Praying in the name of Jesus

April 23, 2021

14:1 – 15:17 Being in Jesus, just as Jesus is in the Father

Read John 14:13-14

After the statement about the disciples doing what Jesus has been doing – and doing even greater works than him (14:12) – comes the equally remarkable promise that Jesus “will do whatever you ask in my name”. It’s said twice for emphasis and then repeated three more times by Jesus in his teaching to them that same evening (13-14; 15:16; 16:23; 16:26). In each case, the phrase “in my name” is the explicit condition that needs to be understood correctly. What does it mean to “pray in the name of Jesus”?

Often “in the name of Jesus” gets reduced to a formula which we attach to the end of a prayer, perhaps thinking if we say it loudly or fervently enough it then ought to be answered! But praying in the name of Jesus is not a rubberstamp or a magic spell that Christians can use to get anything they ask for. Rather, it means to pray in accordance with what Jesus himself wants. All of Jesus’s work on earth was rooted in his union with the Father (14:10-11) and was done for the Father’s glory (11:4; 17:4). In the same way, Christians are able to pray in Jesus’s name because of their union with Jesus, and therefore our prayers will not be determined by self-interest but by the same concern for God’s kingdom to come and for God’s will to be done.

It's prayers like this which Jesus promises to answer, so that he may continue to bring glory to the Father (13), just as he did while on earth. So to pray in the name of Jesus is to pray the prayers which he would pray i.e. prayers “according to his will” (1 John 5:14-15). To do that, we need the help of the Holy Spirit (Rom.8:26) and that’s what Jesus speaks about next.