what we think God to be, He is greater than that.
Passages in the NWT where Jesus uses the name Jehovah.
Verse | Quoting | Greek Word |
| Matt 4:4 | Deut 8:3 | Theos |
| Matt 4:7 | Deut 6:16 | Kyrios |
| Matt 4:10 | Deut 6:13, 10:20 | Kyrios |
| Matt 5:33 | Lev 19:12; Num 30:2; Deu 23:21 | Kyrios |
| Matt 21:42 | Ps 118:22-23 | Kyrios |
| Matt 22:37 | Deut 6:5 | Kyrios |
| Matt 22:44 | Ps 110:1 | Kyrios |
| Matt 23:39 | Ps 118:26 | Kyrios |
| Mark 5:19 | none | Kyrios |
| Mark 12:11 | Ps 118:22-23 | Kyrios |
| Mark 12:29a | Deut 6:4 | Kyrios |
| Mark 12:29b | Deut 6:4 | Kyrios |
| Mark 12:30 | Deut 6:5 | Kyrios |
| Mark 12:36 | Ps 110:1 | Kyrios |
| Mark 13:20 | none | Kyrios |
| Luke 4:8 | Deut 6:13, 10:20 | Kyrios |
| Luke 4:12 | Deut 6:16 | Kyrios |
| Luke 4:18 | Isa 61:1 | Kyrios |
| Luke 4:19 | Isa 61:2 | Kyrios |
| Luke 13:35 | Ps 118:26 | Kyrios |
| Luke 20:42 | Ps 110:1 | Kyrios |
| John 6:45 | Isa 54:13 | Theos |
AnswersAZ 