Answered Prayer by Love

WHATEVER YOU ASK

Christ’s Intimate Teaching on Prayer

This is the last of 6 articles that comment on Christ’s intimate teaching on prayer to his disciples.  The first 5 are here:

1. Greater Works and Global Prayer;
2. Prayer and Our Heart’s Delight;
3. Prayer and Christian Responsibility;
4. Prayer, In and Through; and
5. Prayerfulness Produces Joyfulness.

The sixth promise in the series is found in John 16:26–27 (ESV), which records the words of Jesus when he says,

²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; ²⁷ for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

“In that day”, in the day when he, the resurrected Christ appears to his disciples and is subsequently glorified, in that day they will ask. They have already learned that they will ask the Father, through the Son.  But here Jesus makes this strange qualifying statement: “I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf.”^[1]  This odd statement is only understood as one reads the remainder of his thought: “for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God” (John 16:27, ESV).  The little word “for” gives the ground for the previous, though unusual statement.  Grant Osborne provides a solid explanation:

“This new direct relationship with the Father produces a new depth of asking and receiving. Jesus previously promised he would answer their prayers directly (14:13–14), and now he goes so far as to say he no longer needs to intercede with the Father on their behalf, for “the Father himself loves you” (16:27). This does not mean we no longer need Jesus’ intercessory work (stressed in Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25; 1 John 2:1), but rather that by this intercession Jesus produces a whole new depth of intimacy between God and his beloved children. That love produces a direct line of communication with God, an access we would never think possible otherwise (see Heb 10:19–20).”^[2]

In other words, the basis of answered prayer from the Father is not the insistence of the Son.  No, as the Son intercedes for his disciples it is the Father’s love that moves him to respond. Or as Dr. John MacArthur notes, “He did not mean asking Him to ask the Father, as if the Father was indifferent to believers, but not to His Son. On the contrary, the Father loves Christ’s own. In fact, the Father sent the Son to redeem them and then return. Asking in Jesus’ name means simply asking on the basis of His merit, His righteousness, and for whatever would honor and glorify Him so as to build His kingdom.”^[3]

Prayer is neither manipulative on our part, nor on the part of our great High Priest.  We pray.  He intercedes; and out of familial love, the Father responds.  This is a great encouragement to pray.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Jn 16:26). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

^[2] Osborne, G. R. (2018). John: Verse by Verse. (J. Reimer, E. Ritzema, D. Thevenaz, & R. Brant, Eds.) (p. 385). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

^[3] MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1618). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.