Praying to Jesus
Praying to Jesus
A caller asked about praying to Jesus on Friday and I thought of John 14:14 where Jesus says, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." I referenced a Greek interlinear and the word ME (short for EME) is present in the Greek. If this rendering is correct, it sounds like (given the flow of that discussion) Jesus is equating praying to him as praying to the Father. Any thoughts on this?
Re: Praying to Jesus
In John 14:14, the inclusion of "Me" is questionable, for several reasons. It is included in the Alexandrian Text, but omitted in the Textus Receptus.
Alexandrian reads: "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."
TR reads: "If you ask anything in My name, I will do [it]."
While I sometimes favor the reading of the Alexandrian text, I have to go with the TR this time, because:
2. It makes no sense to say "ask Me...in My name." It would seem absurd to ask "Person A" for something "in the name of Person A." Though Christians do this all the time in their prayers, they apparently do so without thinking. To act "in the name" of a person means that you act as that person's representative or agent. I do not believe it makes sense to approach Jesus "as an agent of" Jesus;
3. Jesus, in the same discourse, specifically said that they would not be asking Him for anything, but that they would direct their prayers to the Father in Jesus' name (John 16:23, 26-27)
4. Jesus taught (and the disciples practiced) prayer only to the Father (e.g., Matt.6:9; 7:11; John 16:23; Acts 4:24, 27; Eph.3:14). We do not find any post-resurrection prayers offered to Jesus, other than the brief ejaculatory cries of two men who were both, at the time, seeing Jesus in visions (Acts 7:59; Rev.22:20), which were undeniably extraordinary circumstances.
5. The fact that, in John 14:14, Jesus says "I will do it" does not necessarily mean that the prayers He is dispatched to answer were uttered to Him, rather than to the Father.
As I mentioned to the caller, the teaching that prayer should be offered to the Father does not exclude the possibility of other kinds of communications with Jesus—e.g., arguments with HIm (Acts 22:17-21), though this, too, was on the occasion of a vision of Christ.
Alexandrian reads: "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."
TR reads: "If you ask anything in My name, I will do [it]."
While I sometimes favor the reading of the Alexandrian text, I have to go with the TR this time, because:
2. It makes no sense to say "ask Me...in My name." It would seem absurd to ask "Person A" for something "in the name of Person A." Though Christians do this all the time in their prayers, they apparently do so without thinking. To act "in the name" of a person means that you act as that person's representative or agent. I do not believe it makes sense to approach Jesus "as an agent of" Jesus;
3. Jesus, in the same discourse, specifically said that they would not be asking Him for anything, but that they would direct their prayers to the Father in Jesus' name (John 16:23, 26-27)
4. Jesus taught (and the disciples practiced) prayer only to the Father (e.g., Matt.6:9; 7:11; John 16:23; Acts 4:24, 27; Eph.3:14). We do not find any post-resurrection prayers offered to Jesus, other than the brief ejaculatory cries of two men who were both, at the time, seeing Jesus in visions (Acts 7:59; Rev.22:20), which were undeniably extraordinary circumstances.
5. The fact that, in John 14:14, Jesus says "I will do it" does not necessarily mean that the prayers He is dispatched to answer were uttered to Him, rather than to the Father.
As I mentioned to the caller, the teaching that prayer should be offered to the Father does not exclude the possibility of other kinds of communications with Jesus—e.g., arguments with HIm (Acts 22:17-21), though this, too, was on the occasion of a vision of Christ.
Re: Praying to Jesus
Jason wrote:A caller asked about praying to Jesus on Friday and I thought of John 14:14 where Jesus says, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." I referenced a Greek interlinear and the word ME (short for EME) is present in the Greek. If this rendering is correct, it sounds like (given the flow of that discussion) Jesus is equating praying to him as praying to the Father. Any thoughts on this?
Is he actually talking about praying to him since he was still actually with them or literally about them literally asking him to do something? It is interesting to contemplate what Jesus statement covers since it could mean praying to him, yet he himself prayed to the Father. After his ascension he sat down next to his Father and i have taken that as symbolic of him resting and letting the Holy Spirit take over the workload yet he also said he will be with us until the end of the age. I'm confused and getting myself more confused but if this is the only verse that may approve of praying to Jesus , i think the evidence falls short without confirmation. The other couple of statements directed toward Christ in heaven i would'nt catagorize as prayers per se but more like a recognition of him.