John 14:13 Study Bible: And whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

◄ John 14:13 ►

And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

And I will do
This phrase emphasizes the active role of Jesus in responding to the prayers of believers. The Greek verb "poieō" (ποιέω) is used here, which means "to make" or "to do." It signifies not just a passive reception of requests but an active engagement in fulfilling them. This reflects the ongoing work of Christ, even after His ascension, as He continues to intercede and act on behalf of His followers.

whatever you ask
The word "whatever" indicates the breadth and inclusivity of the promise. The Greek term "hos ean" (ὃς ἐὰν) suggests an openness to all requests, yet it is understood within the context of alignment with God's will. The act of asking, "aiteō" (αἰτέω), implies a relationship of dependence and trust, where believers approach God with their needs and desires, confident in His ability to respond.

in My name
This phrase is crucial for understanding the nature of prayer in the Christian faith. The Greek "en tō onomati mou" (ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου) means more than just appending "in Jesus' name" to a prayer. It signifies praying with the authority, character, and will of Jesus. To pray in His name is to align one's requests with His purposes and to seek His glory above all.

so that the Father may be glorified
The ultimate purpose of answered prayer is the glorification of the Father. The Greek word "doxazō" (δοξάζω) means "to glorify" or "to honor." This reflects the biblical theme that God's glory is the highest aim of all creation. When prayers are answered, it is not merely for the benefit of the petitioner but to reveal and magnify the character and majesty of God.

in the Son
This phrase highlights the mediatory role of Jesus. The Greek "en tō Huiō" (ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ) indicates that the glorification of the Father is accomplished through the Son. Jesus is the means by which God's glory is revealed to the world. This underscores the unity and harmony within the Trinity, where the work of the Son is always in perfect alignment with the will and glory of the Father.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Jesus Christ
The speaker of this verse, Jesus is addressing His disciples during the Last Supper, providing them with comfort and instruction before His crucifixion.

2. The Disciples
The immediate audience of Jesus' teaching, representing all believers who follow Christ's teachings.

3. The Father
God the Father, whose glory is the ultimate purpose of Jesus' works and the believers' prayers.

4. The Last Supper
The setting of this discourse, a significant event where Jesus shares His final teachings with His disciples before His arrest.

5. The Son
Refers to Jesus Himself, emphasizing His divine relationship with the Father and His role in revealing God's glory.

Teaching Points

Praying in Jesus' Name
Praying in Jesus' name is not a formulaic ending to prayers but signifies praying with His authority and in alignment with His character and will.

Purpose of Prayer
The ultimate purpose of prayer is to glorify the Father through the Son. Our requests should align with this divine purpose.

Faith and Obedience
Effective prayer requires faith in Jesus and obedience to His teachings. Our relationship with Him influences the power of our prayers.

Alignment with God's Will
Prayers should be made with a heart seeking God's will, understanding that His plans are higher and for His glory.

Confidence in Prayer
Believers can have confidence that their prayers are heard and answered when they are made in Jesus' name and for God's glory.

Bible Study Questions

1. What does it mean to ask for something "in Jesus' name," and how does this affect the way we pray?

2. How can we ensure that our prayers align with the purpose of glorifying the Father through the Son?

3. In what ways does abiding in Christ and His words influence the effectiveness of our prayers, as seen in John 15:7?

4. How does understanding the authority of Jesus' name, as described in Philippians 2:9-11, impact our confidence in prayer?

5. Reflect on a time when you prayed for something that was not answered in the way you expected. How can this verse help you understand God's response to your prayers?

Connections to Other Scriptures

John 15:7
This verse further elaborates on the condition of abiding in Christ and His words abiding in believers as a prerequisite for answered prayer.

1 John 5:14-15
These verses reinforce the confidence believers can have in approaching God, knowing that if they ask anything according to His will, He hears them.

Philippians 2:9-11
Highlights the exaltation of Jesus' name, underlining the authority and power associated with praying in His name.

Matthew 6:9-13
The Lord's Prayer provides a model for prayer that aligns with God's will and glorifies the Father.

Sermons

Christian Work with an Absent Redeemer	S. Martin.	John 14:12-14
Greater than Miracle	H. Allon, D. D.	John 14:12-14
Greater Works than Christ's	James Morison, D. D.	John 14:12-14
Miracles in Nature and Grace Contrasted	R. Best.	John 14:12-14
The Activity of the Glorified Christ	T. Whitelaw, D. D.	John 14:12-14
The Believer Doing Greater Works than Christ	J. Aldis.	John 14:12-14
The Disciple's Work Greater than His Lord's	Fred. Brooks.	John 14:12-14
The Eclipse of Miracle	T. G. Selby., S. S. Times.	John 14:12-14
The Works of the Ascended Christ	A. Maclaren, D. D.	John 14:12-14
Affectionate Obedience	Jabez Burns, D. D.	John 14:13-14
Asking in the Name of Jesus	D. Young	John 14:13, 14
Christian Prayer	J.R. Thomson	John 14:13,14
Love and Obedience	A. Maclaren, D. D.	John 14:13-14
Love and Obedience	B. Beddome, M. A.	John 14:13-14
Love and Obedience	F. W. Robertson, M. A.	John 14:13-14
Love Better than the Mere Sense of Duty	C. H. Spurgeon.	John 14:13-14
Love Liberates Us for Obedience	H. W. Beecher.	John 14:13-14
Love Makes Obedience Delightful	Percy.	John 14:13-14
Love Makes Obedience Easy	T. Watson.	John 14:13-14
Love the Inspiration of Courage to Obey		John 14:13-14
Love the Motive Power of Obedience	H. W. Beecher.	John 14:13-14
Love's Law and Life	C. H. Spurgeon.	John 14:13-14
Obedience the True Test of Love to Christ	R. Robinson.	John 14:13-14
Prayer in Christ's Name	R. W. Dale, D. D.	John 14:13-14
Praying in Christ's Name	Washington Gladden D. D.	John 14:13-14
Praying in the Name of Christ	E. E. Jenkins, LL. D.	John 14:13-14
Sonship Manifested in Love	C. H. Spurgeon.	John 14:13-14
The Divinity of a Christ-Loving Soul	D. Thomas, D. D.	John 14:13-14
The Reason for Delay in the Answers to Prayer	H. H. Dobney.	John 14:13-14
True Love for Christ	J. D. Geden, D. D.	John 14:13-14

People

Jesus, Judas, Philip, Thomas

Places

Jerusalem

Topics

Bring, Glorified, Glory, Order, Request, Whatever, Whatsoever

Dictionary of Bible Themes

John 14:13

     1512   Trinity, equality of
     2024   Christ, glory of
     8440   glorifying God
     8636   asking

John 14:6-14

2363 Christ, preaching and teaching

John 14:10-24

5627 word

John 14:12-14

5776 achievement

John 14:13-14

     1175   God, will of
     5042   name of God, significance
     5932   response
     8112   certainty
     8607   prayer, God's promises
     8636   asking

John 14:13-16

2078 Christ, sonship of

Library

Paul a Pattern of Prayer
TEXT: "If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it."--John 14:14. Jesus testified in no uncertain way concerning prayer, for not alone in this chapter does he speak but in all his messages to his disciples he is seeking to lead them into the place where they may know how to pray. In this fourteenth chapter of John, where he is coming into the shadow of the cross and is speaking to his disciples concerning those things which ought to have the greatest weight with them, the heart of his message …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

May 22 Evening
The Spirit helpeth our infirmities.--ROM. 8:26. The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost.--What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God?--It is God which worketh in you. We know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

August 7 Morning
The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name.--JOHN 14:26. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.--If ye . . . being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?--Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 22 Morning
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.--JOHN 14:27. The world passeth away, and the lust thereof.--Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches. and knoweth not who shall gather them.--What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. Martha, Martha, thou are careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

January 14 Morning
My Father is greater than I.--JOHN 14:28. When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven.--My Father, and your Father; . . . my God and your God. As the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.--The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.--Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Lord, shew us …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

August 13 Morning
He hath prepared for them a city.--HEB. 11:16. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.--An inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.--Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.--Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 26 Evening
He is able . . . to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.--HEB. 7:25. I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.--Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.--He which hath begun a good work …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 23 Morning
I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth.--JOHN 14:16,17. It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if l depart, I will send him unto you. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.--Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.--The Spirit . . . helpeth our infirmities; …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 21 Evening
The communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all.--II COR. 13:14. I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.--He shall not speak of himself. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

June 29. "He Dwelleth with You and Shall be in You" (John xiv. 17).
"He dwelleth with you and shall be in you" (John xiv. 17). Do not fail to mark these two stages in Christian life. The one is the Spirit's work in us, the other is the Spirit's personal coming to abide within us. All true Christians know the first, but few, it is to be feared, understand and receive the second. There is a great difference between my building a house and my going to reside in that house and make it my home. And there is a great difference between the Holy Spirit's work in regenerating …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 9. "Because I Live Ye Shall Live Also" (John xiv. 19).
"Because I live ye shall live also" (John xiv. 19). After having become adjusted to our Living Head and the source of our life, now our business is to abide, absorb and grow, leaning on His strength, drinking in His life, feeding on Him as the Living Bread, and drawing all of our resources from Him in continual dependence and communion. The Holy Spirit will be the great Teacher and Minister in this blessed process. He will take of the things of Christ and show them unto us, and He will impart them …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 21. "We Will Come unto Him and Make Our Abode with Him" (John xiv. 23).
"We will come unto Him and make our abode with Him" (John xiv. 23). The Bible has always held out two great promises respecting Christ. First, I will come to you; and, second, I will come into you. For four thousand years the world looked forward to the fulfilment of the first. The other is the secret which Paul says has been hid from ages and generations, but is now made manifest to His saints, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is just as great a revelation of God as the incarnation …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 1. "We Will Come unto Him and Make Our Abode with Him" (John xiv. 23).
"We will come unto him and make our abode with him" (John xiv. 23). This idea of trying to get a holiness of your own, and then have Christ reward you for it, is not His teaching. Oh, no; Christ is the holiness; He will bring the holiness, and come and dwell in the heart forever. When one of our millionaires purchases a lot, with an old shanty on it, he does not fix up the old shanty, but he gets a second-hand man, if he will have it, to tear it down, and he puts a mansion in its place. It is not …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 3. "My Peace I Give unto You" (John xiv. 27).
"My peace I give unto you" (John xiv. 27). Here lies the secret of abiding peace--God's peace. We give ourselves to God and the Holy Spirit takes possession of our breast. It is indeed "Peace, Peace." But it is just then that the devil begins to turn us away, and he does it through our thoughts, diverting or distracting them as occasion requires. This is the time to prove the sincerity of our consecration and the singleness of our heart. If we truly desire His Presence more than all else, we will …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Faith in God and Christ
'Let not your heart be troubled ... believe in God, believe also in Me.'--JOHN xiv. 1. The twelve were sitting in the upper chamber, stupefied with the dreary, half-understood prospect of Christ's departure. He, forgetting His own burden, turns to comfort and encourage them. These sweet and great words most singularly blend gentleness and dignity. Who can reproduce the cadence of soothing tenderness, soft as a mother's hand, in that 'Let not your heart be troubled'? And who can fail to feel the tone …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Many Mansions'
'In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.'--JOHN xiv. 2. Sorrow needs simple words for its consolation; and simple words are the best clothing for the largest truths. These eleven poor men were crushed and desolate at the thought of Christ's going; they fancied that if He left them they lost Him. And so, in simple, childlike words, which the weakest could grasp, and in which the most troubled could find peace, He said to them, after having encouraged their …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Christ's Peace
'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'--JOHN xiv. 27. 'Peace be unto you!' was, and is, the common Eastern salutation, both in meeting and in parting. It carries us back to a state of society in which every stranger might be an enemy. It is a confession of the deep unrest of the human heart. Christ was about closing His discourse, and the common word of leave-taking came naturally to His …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Love and Obedience
'If ye love Me, keep My commandments.'--JOHN xiv, 15. As we have seen in former sermons, the keyword of the preceding context is 'Believe!' and that word passes now into 'Love.' The order here is the order of experience. There is first the believing gaze upon the Christ as He is revealed--the image of the invisible God. That kindles love, and prompts to obedience. There is another very beautiful and subtle link of connection between these words and the preceding. Our Lord has just been saying, 'Whatsoever …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Christ's Works and Ours
'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father. 13. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14. If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it.'--JOHN xiv. 12-14. I have already pointed out in a previous sermon that the key-word of this context is 'Believe!' In three successive verses we find it, each time widening …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Comforter Given
And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.'--JOHN xiv. 16,17. The 'and' at the beginning of these words shows us that they are continuous with and the consequence of what precedes. 'If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments, and I will pray ... and He will …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Absent Present Christ
'I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me: because I live, ye shall live also.'--JOHN xiv. 18,19. The sweet and gracious comfortings with which Christ had been soothing the disciples' fears went very deep, but hitherto they had not gone deep enough. It was much that they should know the purpose of His going, whither He went, and that they had an interest in His departure. It was much that they should have before them the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Forerunner
'... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.'--JOHN xiv. 2, 3. What divine simplicity and depth are in these words! They carry us up into the unseen world, and beyond time; and yet a little child can lay hold on them, and mourning hearts and dying men find peace and sweetness in them. A very familiar image underlies them. It was customary for travellers in those old days to send …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Gifts of the Present Christ
'At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.'--JOHN xiv. 20, 21. We have heard our Lord in the previous verse unveiling His deepest and strongest encouragements to His downcast followers. These were: His presence with them, their true sight of Him, and their participation in His life. The …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Who Bring Christ
'Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. He that loveth Me not, keepeth not My sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me.'--JOHN xiv. 22-24. This Judas held but a low place amongst the Apostles. In all the lists he is one of the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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