Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 14:13
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
13. whatsoever ye shall ask in my name ] Comp. Joh 15:16, Joh 16:23-24; Joh 16:26. Anything that can rightly be asked in His name will be granted; there is no other limit. By ‘in My name’ is not of course meant the mere using the formula ‘through Jesus Christ.’ Rather, it means praying and working as Christ’s representatives in the same spirit in which Christ prayed and worked, ‘Not My will, but Thine be done.’ Prayers for other ends than this are excluded; not that it is said that they will not be granted, but there is no promise that they will. Comp. 2Co 12:8-9.
that the Father may be glorified ] See notes on Joh 11:4, Joh 12:28, Joh 13:31.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Whatsoever ye shall ask – This promise referred particularly to the apostles in their work of spreading the gospel; it is, however, true of all Christians, if what they ask is in faith, and according to the will of God, Jam 1:6; 1Jo 5:14.
In my name – This is equivalent to saying on my account, or for my sake. If a man who has money in a bank authorizes us to draw it, we are said to do it in his name. If a son authorizes us to apply to his father for aid because we are his friends, we do it in the name of the son, and the favor will be bestowed on us from the regard which the parent has to his son, and through him to all his friends. So we are permitted to apply to God in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, because God is in him well pleased Mat 3:17, and because we are the friends of his Son he answers our requests. Though we are undeserving, yet he loves us on account of his Son, and because he sees in us his image. No privilege is greater than that of approaching God in the name of his Son; no blessings of salvation can be conferred on any who do not come in his name.
That will I do – Being exalted, he will be possessed of all power in heaven and earth Mat 28:18, and he therefore could fulfill all their desires.
That the Father may be glorified in the Son – See the notes at Joh 13:31.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 14:13-14
Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name that will I do
Praying in the name of Christ
I.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
1. To obtain anything in the name of another supposes that your own name is an insufficient warrant. In the negotiation by which you secure it, your own personality is lost altogether. Thus an ambassador personifies the country he represents; he has no personal recognition when he sits in the councils of foreign potentates. So in familiar life we invest a subordinate agent with our own reputation and credit.
2. But in neither of these senses do we make mention of the name of Christ in our prayers. We may be said, it is true, to traffic with anothers credit, and represent the authority of a sovereign in some conditions of intercourse with God; but praying in the name of Jesus implies a closer union than that of service. If ye shall ask the Father (see chap. 20:17). Prayer rises from outside, knocking into the tender confidences of family intercourse. We ask in the name of Christ because we have put on that name as a woman by marriage puts on the name of her husband, and with it his rank and property. When she asks anything in the husbands name she brings with her whatever that name merits or can demand. To deny her is to deny him, In the Scriptures our union with Christ is described by marriage. This is foreshadowed by the prophets (Isa 54:5; Isa 62:5), and Gods name is used as an argument of deprecation as if somehow that name were bound up with the fate of His people (Jer 14:21; Jos 7:9; Eze 36:22-23). In Mat 9:15, Christ accepts all this, and in His marriage parables. And so St. Paul (Eph 5:25-32), and St. John (Rev 19:6-9; Rev 21:2-9). Let the light of these statements shine on the text. In communion with the Father we have lost our name. He found us nameless, for we had not a name of any honourable distinction to lose or merge. The Saviour describes our condition as lost–without name, home, repute. He allured us back (Isa 62:2), and gave us His own name, and our miserable name was hidden and lost in the brightness of Christ. That name is ours, its renown and the vast treasures of grace procurable by its warrant (1Co 3:23).
II. THE POWER OF PRAYER MUST BE PROPORTIONED TO OUR ABSORPTION IN CHRIST.
1. It is the conscious weight of His name that gives its energy to faith. When that name is not predominant, we naturally dwell on our own unworthiness, etc., which produces distrust–the fatal sickness of prayer. Distrust blocks the way up to God, and no prayer can pass to Him Jam 1:5-7). Not that no prayer can prosper unless faith be perfect, for then how could we pray for faith at all; but the chief condition of our receiving is a belief that Christ will do it (Mar 11:24). It is the name of Christ, and that only, that gives us such a confidence. With His name in our hands, or rather written on the covenant register of our love, we can no more fail with the Father than He can. When we pray in His name it is as if He prayed.
2. This nearness of fellowship with Christ explains the anything of the text. It is not supposed that such a licence will be abused by caprice. The prayer of a depending love to a conferring love will interpret it by the extent of its wants, and the right it is permitted to assume.
3. The endearments of such a state are not sustained by great services. Whatever concerns you concerns Him; if in itself it be a trifle, it is not a trifle to Him if it affects you. (E. E. Jenkins, LL. D.)
If ye shall ask anything in My name
Prayer in Christs name
I. THE FACT WHICH IS THE ROOT OF THIS PROMISE is described in what our Lord says about the vine. The vine and the branches are one, the same name covers them. Whatever the branch asks for–that its blossoms may be abundant, and that its clusters may ripen–the vine asks for. And it was in immediate connection with this that our Lord said, If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, etc. We are to pray in Christs name because we are so undeniably one with Him that what we ask He asks. The use of His name, then, is not an incantation, nor is it one of a number of conditions of successful prayer. It is the one condition of both prayer and work. This promise is connected with that which precedes it. He that believeth on Me, the works that I do, etc. Why? Because I go unto My Father; and those who are one with Me share My glorified powers. It is the consciousness of this union that enables us to pray too and work for God with a large and happy faith that He will hear us and help us.
II. THE COMPREHENSIVENESS OF THE PROMISE.
1. It may be objected that when we pray in the name of Christ the range of our prayers must be narrowed. We must pray about Christs affairs, and not about our own. We may pray, for example, that the gospel may reach the hearts of men; but can we ask in Christs name that we may be successful in business, or that our children may be healthy and happy? When we pray for the strong help of the Spirit of God to enable us to practise all Christian virtues we may pray in Christs name; but if we want to get an appointment which will bring us a larger income, to win a contested election, to escape a bad debt, protection, or better health–these are our own affairs. It is as if a minister of the Crown were to use his official authority for his own personal interests; or as if the representative of a commercial firm, who was authorised to sign cheques for the firm, signed cheques for the payment of his private and personal accounts. But have we any interests that are not Christs? Should we really choose the better appointment and the larger income at the risk of becoming of less use to Christ? Should we care to win the contested election if success did not give us new opportunities for serving Him? Are we not carrying on our business as Christs servants? And when we pray for our children, do we not remember with a leap of the heart that they are much more dear to Him than they are to us? Can we really desire anything for ourselves that Christ does not desire us to have? Can we desire anything for others that Christ does not desire them to have?
2. But these answers, though good as far as they go, are incomplete. The real root of that vague discontent is in that dualism which divides human life into the religious and the secular; in one of which we know that Christ is interested, while the other seems to be of interest only to ourselves. That we should care for righteousness more than for everything besides we acknowledge frankly. To serve Christ well–that is what we desire above everything. If the chance were offered to us between a saintly character and the most splendid earthly position, not for a moment should we hesitate. But our nature is complex. Righteousness is the great good to which every inferior good gives place; but there are many good things besides. The worst of all evils is to sin against God; but it is a bad thing to be cold, hungry, friendless; to see the wealth which has been accumulated by skill, industry, and thrift, wasting away through the dishonesty of those we have trusted. It is the worst of all evils to be lashed day after day by a guilty conscience; but it is also a bad thing to suffer the physical tortures which are the result of some terrible forms of disease. From the worst evils we can ask in Christs name to be delivered, that others should be delivered from them; but how is it with the rest? Have we forgotten that Christ created us body and soul? When a limb is broken, Christs own creation is injured, just as the creation of an artist is injured when the marble which is the triumph of his genius is shattered, or when the canvas on which he has recorded some dream of beauty is rent. Christs miracles were the signs of the depth of His compassion for the miseries of our race; and has He not made it apart of the service which we owe to Himself to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, etc. In His name we are to relieve all forms of human want–in His name, when the want is our own, we may ask that the want may be relieved. If we serve Christ in common things, we shall be able to pray ill His name about common things; and perhaps it is because we alienate a large part of our life from His service that we are conscious of a certain incongruity when we try to pray about it.
3. But we may sometimes doubt whether relief from want, pain, trouble, is really good. It is right to ask, and to ask in Christs name, for relief from it; but Christ may cancel the prayer, and put in its place a petition for a higher blessing. We pray that it may be removed: He loves us too well for the prayer to be answered. But when we pray for the great gifts, whether for ourselves or for others, then we know that our prayers are but the experience of the central thoughts and desires of the very heart of Christ; we know that we should not offer them were it not for our union with Christ; and therefore with perfect confidence we offer them in His name, they are less ours than His. (R. W. Dale, D. D.)
Praying in Christs name
In the common acceptation, the phrase in my name means the same thing as for my sake or on my account. The common notion seems to be that if we present ourselves before the Infinite Majesty with any request and make use of this formula, our requests will be granted, no matter what they may be. The young soldier dying on the field sends by his wounded comrade a letter to his father at home, saying, This is my friend; give him whatever he asks for, for my sake; and although the requests of the wounded man are unreasonable and injurious, the father grants the petition, simply because of the love that he bears his son. Just so men go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with this text as their warrant. Another conception of the promise is that Christ has accumulated an infinite fund of merit by His death, and has put the Father under infinite obligations to Him. Those, therefore, who come to the Father in the name of the Son have a claim on Him which He is bound to recognize. The transaction, as thus conceived, is partly legal and partly commercial. To ask in Christs name is therefore substantially the same thing as to present an order at a store signed by one of the joint proprietors, or a cheque upon a bank certified by the cashier. The name, as we say, is good for the amount. It matters not to us whether the persons to whom the cheque or the order is presented are friendly or unfriendly to us; nor to them whether the thing is good for us or not; there need be no acquaintance beyond simple identification. What they impart to us is not of grace to us but of debt to the one whose name we present to them. This view needs only to be distinctly stated in order that its credulity may be perceived.
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY ASKING IN CHRISTS NAME? The name, in the New Testament, generally stands for the person. So always when miracles are wrought by the name of Christ, it is the personality and the power of Christ that are referred to. Believing in the name of Christ is believing not merely in a word but in Christ, with a glance, no doubt, at His trustworthiness. To ask for anything in the name of Christ, then, is to put ourselves in His place as nearly as we can, and to ask for the things that He would ask for, and in the spirit with which He would present His requests. Just in proportion as His mind is in us, and our lives reproduce His life, will our prayers be effectual. The same truth is put in another form in Joh 15:7; Joh 15:16. It isonly when the life of the Master quickens and invigorates the disciple, just as the life of the vine does that of the branches, that he can truly pray in Christs name, and find a certain answer to his prayers.
II. THIS INTERPRETATION LIMITS THE PROMISE IN CERTAIN DIRECTIONS. That is really no objection to the interpretation.
1. Men have brought to God many strange requests for objects unworthy and injurious to themselves, and yet have supposed that by the use of this phrase they made good their demand upon Him. Those to whom, e.g., worldly prosperity would be a curse, who have no power to use wealth wisely, and would surely be corrupted by it, sometimes ask for it, and seem to think that God is not faithful to His promise because He does not give it to them.
2. Sometimes good people have hateful whims that they wish to have gratified. One good woman whom I knew prayed, so she said, in Christs name all night, that her husband may be kept from joining a certain church. Thus she imagined this promise to be a weapon with which she could compel the Deity to gratify her small bigotry, her antipathy to another Christian sect.
3. Neither does the text encourage speculative or experimental praying. A proposition was made that Christians should pray for the patients in a certain ward of a hospital; and if these recovered more rapidly than those in other wards the result would be a demonstration of the power of prayer. But men who pray, just to see whether there is any use in praying or not, are not praying with the mind of Christ, no matter what phrases these may use; and there is no promise of answer to any such prayers. To ask a good man for a good gift, just to see what he would say, would be an insult; and it is not less offensive to approach God in this way.
4. Neither does this interpretation encourage the expectation that God will work miracles to relieve us of work. Some imagine that God will support them in idleness if they only pray in faith for food and raiment and shelter. We know, as well as we can know anything, that it is Gods will that we should earn our livelihood by labour, and husband our earnings with prudence.
5. The same principle applies to suffering. One who violates a physical law the existence of which he knows or ought to know, and then thinks to escape through prayer from the penalty of that law, really insults God by his prayer. No one can pray really in the name of Christ who is not careful to obey every part of the law of God, natural as well as Biblical. The very first condition of asking in Christs name is an entire and hearty willingness to know and to do the will of the Lord. To pray in the name or character of Christ is to remember that we are ignorant and that God is infinitely wise; and that what He chooses for us, though it may seem evil to us, is by far the best that we can only make known to Him our desires, and then leave ourselves with entire submission in His careful and powerful hands.
III. AFTER WE HAVE QUALIFIED THIS PROMISE IN ALL THESE WAYS IT IS STILL LARGE ENOUGH–So large that we shall never begin to realize all the good it offers us.
1. It does not forbid us to ask for temporal mercies, for the least of the good things that God provides, nor for the greatest of them. You may pray for health; that is a blessing that Christ gave to many while He was here. But it is a gift that He does not always give to those He loves best! and when you pray for it you must always say, Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.
2. You may pray for success in business and for prosperity if you desire them for spiritual or benevolent rather than for natural and selfish reasons. But here, too, the dominating wish will be that Gods will may be done. You may, honestly think that you could use wealth in such a way as to derive moral and spiritual benefit from it for yourself, and to confer benefits upon others; but the Omniscient One may know that you are mistaken about this, and, for your own good, as well as for His glory, He may therefore withhold what you crave.
3. There is one class of petitions, however, in which you do not need to make any of these reservations. When you ask for spiritual gifts, then if you are sincere you know that you are asking in Christs name. This is the will of God, even your sanctification. (Washington Gladden D. D.)
The reason for delay in the answers to prayer
Pa said he liked us to ask him for whatever we wanted, and I asked him yesterday to get me a kite, and he has not got it for me! said a curly-headed grumbler, on a cold foggy day in November. Yes, and I asked him to give me a gold watch, and he has never given me one! said a brother, two or three years older; and I dont see the good of asking him for things. Six months passed away, when behold! one fine day in May, the father came in with a beautiful kite, which he gave to his little boy without saying a word. But it was eight or nine years before he called the other boy to him and said, I suppose you have forgotten, when you were a boy in pinafores, asking me for a gold watch, havent you? Yes, that I have, answered the now tall youth. But I have not, said the father. Heres the watch, my dear boy; you can value it and take care of it now! Ah, Christian, need I add a word? else I might say that prayers do not spoil by keeping, but are only put out at interest. (H. H. Dobney.)
If ye love Me, keep My commandments
True love for Christ
I. ITS TRUE NATURE AND CHARACTER.
1. The text suggests a contrast with something besides which, while purporting to be the love of Christ, is not the very reality. There is a love of Christ which is
(1) Affected–that of Judas but it was an illusion. How much of Christianity consists in acknowledgment of Gospel verity, respect for Christian institutions, etc.
(3) Morbid, that perhaps of Thomas, which has its eyes turned in upon himself–a type of Christianity induced by persecution, the prevalence of wickedness, a high state of civilization, want of moral earnestness.
(4) Partial and unworthy, that of Peter, who made the commonest of mistakes, overestimating His love. It was a genuine feeling; but not equal to all emergencies, and so vanished as soon as it confronted danger.
2. The love of Christ–what is it?
(1) Acquaintance with Christ. How can we love what we do not know? How can we love Christ if we are ignorant of His Person, work, character, claims, promises, etc.? Of this knowledge our Lord makes the highest account, and provides for it by the gift of His Spirit. This knowledge is not the measure of love, but is its companion, and one of the spheres of its activity.
(2) Affection for Christ. Knowledge may be divorced from any alliance of the heart or will. But the soul who possesses the love of Christ will be filled with a sacred passion for Him shed abroad by the Holy Ghost.
(3) Obedience to Christ, which is Christs own definition here. This is to live in
(a) Piety towards God. Christ will recognize no love for Him which does not show forth the praises of His Father.
(b) Self-control and purity.
(c) Truth, love, justice to all men.
II. ITS BLESSEDNESS AND DIVINE EXCELLENCE. To love Christ is
1. To be loved of the Father and the Son (Joh 14:21). The Divine Son is so dear to the Father, that love for Him in a human soul makes it dear to God.
2. To receive the manifestation of the love of God is the coming to the soul of the Father and the Son (Joh 14:23). Human love often remains unmanifested through lack of opportunity, etc. So there was a lack of the manifestation of Divine love before the Incarnation; but Christ promises to the disciples that He and the Father will come. Believers shall know the love which God has for them, the Spirit Himself bearing witness of the fact.
3. To enjoy this manifestation as a permanent condition of soul: make our abode.
Conclusion:
1. What bewildering and entrancing views of heaven does this scripture open before us? If God so loved us here, how will He love us in the mansions above!
2. To how great a height does the Christianity of the New Testament tower above that of most of its professors.
3. Let those who name the name of Christ be careful to keep His commandments. (J. D. Geden, D. D.)
Loves law and life
This is a chapter singularly full of certainties, and remarkably studded with ifs.
1. Look at Joh 14:2. If there had been no place for us in the glory land Jesus would have told us.
2. Notice Joh 14:3. If the Lord Jesus should go away (and this is a supposition no longer), then He would return again in due time. His home going pledges Him to come, and compels us to look for Him.
3. The next if comes at the beginning of Joh 14:7. If we really know Christ, we know God. In fact, there is no knowing God aright except through His
Son. If our scientific men get away from the Christ, the incarnate God, before long they drift away from God altogether.
4. The next variety of if is in Joh 14:14. Taking it for granted that we ask mercies in the name of Jesus, a glorious certainty is linked thereto–I will do it.
5. Again, you have if in Joh 14:23. Respect to His wisdom, and obedience to His authority, will grow out of love.
6. The chapter almost closes at Joh 14:28, by saying, If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, etc. Where there is an intelligent love to Christ we rejoice in His gains even though we ourselves appear to be losers thereby.
I. THE IF IS OUR TEXT IS A VERY SERIOUS ONE. It goes to the very root of the matter. Love belongs to the heart; and every surgeon will tell you that a disease of the heart may not be trifled with. Solomon bids us keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. If the mainspring fails, all the works of a watch refuse to act.
1. Our Saviour puts this if in such a way as to teach us that love must be prior to obedience. Obedience must have love for its mother, nurse, and food. The essence of obedience lies in the hearty love which prompts the deed rather than in the deed itself. A heart at enmity with God cannot be made acceptable by mere acts of piety. It is not what your hands are doing, nor even what your lips are saying; the main thing is what your heart is meaning and intending. The great flywheel which moves the whole machinery of life is fixed in the heart: hence this is the most important of all suggestions, If ye love Me. When the heathen killed their sacrifices in order to prophesy future events from the entrails, the worst augury they ever got was when the priest could not find a heart; or if that heart was small and shrivelled. It is so in very deed with religion and with each religious person. He that searches us searches principally our hearts.
2. Love to Jesus is put first because it is the best reason for our obedience to Him. Notice: If ye love Me, keep My commandments. Personal affection will produce personal obedience. There are some men for whom you would do anything. The Saviour may much more safely than any other be installed in such a position. This is the spring and source of all holy living–love to the Holy One.
3. It was greatly needful for our Lord thus to address His disciples. We should never have doubted one of them. We now know by the result that one of them was a traitor, but no one suspected him. Ah! if that question, If ye love Me, needed to be raised in the sacred college of the twelve, much more must it be allowed to sift our churches, and to test ourselves. Perhaps you have almost taken it for granted that you love Jesus; but it must not be taken for granted. It is most kind of the Saviour to give you an opportunity of examining yourself and seeing whether you are right at heart.
4. Remember, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ he will be anathema maranatha, cursed at His coming. This applies to every man, even though he be most eminent. An apostle turned out to be a son of perdition–may not you?
5. The question is answerable. It was put to the apostles, and they could answer it. Peter spoke as all the eleven would have done when he said, Thou knowest that I love Thee. It is not a question concerning mysteries. A man may know whether he loves the Lord or not, and he ought to know. Do not be content with merely longing to love Jesus; or with longing to know whether you love Him. Not love Jesus I It were better for me not to live than not to love Him.
II. THE TEST WHICH IS PROPOSED IN THE TEXT IS A VERY JUDICIOUS ONE. If ye love Me.
1. The test indicated does not suggest a lawless liberty. Let us never enter into the counsel of those who do not believe that there are any commandments for believers to keep. Those who do away with duty do away with sin, and consequently with the Saviour. Jesus does not say, so long as you love Me in your hearts, I care nothing about your lives. He that loves Christ is the freest man out of heaven, but he is also the most under bonds. He is free, for Christ has loosed his bonds, but he is put under bonds to Christ by grateful love.
2. The text also contains no fanatical challenge. We do not read, If ye love Me, perform some extraordinary act. Hermits, nuns, and religious mad caps find no example or precept here. Every now and then we find members of our churches who must needs leave their trades and their callings to show their love for Jesus: children may starve and wives may pine, but their mad whims must be carried out for love of Jesus.
3. Why does the Saviour give us this as a test? Because
(1) It tests whether you are loving Christ in His true position, or whether your love is to a Christ of your own making, and your own placing. Moses never used an expression such as our Saviour here employs. He might say, Keep Gods commandments; but He would never have said, Keep My commandments. By obedience you own Christs sovereignty and Godhead. We do not love Jesus if He is not our Lord and God. Love Him, and belittle Him! It is absurd.
(2) It proves the living presence of the object of your love. Love always desires to have its object near, and it has a faculty of bringing its object near. A gentleman has faithful servants; he goes away, and leaves his house in their charge. They are not eye servants, and so they work none the less because he is absent. If he does not see them, yet the eyes of their love always see him, and therefore they work as if he were at home. So Christ has gone away, but He is made present to us by our realizing love; and the proof of our love is that Jesus is so present that He constrains our actions, influences our motives, and is the cause of our obedience.
(3) By keeping our Lords commandments we are doing that which is most pleasing to Him, and will most glorify Him. There is the answer to every rapturous inquiry.
(4) Moreover, the Saviour knew, when He bade us try this test, that it would prepare us for honouring and glorifying Him in many ways. When a friend is dying, and he asks you to prove your love by such and such a deed, he may ask what he wills; you give him carte blanche. Baptism and the Lords supper will never be slighted by those whose hearts are fully possessed with love to Jesus. They may seem trifles, but if the Lord Jesus commands them they cannot be neglected.
III. TRUE LOVE WILL ENDURE THE TEST. If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments. This is the Revised Version, and I hope it will be written out in capitals upon our revised lives! If you love Christ
1. Set to work to find out what His commandments are.
2. Be always true to your convictions about what Christs commandments are. Carry them out at all hazards, and carry them out at once.
3. Take note of every commandment as it concerns you. If there be a commandment which you do not relish, it ought to be a warning to you that there is something wrong in your heart that needs setting right. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Love and obedience
The keyword of the preceding context is Believe! and that word passes now into Love. The believing gaze upon Christ kindles love and prompts to obedience. There is another very beautiful and subtle link. Our Lord has just been saying, Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name that will I do. The Lord does as the servant asks, and the servant is to do as the Lord commands. On both sides there is love delighting to be set in motion by a message from the other side.
I. THE ALL-SUFFICIENT IDEAL OR GUIDE FOR LIFE. The authoritative tone which Christ assumes is noteworthy. He speaks as Jehovah spoke from Sinai; and quotes the very words of the old law. There are distinctly involved, in this incidental utterance, two startling things–one the assumption of the right to impose His will upon every human being, and the other that His will contains the all-sufficient directory for conduct.
1. What, then, are His commandments? Those which He spoke are plain and simple; and some people crow loud if, scratching amongst rabbinical dust heaps, they find something that looks like anything that He once said. What does that matter? Christs commandments are Christ Himself. There is the originality and uniqueness of Christ as a moral teacher, that He says, Copy Me.
1. Its law is to be found in His life.
2. And then, if that be so, what a change passes on the aspect of law! Everything that was hard, repellent, far-off, cold, vanishes. We have no longer tables of stone, but fleshy tables of a heart; and the Law stands before us, a Being to be loved, to be clung to, to be trusted in, and whom it is blessedness to know and perfection to be like.
3. It is enough for conduct, for character, and in all perplexities of conflicting duties that we listen to and obey the Voice that says, Keep My commandments.
II. THE ALL-POWERFUL MOTIVE. The Revised Version reads, If ye love Me ye will keep, etc., making it an assurance and not an injunction.
1. The principle that underlies these words is, that love is the foundation of obedience, and obedience is the sure outcome and result of love. We all know that love which is real delights most chiefly in knowing and conforming to the will of the beloved. And you have only to lift that which is the experience of every true heart into the higher regions, to see that Christ has invoked an omnipotent power.
2. That is exactly what lifts the morality of the Gospel above all other systems. It is not for want of knowledge that men go to the devil, but for want of power to live their knowledge. And what morality fails to do with its clearest utterances of human duty, Christ comes and does. The one is like the useless proclamations posted up in some rebellious district, where there is no army to back them. The other gets itself obeyed. Here is the road plain and straight. What matters that if there is no force to draw the cart along it. Here stand all your looms, polished and in perfect order, but there is no steam in the boilers; and so there is no motion and nothing manufactured. What we want is not law, but power. And what the gospel stands alone in giving us, is not merely the clear revelation of what we ought to be, but it is the power to become it.
3. Love does that, and love alone. The true way to cleanse the Augean stables, was to turn the river into them. It would have been endless to wheel out the filth in wheelbarrows loaded by spades. When the ark comes into the Temple, Dagon lies, a mutilated stump, upon the threshold. Christ, and He alone, entering my heart by the portals of my love, will coerce my evil and stimulate my good.
4. Here is a plain test and a double-barreled one.
(1) There is no love worth calling so which does not keep the commandment. All the emotional and the mystic, and the so-called higher parts of Christian experience have to be content to submit to this plain test–do they help us to live as Christ would have us, and that because Hewould have us? Not that in regard of each action there must be the conscious reference to the supreme love. The colouring matter put in at the fountain will dye every drop of the stream; and they whose inmost hearts are tinged and tinctured with the sweet love of Jesus Christ, from their hearts will go forth issues of life all coloured and moulded thereby.
(2) There is no obedience worth calling so which is not the child of love; and all the multitude of right things which Christians do, without that motive, are made short work of by the principle. Obedience which is mechanical and matter of course, or which is forced upon us by dread, is nothing. This is a sieve with very small meshes, and there will be a great deal of rubbish left in it after the shaking.
III. THE ALL-SUBDUING GAZE. This is not included in the text, but it is necessary to complete the view of the forces to which Christ here entrusts the hallowing of life. Nothing will kindle a mans love but the faithful contemplation and grasp of the Redeeming Christ.
1. Here is a man, dead for nineteen centuries, expecting you and me to have towards Him a vivid personal affection which will influence our conduct and our character. What right has He to expect that? There is only one reasonable ground, and that is, that He died for me. And such a love towards such a Christ is the only thing which will wield power sufficient to guide, to coerce, to restrain, to constrain, and to sustain my weak, wayward, rebellious, and sluggish will.
2. Here is a unique fact in the history of the world, that not only did He make this astounding claim, but that it has been responded to, and that today there are millions of men who love Jesus Christ with a love warm, personal, deep, powerful–the spring of all their goodness and the Lord of their lives. Why do they? For one reason only. Because they believe that He died for them, and that He lives an ascended yet ever-present Helper and Lover of their souls. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Love and obedience
I. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN KEEPING THE DIVINE COMMANDS?
1. That we retain them in our memory, so as not to forget them. This is necessary to all other ways of keeping them (Deu 8:7; Deu 17:18). The heart of every Christian should be a sacred ark, containing the two tables of the law, that they may be ready for use, and secured against all hostile attempts to deprive us of them (Psa 119:61; Psa 119:93; Heb 2Pe 1:12-13).
2. That they have a place in our affections; we must love them, and delight in them. A thing may be lost to the memory, and yet be kept in the heart; the words of a discourse may be forgotten, and yet the savour of it be retained. But Gods commands require to be kept in both these respects. The believer loves the Divine law, on account of its Author; and the subject matter of it, on account of its own intrinsic excellence.
3. That we preserve them unadulterated, pure and entire. Nothing is more displeasing to the Lord, than to blend human inventions with His institutions (Deu 4:2; Rev 22:18).
4. A decided and persevering obedience to the Divine will, regardless of the consequences (Mat 7:24-29; Rev 22:14).
5. That we recommend them to the attention of others.
II. HOW OUR KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS IS AN EVIDENCE OF OUR LOVE TO GOD.
1. It is a very rational evidence, for all love is active and influential. Obedience without love is in many instances found to be impracticable; with it, it is almost unavoidable.
2. It is a scriptural evidence, very frequently inculcated (Joh 14:21; Joh 14:23; Joh 14:14).
3. The evidence is simple and easy. This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous.
4. It is an obvious and convincing evidence (Mat 7:20; 1Jn 2:4-5).
5. It is such an evidence that without it no other kind of evidence would be sufficient. Reflections: The subject teaches us
1. That love is the foundation of Christian obedience.
2. To judge of our love by our obedience, and not of our obedience by our love.
3. Love and obedience will bear a proportion to each other.
4. They will at last be consummated together. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
Love and obedience
Nothing can be love which does not shape itself into obedience. We remember the anecdote of a Roman commander who forbade an engagement with the enemy, and the first transgressor against his prohibition was his own son. He accepted the challenge of the leader of the other host, met, slew, spoiled him, and then, in triumphant feeling, carried the spoils to his fathers tent. But the Roman father refused to recognize the instinct which prompted this as deserving the name of love. Disobedience contradicted it, and deserved death. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Obedience the true test of love to Christ
I. CHRIST MERITED THE HIGHEST ESTEEM OF ALL HIS PEOPLE.
1. In Himself He is the most lovely of objects.
2. From Him the disciples have received the most delightful instruction.
3. He has died to save them from the direst of evils and lives to procure for them the highest blessings.
4. His laws are the conditions upon which our well-being is secured.
II. THERE ARE IN CHRISTS DISCIPLES SUCH THINGS AS RENDER THEIR LOVE TO CHRIST SUSPICIOUS.
1. Sad neglect of public worship.
2. Backwardness in prayer.
3. Reluctance to study the Scriptures.
4. Passion easily agitated.
5. Fear of death.
III. THE METHOD OF GETTING RID OF ALL THAT RENDERS OUR LOVE SUSPICIOUS. Obedience:
1. Universal.
2. Constant.
3. Self-denying. (R. Robinson.)
Affectionate obedience
I. THE IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE OF LOVE TO JESUS CHRIST. Consider this principle
1. As to its nature. Love to Christ implies several things.
(1) A knowledge of Christ.
(2) Satisfaction with Christ.
(3) Esteem for Christ, and delight in Him.
2. In its causes. He first loved us.
3. Consider this love in its characteristics. What should be the features of this love?
(1) It should be ardent. A flame burning intensely on the altar of the heart.
(2) It should be progressive. Cannot stand still.
(3) It should be preeminent.
4. In its importance (see 1Co 16:22).
II. THE EVIDENCE OF ITS POSSESSION. Obedience is the essential fruit of a renewed heart. Christs commandments
1. Are revealed. They are left on the pages of Holy Writ.
2. They are sometimes difficult. Hence self-denial and cross-bearing are always so.
3. They are always practicable. I can do all things through Christ strengthening me.
4. They are indispensable. Not to be despised or neglected. Essential to Christs favour, and our own comfort.
Application:
1. Right obedience to Christ is humble, universal, and hearty. It does not question, or choose, or obey reluctantly.
2. Christs order seems this: Hear, repent, believe, be baptized, and then do whatsoever else I command you. (Jabez Burns, D. D.)
Love the inspiration of courage to obey
Several boys were playing marbles. In the midst of their sport, the rain began to fall. Freddie S. stopped, and said, Boys, I must go home: mother said I must not go out in the rain. Your mother–fudge! The rain wont hurt you any more than it will us, said two or three voices at once. Freddie turned upon them with a look of pity, and the courage of a hero, and replied, Ill not disobey my mother for any of you!
Love the motive power of obedience
When the Bible prescribes Christian graces, it always implies love as the motive power; as when we speak of rearing harvests it is always implied that there is a soil. Without love there is no soil for any Christian grace. If there be little of it, the fruit of Christian feeling will be poor and scant. If there be much, there will be great fruit, and easily grown. All things are easy to love. It tames all passions, inspires all affections, feeds every generous sentiment, gives both softness and potency, as its needs require, to the will, makes the understanding luminous and by making the whole man like God, makes it easy for him to be godlike to his fellow men. (H. W. Beecher.)
Love liberates us for obedience
Obedience is freedom, when we have learned to love the lips that command. We are set free that we may serve. (H. W.Beecher.)
Love makes obedience delightful
Love obeys with delight. It is not a burden to pray, but a pleasure. Hard duties become easy to love and the time seems not long nor tedious; as Jacob for the love of Rachel Gen 29:20). Seven years to love seems but as one day. One day spent in a holy duty to one who hath love, seems to pass away sooner and with more delight than one day spent in flesh displeasing duties where there is no love to take off the tediousness of it to the flesh. (Percy.)
Love makes obedience easy
Love is like wings to the bird, like sails to the ship; it carries a Christian full sail to heaven. When love cools, obedience slacks and drives heavily, because it wants the oil on it which that love used to drop. (T. Watson.)
Love better than the mere sense of duty
Men will do far more from love than we might dare to ask as a matter of duty. Napoleons soldiers frequently achieved exploits under the influence of fervid attachment for him, which no law could have required them to attempt. Had there been cold-blooded orders issued by some domineering officer, who said, You shall do this, and you shall do that, they would have mutinied against such tyranny, and yet when the favourite little corporal seizes the standard, and cries, Come on! they will rush even to the cannons mouth, out of love to the person of their gallant leader. This is the difference between the law and the gospel. The law says, You shall, or you shall be punished; but the gospel says, I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have forgiven all your trespasses; now my love shall sweetly constrain you, and the influence of inward principle shall guide you in my ways, my law shall be written, not upon stone, but upon the fleshly tablets of your hearts. The old covenant in all that it did only provided precepts; but the gospel provides the power to keep the precept. The law drove us, but the gospel draws us. The law came behind us with its dog and stick, as our drovers do from the cattle markets; but the gospel goes before us, as the Eastern shepherd before his sheep, and we cheerfully follow where the gospel leads the way. This is the difference, then, between the old law and its inability to sanctify us, and the gospel and its wonderful power to purify. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sonship manifested in love
Outside, in the streets, a mans companions will do him a kindness, and the action performed is friendly; but for filial acts you must look inside the house. There the child does not lend money to its father, or negotiate business, yet in his little acts there is more sonship. Who is it that comes to meet father when the day is over? and what is the action which often indicates childhoods love? See the little child comes tottering forward with fathers slippers, and runs off with his boots as he puts them off. The service is little, but it is loving and filial, and has more of filial affection in it than the servants bringing in the meal, or preparing the bed, or any more essential service. It gives the little one great pleasure, and expresses his love. No one who is not my child, or who does not love me in something like the same way, would ever dream of making such a service his speciality. The littleness of the act fits it to the childs capacity, and there is also something in it which makes it a suitable expression of a childs affection. So also in little acts for Jesus. Oftentimes men of the world will give their money to the cause of Christ, putting down large sums for charity or for missions, but they will not weep in secret over other mens sins, or speak a word of comfort to an afflicted saint. To visit a poor sick woman, teach a little child, reclaim a street Arab, breathe a prayer for enemies, or whisper a promise in the ear of a desponding saint, may show more of sonship than building a row of almshouses or endowing a church. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Divinity of a Christ-loving soul
I. AS LIVING A DIVINE LIFE. The life is that of keeping Divine commandments.
1. This is the effect of loving Christ. Here is a law of mind. He who really loves another is naturally desirous of acting in accord with the wishes of the object loved. We see this in families and among friends, and the professing Christian who is not obedient from love, is not obedient at all.
2. This is the evidence of loving Christ (Joh 14:21). There may be the most glowing songs of praise, etc., but love is only proved by practical obedience. The true Christian is an incarnation of the God of love. Worldly men only embody and work out the current notions of their age. I will run the way of Thy commandments when Thou shalt enlarge my heart.
II. AS POSSESSING A DIVINE HELPER (Joh 14:16).
1. He is the gift of the Father–free, sovereign, priceless
2. He is the messenger of reality–the Spirit of Truth. The world is under the dominion of falsehood and shams. False ideas of God, life, duty, happiness, and greatness prevail. The Paraclete comes to scatter delusions, and to bring souls into contact with the morally real.
3. He is exclusively for the Christ-loving–And I will pray the Father whom the world cannot receive, etc. Love is the receptive and recognizing faculty (1Co 2:14). As soon may a man, who has not attained the faculty of reading, see in. Paradise Lost the genius of Milton as the man who has not the love of Christ, see and receive the Spirit of God.
4. He is the spiritual presence of Christ (Joh 14:18).
5. He instructs in the things of Christ (Joh 14:26).
III. AS ENJOYING DIVINE COMPANIONSHIP (Joh 14:20-21). Love to Christ makes the soul the residence of God. Such a soul He enters, not as a passing visitor, but a permanent guest (1Co 3:16).
IV. AS PARTICIPATING IN A DIVINE PEACE (Joh 14:27). Peace with our own conscience, with society and God. Not as the world giveth.
1. As to quality. The world gives inferior gifts, Christ gives the highest. The world gives non-essential gifts. Men can do without the best of the worlds gifts, but Christs is indispensable.
2. As to manner.
(1) The world gives selfishly, looking for something in return. Christ gives from infinite disinterestedness.
(2) The world gives limitedly. It has neither heart nor capacity to give much. Christ gives unlimitedly.
(3) The world gives occasionally, and according to its moods. Christ gives constantly.
(4) The world gives to its friends. It loves its own. Christ gives to His enemies. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name] To enable you to perform these miracles, and to convert souls, may be granted you. Besides, by going unto the Father, I shall receive the Holy Spirit, and send down his abundant influences into the hearts of those who believe.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The whatsoever, in this text, must be limited by what the will of God hath revealed in other texts, as to the matter of our prayers; viz. they must be things that are for our good; such things as we stand in need of, and as God hath given us a liberty to ask: and indeed no other things can be asked in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; for to ask in Christs name, signifieth not only the making use of his sacred name in our prayers, (though the constant practice of the church in prayer, hath evidenced it the general opinion of divines, that this is a part of the sense), but also in asking for his merits, and such things as shall be conformable to his will, and for his glory. Whatsoever (saith he) you shall ask of this nature, I will do. He doth not say, my Father will do, but I will do it; to testify his Divine power, and oneness in power with his Father.
That the Father may be glorified in the Son: God hath set up his rest in Christ, and will be glorified in and through him; and hath therefore given him all power in heaven and earth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13, 14. whatsoever ye . . . ask inmy nameas Mediator.
that will I doas Headand Lord of the kingdom of God. This comprehensive promise isemphatically repeated in Joh14:14.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name,…. Whether it be for assistance in preaching of the Gospel; or for the performance of miraculous operations in confirmation of it; or for success to attend it; or for any blessings whatsoever, whether for themselves or others:
that will I do; he does not say, that he would be a Mediator between God, and them, an advocate with the Father for them, and would intercede, and use his interest with him that it might be done, which would have been saying much, and all which he does; but he declares he will do it himself, which is a proof of his deity, and an instance of his omnipotence:
that the Father may be glorified in the Son. This may be referred either to the petition, which must be made with this view, that the Father may be glorified by, or in the Son, in whose name it is put up, and for whose sake it is made; or to Christ’s promise to do it; who in doing it, seeks not his own glory, at least not singly; but as the good of his people, so the glory of his heavenly Father.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Whatsoever ye shall ask ( ). Indefinite relative clause with (neuter accusative singular of ), and the aorist active subjunctive of . This is an advance thought over verse 12.
In my name ( ). First mention of his “name” as the open sesame to the Father’s will. See also John 14:26; John 15:16; John 16:23; John 16:24; John 16:26.
That will I do ( ). The Father answers prayers (John 15:16; John 16:23), but so does the Son (here and verse 14). The purpose ( clause with first aorist passive subjunctive of ) is “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Plead Christ’s name in prayer to the Father.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
In my name. The first occurrence of the phrase. See on Mt 28:19. Prayer is made in the name of Jesus, “if this name, Jesus Christ, as the full substance of the saving faith and confession of him who prays, is, in his consciousness, the element in which the prayerful activity moves; so that thus that Name, embracing the whole revelation of redemption, is that which specifically measures and defines the disposition, feeling, object, and contents of prayer. The express use of the name of Jesus therein is no specific token; the question is of the spirit and mind of him who prays” (Meyer). Westcott cites Augustine to the effect that the prayer in Christ ‘s name must be consistent with Christ ‘s character, and that He fulfills it as Savior, and therefore just so far as it conduces to salvation.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name,” (kai hoti an aitesete en to onomati mou) “And whatever you all ask in my name,” by my authority, in harmony with my will, as my obedient children, 1Jn 3:22; 1Jn 5:14. One is to use His name only to enforce or advance His interest not for one’s selfish purpose.
2) “That will I do,” (touto poieso) “This I will do;” My Father will recognize my claim to His Divinity by answering prayer that is earnestly and honestly offered in my name, Col 3:17; Mat 7:7-8. But you are to ask in faith, believing, uncovetously, Jas 1:6; Jas 4:2-3.
3) “That the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (hina doksasthe ho pater en to huio) “In order that the Father may be glorified in the Son,” as certified Joh 14:31; He will be glorified in the fruit that you all bear through faith in and service to me, Joh 15:8. The asking must be for the advancement of the purpose for which God sent His Son into the world.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
13. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do. By these words He plainly declares that he will be the Author of all that shall be done by the hands of the Apostles. But it may be asked, was he not even then the Mediator in whose name men ought to pray to the Father? I reply, he plainly discharged the office of Mediator, ever since he entered into the heavenly sanctuary; as we shall afterwards repeat at the proper place.
That the Father may be glorified in the Son. This passage agrees with what Paul says,
That every tongue may confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, (Phi 2:11.)
The end of all things is the sanctification of the name of God; but here the true method of sanctifying it is declared; that is, in the Son, and by the Son. For, though the majesty of God be in itself hidden from us, it shines in Christ; though his hand be concealed, we have it visible in Christ. Consequently, in the benefits which the Father bestows upon us, we have no right to separate the Father from the Son, according to that saying,
He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father, (Joh 6:23.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.Comp. Joh. 15:16; Joh. 16:23. The prayer is thought of as addressed to the Father; but the answer here, and still more emphatically in the following verse, is thought of as coming from the Son, who is one with the Father. The width and limitation of the promise are both to be noted. It is whatsoever ye shall ask, and it is ask in My name. This means, as My representatives on earth (comp. Notes on previous verse), as persons doing My work, living in My spirit, seeking as I have sought to do the will of the Father. It follows from this that personal petitions are not contemplated here, except as far as they are for the glory of God; and that petitions asked in ignorance may be most truly answered when they are not granted. The prayer of GethsemaneIf it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done, should teach what prayer in the name and spirit of Christ means. We commonly attach to our prayers, through Jesus Christ our Lord. We do not always bear in mind that this implies an absolute self-sacrifice, and is a prayer that our very prayers may not be answered except in so far as they are in accordance with the divine will. (Comp. Note on 2Co. 12:8-9.)
That the Father may be glorified in the Son.Comp. Notes on Joh. 11:4; Joh. 12:28; Joh. 13:31.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Ask in my name To ask in the name of Christ is to ask in complete identification with him, as inspired by his spirit and as incorporated into his body. Such asking is in the interest of his kingdom and is identified with his will. Hence the absolute completeness of the promise, Whatsoever ye shall ask that will I do. Such prayer is ever answered.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joh 14:13. And whatsoever ye shall ask, &c. “And whatsoever ye shall ask on the ground of my warrant and promise, with humble dependance on my wisdom and power, faithfulness and grace, and on my merit and advocacy, that ye may honour me; I will certainly perform it in answer to your prayers, that the Father himself may therebymanifesthisgloriousperfections,inmygracious and almighty operations, and through my obedience to the death of the cross, who am his own Son.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1686
CHRIST ENGAGES TO ANSWER PRAYER
Joh 14:13-14. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
THE Gospel is properly termed glad tidings of great joy: it finds men guilty; and reveals to them a way in which their iniquities may be pardoned: it finds them polluted; and provides means for their restoration to the Divine image: it finds them altogether destitute; and supplies them with every thing that their souls can desire. The words before us are fully decisive on this point: they were addressed, indeed, by our Lord, to his own immediate Disciples only: but they must not be confined to any individuals of any age: they were intended for the whole world. As referring to the persons to whom they were addressed, they may be considered as including a promise of miraculous powers: but, as extending to us, they unequivocally engage that we shall possess all that we pray for, provided we ask for it in Jesus name.
That we may more fully enter into the scope and meaning of them, we will shew,
I.
To what extent Jesus will answer prayer
Our blessed Lord is appointed of the Father to answer prayer
[It was a part of the reward bestowed on him as Mediator, that he should have the whole universe subjected to his dominion [Note: Php 2:6-11.]. For this end, every thing, upon his ascension to heaven, was committed into his hands; that as a Prince he might subdue his enemies, and as a Saviour he might secure the happiness of his believing people [Note: Act 5:31.]. He was in a more especial manner constituted Head over all things to his Church [Note: Eph 1:21.], and furnished with an inexhaustible fulness of all good [Note: Col 1:19.], that he might communicate to all according to their respective necessities [Note: Joh 1:16. Eph 1:22.]. He received gifts himself, in order that he might communicate them unto men [Note: Comp. Psa 68:18. with the Apostles citation of it, Eph 4:8.]: and he will impart them to all who pray to the Father in his name.]
Nor is there any limit to his bounty in answering it
[In our own name it is impossible to approach God: he is a holy God; and we are altogether filthy and abominable: and of this our unworthiness we ought to be deeply sensible: but at the same time we should have such a view of Christs worthiness, as emboldens us to expect the most favourable acceptance with God for his sake. We should come trusting in his sacrifice, and pleading the merit of his blood, This is indispensable in all our addresses at the throne of grace. We must not think of asking for any thing, but in His name [Note: This is twice mentioned in the text; and frequently elsewhere. See Joh 15:16; Joh 16:23-24; Joh 16:26.]. But if we have a becoming respect to him, we need not be straitened in our requests to God: we may open our mouths wide, and he will fill them. Of course, a person thus humbled with a sense of his own sinfulness, and thus exercising faith m the Lord Jesus, will desire nothing but what is agreeable to the Divine will: that limit to his prayers he himself will readily assign [Note: 1Jn 5:14.]: he will take the promises as the legitimate standard of his petitions: and, so doing, he needs not be afraid of asking too much: the repeated declarations of Christ shall be literally fulfilled: Whatsoever he asks, he shall have [Note: Compare Joh 15:7 and Mat 21:22. with the text.]: yea, he shall have exceeding abundantly above all that he can ask or think [Note: Eph 3:20.]: nothing can be so great, but it shall be granted to him; nothing so small, but he shall be heard concerning it. Of this we have repeated assurances from our Lord in the words before us: Whatsoever ye shall ask, that will I do: if ye shall ask any thing, I will do it.]
Of the accomplishment of these promises we have the strongest pledge, when he tells us,
II.
For what end he will answer it
The end for which Jesus left the bosom of the Father was to do his Fathers will [Note: Psa 40:7-8.]: and during the whole time of his sojourning on earth, he invariably sought, not his own glory, but the glory of Him that sent him [Note: Joh 5:30; Joh 8:50.]: and in the last prayer he offered with his Disciples, he desired only to be glorified himself, that he might thereby advance the Fathers glory [Note: Joh 17:1.]. This same end does he keep in view in answering the prayers that are offered in his name.
1.
The effect of his answers is, that his Father is glorified
[See what effects were produced by the miraculous powers which he bestowed on his Apostles: multitudes were converted by their ministry: the empire of sin and Satan was weakened: the authority of God was established over the hearts of men: and all the perfections of the Father were magnified and adored. Similar effects are produced by every communication of his grace to the souls of men; who are thereby turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Only trace the change that is wrought in the heart and life of any individual, when the Spirit of God works effectually in his soul, and it will instantly appear how greatly the honour of God is advanced by the answers which our Saviour gives to the prayers of men ]
2.
The circumstance of the prayers being answered by him tends also to the glory of God the Father
[The power of God would appear equally if the prayers were answered by the Father: but not so his other perfections: they are more eminently displayed by that office being vested in the Lord Jesus. By that the justice and holiness of the Father are exalted; inasmuch as men are thereby taught, that God cannot accept a sinner, if coming in his own name, nor reject him, if coming in the name of Jesus: the holiness of God prohibiting all access to him, except through a Mediator; and the justice of God withholding from none the blessings which have been purchased for them by the Saviours blood. By that also the love and mercy of God are magnified; in that, when there was no possibility of salvation to our fallen race if left to themselves, God gave his only-begotten Son to obtain salvation for them, and to impart it to them. By that too are the truth and faithfulness of God displayed; because, the promises being given us only in Christ Jesus [Note: 2Co 1:20. Gal 3:17.], the accomplishment of them by Christ is an evidence that with God there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. If it should be thought by any that the delegation of this power to Christ derogates from the honour of the Father, let him know, that God the Father accounts himself then alone honoured, when equal honour is given to his co-equal, co-eternal Son [Note: Php 1:11. Joh 5:22-23.].]
Hence then we may see,
1.
Whence it is that so few persons receive answers to prayer
[Many offer prayers, both in public and private; but they do not pray with that humility, or that faith, which are necessary to procure an answer from God. They do not feel that deep consciousness of their own vileness that makes a Mediator necessary: though they may notionally acknowledge Christ as their Saviour, they do not really feel the impossibility of coming to a holy God in their own name: and consequently they do not depend so entirely on the merits of Christ as the only ground of their hopes; nor do they plead those merits for the acceptance of their prayers, as they ought: hence it is that the Father does not hear their prayers; and that the Lord Jesus does not answer them. If then we would really experience the truth contained in our text, let us seek help from God, that we may be enabled to approach him in that way which alone will prevail for our eternal good Let us also draw nigh to him with that frequency, and delight, which a firm belief in our Saviours veracity must produce.]
2.
What they should attend to who have received answers to prayers
[That which is Christs end in answering prayer, ought to be our end when an answer has been obtained; we should seek to glorify our heavenly Father. Do we ask, How can we glorify him? I answer, In bringing forth much fruit [Note: Joh 15:8.]. Holy tempers, and a life devoted to the service of God, are the proper fruits of grace received. As a seal stamps its own image on the wax, so does the sealing of the Spirit impress the Divine image on the soul. By this we must judge of answers to prayer. It is not by vain conceits, or transient impressions, that we can judge, but by the practical results. If we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, we must walk in him, rooted and built up in him; or, in other words, we must walk as he walked. Where such fruits of prayer are wanting, God is grievously dishonoured: it is only by a conformity to Christ in all his dispositions and actions that we can approve ourselves his Disciples. Beware then how you substitute the reveries of enthusiasm for the holiness of the Gospel: He that doeth righteousness, (as every Disciple of Christ must,) is righteous, even as he is righteous.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Ver. 13. That I will do ] An undoubted argument of Christ’s Divinity, that he hears and grants prayers. When the people, in Ahab’s time, saw God answering Elijah by fire from heaven, they cried out, “The Lord he is God, the Lord he is God,” 1Ki 18:39 ; “O thou that hearest prayers” is a description the Psalmist gives of God, Psa 65:2 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13. ] I have retained the period after (Grot., Griesb., Lachm., Knapp, Lcke, Meyer, Stier place a comma only and connect this verse with the ), because the sense remains much the same, and the style is better preserved.
, scil. : so ch. Joh 15:16 ; Joh 16:23 . But this does not exclude, but distinctly includes , prayer to Christ; so blended are these two (as the , Joh 14:9 ), that we have not , but , and, Joh 14:14 , emphatically . He who prays to the Father, prays to the Son.
This answers to the in Joh 14:12 ; the reason why you shall do these greater works, is, on account of the all-powerful Spirit of grace and supplication which My going to the Father shall bring down upon the Church; in answer to which Spirit, I will do by you whatever in My Name (i.e. in union with Me, as being Mine, manifesting forth Jesus as the Son of God ) ye shall ask. And the end of this is, that by these , the wonders of grace and triumphs of the Spirit, the Father may be glorified (His glory shewn forth) in and by the Son .
Joh 14:14 solemnly repeats as a promise , what was incidentally asserted before: ‘For this is a truth, that whatever’ &c. And besides, adds the : it is I that will do it: shewing that the use of the first person before was emphatic. “ hoc jam indicat gloriam.” Bengel.
Joh 14:15 is a following out of the : ‘That way of prayer is the way of loving obedience , in which the Spirit is ever found, and which is only trodden by His help:’ and also of . . ., ‘As the Father is honoured in the Son, so must the Son be honoured in you:’ see ch. Joh 15:10 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 14:13 . , so what they do is still His doing; one condition being attached to their prayers, that they ask . The name of a person can only be used when we seek to enforce his will and further his interests. This gives the condition of successful prayer: it must be for the furtherance of Christ’s kingdom. For the end of all is , that is, that the fulfilment of God’s purpose in sending forth His Son may be manifest in Christ’s people and in their beneficent work in the world.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
ask. App-134. Compare Mat 7:7.
name. The word occurs first in Mat 1:21, associated with Jesus (App-98. X). Compare Mar 16:17 with Act 3:6, Act 3:16; Act 4:10, &c.
glorified. See Joh 12:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
13.] I have retained the period after (Grot., Griesb., Lachm., Knapp, Lcke, Meyer, Stier place a comma only and connect this verse with the ), because the sense remains much the same, and the style is better preserved.
, scil. : so ch. Joh 15:16; Joh 16:23. But this does not exclude, but distinctly includes, prayer to Christ; so blended are these two (as the , Joh 14:9), that we have not , but , and, Joh 14:14, emphatically . He who prays to the Father, prays to the Son.
This answers to the in Joh 14:12; the reason why you shall do these greater works, is, on account of the all-powerful Spirit of grace and supplication which My going to the Father shall bring down upon the Church; in answer to which Spirit, I will do by you whatever in My Name (i.e. in union with Me, as being Mine, manifesting forth Jesus as the Son of God) ye shall ask. And the end of this is, that by these , the wonders of grace and triumphs of the Spirit, the Father may be glorified (His glory shewn forth) in and by the Son.
Joh 14:14 solemnly repeats as a promise, what was incidentally asserted before: For this is a truth, that whatever &c. And besides, adds the : it is I that will do it: shewing that the use of the first person before was emphatic. hoc jam indicat gloriam.-Bengel.
Joh 14:15 is a following out of the : That way of prayer is the way of loving obedience, in which the Spirit is ever found, and which is only trodden by His help:-and also of . . ., As the Father is honoured in the Son, so must the Son be honoured in you: see ch. Joh 15:10.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 14:13. ) This differs from , Joh 14:14. For and mutually refer to one another.-, ye shall have asked) A comprehensive promise, Joh 14:14; ch. Joh 15:7, If ye abide in Me, etc., ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you; 16, That whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He may give it you; Joh 16:23; Joh 16:26, At that day ye shall ask in My name; and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you, etc.- , in My name) Mine, who am the Son of God. The reference is to the words, He that believeth on Me, Joh 14:12. In the Old Testament they used to adore the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: in the New Testament the God and Father of our Lord is invoked in the name of Jesus Christ.- , this will I do) So will do [it] in the foll. ver. Both the thing and the person are hereby manifested [ being expressed in the first case, in the second; – ], In both, the reference is to the he shall do, Joh 14:12.-, in) Joh 14:10-11, I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 14:13
Joh 14:13
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do,-To do anything in the name of Christ one must he in his name; become a part of his spiritual body and ask as the representative of Christ and for him. It means more than to ask by his authority. Asking as a member of his body, we must ask in accordance with his will. The prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane-Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done (Luk 22:42)-should teach what prayer in the name and spirit of Christ means. We attach to our prayers, and properly so, in the name of Christ. This implies an absolute self-sacrifice, and a prayer that our very prayers may not be answered except in so far as they are in accordance with the divine will. [To enjoy these promises, we must (1) believe; (2) we must ask in his name; (3) we must approach him with a complete submission to the Fathers will.]
that the Father may be glorified in the Son.-[God is honored and glorified in his Son now through Christians. They are his representatives on earth. He works with and through them. He is glorified only when they work in harmony with his will.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
whatsoever: Joh 15:7, Joh 15:16, Joh 16:23, Joh 16:26, Mat 7:7, Mat 21:22, Mar 11:24, Luk 11:9, Eph 3:20, Jam 1:5, Jam 5:16, 1Jo 3:22, 1Jo 5:14
in my: Joh 14:6, Eph 2:18, Eph 3:12, Eph 3:14, Eph 3:21, Col 3:17, Heb 4:15, Heb 7:25, Heb 13:15, 1Pe 2:5
will: Joh 14:14, Joh 4:10, Joh 4:14, Joh 5:19, Joh 7:37, Joh 10:30, Joh 16:7, 2Co 12:8-10, Phi 4:13
that: Joh 12:44, Joh 13:31, Joh 17:4, Joh 17:5, Phi 2:9-11
Reciprocal: Lev 10:3 – before 1Ki 2:20 – Ask on 1Ki 3:5 – Ask what 1Ki 8:29 – My name 1Ki 10:13 – all her desire Son 8:13 – cause Mat 18:19 – it shall Mar 11:23 – whatsoever Joh 2:11 – manifested Joh 7:39 – glorified Joh 8:49 – but Act 8:15 – prayed Rom 8:27 – according 1Co 14:13 – pray Eph 5:20 – in Phi 2:11 – to the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4
To ask anything in the name of Jesus means to ask it by his authority. Jesus never asked anyone to do something that would have displeased his Father (Joh 8:29), therefore when he authorized his apostles to come for a favor or some assistance, the Father would see that it was granted.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 14:13-14. And whatsoever ye ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask of me any thing in my name, this I will do. The twice repeated this I will do of these verses, is the taking up again of the do of Joh 14:12; so that what Jesus says is, that He in His glorified condition, being the believers strength for what he does, will be the real doer both of the works and of the greater works done by him.
The condition on our part of the accomplishment of this promise is prayer. (I) Prayer in the name of Jesus, the words in my name occurring in both these verses. This expression is connected not only with our asking, but, in Joh 14:26, with the Fathers sending; and that the order as well as the contents of the thought is to be observed, is made clear by the fact that in the later part of the discourse the same order is observed (comp. chaps. Joh 15:16 and Joh 16:23). The name spoken of is in the first place the name of Son; as we shall find that in chap. 17 the name of God spoken of is in the first place that of Father. But the thought is not to be confined to this. When we bring all the passages together in which the words occur in chaps, 14-17, and particularly the verse before us and chap. Joh 17:11-12 (Thy name which thou hast given me), it becomes clear that we must extend the meaning of name so as to include the revelation of what the Father is in the Son. To ask in the name of the Son of man, therefore, is to ask in a confidence and hope which have their essence and ground in the revelation of the Son. It is not so much asking for the sake of Christ, or in Christ, as asking because we know the Father in the Son, and have learned to cast ourselves, as sons, upon the revelation thus given us. (2) Prayer to the Son as well as to the Father; yet not to Jesus regarded as an independent personality, but to Him as the Son, so that in praying to Him we pray at the same time to the Father, for only in the Father do we know the Son. Hence also the whatsoever of Joh 14:13, and the anything of Joh 14:14, have in this their necessary limitations. Believers are not viewed here simply as members of the human family in the midst of the weaknesses, perplexities, and sorrows of humanity. They possess the spirit, they aim at the aims, of Jesus. They pray with the mind of the Son, which is the mind of the Father, and in that sphere alone can they be assured that whatever they ask shall be done for them and through them, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Only by the explanation thus offered does it seem possible to account for the insertion of me in Joh 14:14; and the whole statement may be regarded as a realisation of chap. Joh 1:51, even the very same order of thought being there observed, the ascending preceding the descending of angels upon the Son of man. The third part of the reply to Philip follows in Joh 14:15-21.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In these words our Saviour produces another argument to quiet his disciples’s hearts under their perplexity and trouble for the loss of his bodily presence; he assures them, that whatever comforts they enjoyed by his presence, they shall obtain by their prayers.
Observe here, 1. The qualification requisite in prayer: we must pray in Christ’s name, that is, for the sake of his merits and mediation, in obedience to God’s command, and with an eye to his glory, and for things agreeable to his will, and for things which his wisdom sees good for us.
To pray in Christ’s name, is more than to name Christ in prayer. It implies three things:
1. To look up unto Christ as having purchased for us this privilege that we may pray: for it is by the blood of Christ that we draw near to God, and that a throne of grace is open for us.
2. To pray in the name of Christ, is to pray in the strength of Christ, and by the assistance of the Holy Spirit of Christ.
3. To pray in the name of Christ, is to pray in the virtue of the present mediation of Christ; believing that what we ask on earth, Christ obtains in heaven.
To pray thus is no easy matter; yet unless we do pray thus, we do not pray at all.
Observe, 2. The promise made to such prayers: Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. He saith not, That will my Father do; but that will I do, to testify his divine power and oneness with the Father. This evidently proves him to be God.
Observe, 3. The repetition of the promise for the further confirmation of it: If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. The promise is doubled for the confirmation of it, so that we might be free from all doubts and fears of being heard, when we put up our prayers to God, in the name and mediation of Jesus Christ, for things agreeable to his will.
Learn hence, That although the children of God have sometimes many jealousies and fears arising in their mind concerning the answer of their prayers, yet they are altogether groundless; for it is most certain their desires shall be granted them, so far as the wisdom of God sees fit and convenient for them; and for that reason our Saviour redoubles the promise, If ye will ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Jesus next extended His promise beyond miracles to anything that the disciples might desire. This apparently blank check type promise has a condition that many often overlook. It is "in my name." We overlook this condition because many Christians think it means simply making our request and then adding the phrase "in Jesus’ name" at the end.
Praying in Jesus’ name means coming to the Father in prayer as Jesus’ representative. Jesus introduced the idea of representing Him in Joh 14:12. When we pray in Jesus’ name, we claim to be acting for Him. Someone who prays that way will always ask only what is God’s will or what is subject to God’s will since that is always how Jesus related to His Father. It is impossible to pray in Jesus’ name and to ask something contrary to God’s will. These two acts are mutually contradictory.
"In both cases [Jesus’ two promises in Joh 14:13-14] prayer ’in the name of Jesus’ denotes petition with invocation of his name or appeal to his name; while there are evident differences of nuance, accordingly as prayer is addressed to Jesus or the Father, the fundamental factor is the role of Jesus as mediator between God and his people." [Note: Beasley-Murray, p. 255.]
The purpose of our praying must always be God’s glory (cf. 1Co 10:31) as it always was and always will be the Son’s purpose (Joh 5:41; Joh 7:18; Joh 8:50; Joh 8:54; Joh 12:28). Thus Jesus promised here to grant petitions prayed in His name that the Father might receive glory from the Son.
Jesus repeated this promise probably because it is so great that it is almost unbelievable (cf. Joh 15:16; Joh 16:23-24). One of John’s stylistic characteristics was to restate with only slight variations. In these cases the meaning is not significantly different. John expounded this promise in his first epistle where he clarified that "in my name" means "according to His (God’s) will" (1Jn 5:14-15).
The New Testament teaching on prayer is that believers normally address the Father in prayer in the Son’s name with the Spirit’s help. However this is not a rigid requirement. In view of the unity of the Godhead we can understand occasional instances of prayers addressed to the Son and to the Spirit in the New Testament (e.g., Act 7:59). However these prayers are atypical.