John 16:24 Kommentar

Among other glorious things God hath spoken of himself this is one, I wound, and I heal, Deu. 32, 39. Christ's discourse in this chapter, which continues and concludes his farewell sermon to his disciples, does so. I. Here are wounding words in the notice he gives them of the troubles that were before them (Joh 16:1-6). II. Here are healing words in the comforts he administers to them for their support under those troubles, which are five: - 1. That he would send them the Comforter (Joh 16:7-15). 2. That he would visit them again at his resurrection (Joh 16:16-22). 3. That he would secure to them an answer of peace to all their prayers (Joh 16:23-27). 4. That he was now but returning to his Father (Joh 16:28-32). 5. That, whatever troubles they might meet with in this world, by virtue of his victory over it they should be sure of peace in him (Joh 16:33).

These things have I spoken unto you,.... Concerning the world's hatred and persecution of them, and the little regard they would show to their doctrine: these things Christ thought, proper to give them notice of before hand, that expecting them, they might be prepared for them, and be fortified against them; that, says he, ye should not be offended: his view in speaking of them, was not to discourage them, but to prevent their stumbling at them, and falling by them. Hardships coming upon persons at unawares, bear the harder upon their spirits, and they are more apt to take offence at them and be impatient under them, which is prevented by previous intimation: had Christ said nothing of these things that should befall his disciples, they might have surprised them, and have been a stumbling to them; and might have tempted them to have relinquished their profession of him, and dropped their ministerial work; whereas being apprized of them before hand, they were not so shocking to them. This shows the tender concern of Christ for his disciples, how careful he was to remove, every occasion of stumbling, or what might be matter of offence to them; and may teach us to act in such like manner towards one another, in this, or any other case.

At that day ye shall ask in my name,.... For when the Spirit was poured upon them, they not only received his extraordinary gifts, and had a larger measure of his grace bestowed upon them; but were also blessed with him, as a spirit of grace and supplication, in a more remarkable manner than ever they had been before: they then better understood the throne of grace, and the advantages of it; had greater enlargements and assistances at it; and were better acquainted with the mediation of Christ, and the necessity of making use of his name, blood, and righteousness, in all their petitions and requests. And I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you. This Christ had promised before, Joh 14:16; nor was there any occasion to repeat it now, of which they might be strongly assured: besides, at that day the Spirit would be given to them by virtue of his intercession; so that there would be no need of praying to the Father for them on that account. This is said, not as if the intercession of Christ for his people would then cease; for he is always their advocate with the Father, and ever lives to make intercession for them; though it may not be carried on in the same manner, by prayer, as when he was here on earth, his personal appearance, and the presentation of his blood, sacrifice, and righteousness, being sufficient; but to declare the disposition and readiness of his Father to hear them, and grant unto them whatsoever they should ask of him in his name.

But He who had said, "Ask, and ye shall receive," gave to them when they asked, that death which each one had wished for.

We should give thanks to God for the good things he gives us and not bear it with bad grace because he measures his giving. Should he grant us to be in union with him, this we shall receive as a most perfect and joyful gift. Should he delay this, let us suffer the loss in patience since he disposes of our lives more perfectly than we could ever order them. The halcyon is a sea bird that nests by the shore, laying its eggs in the sand and bringing forth its young in the middle of winter when the sea beats violent and frequent storms. But during the seven days while the halcyon broods—for it takes but seven days to hatch its young—all winds sink to rest and the sea grows calm. And as it then is in need of food for its young ones, the most bountiful God grants this little creature another seven days of calm so that it may feed its young. Since all sailors know of this, they give this time the name of the halcyon days. These things are ordered by the providence of God for the creatures that are without reason so that you may be led to seek of God the things you need for your salvation. And when for this small bird he holds back the great and fearful sea and bids it be calm in winter, what will he not do for you made in his own image? And if he should so tenderly cherish the halcyon, how much more will he not give you [what you need] when you call on him with your heart?

(Hom. lxxix) Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

Our fullness of joy—and there is nothing greater than this—is to enjoy God in the Trinity, in the image of whom we are made.

(Tr. ci. 4) The word ask here means not only to seek for, but to ask a question: the Greek word from which it is translated has both meanings. (Tr. cii) But does He love us because we love Him; or rather do not we love Him, because He loved us? This is what the Evangelist says, Let us love God, because God first loved us. (1 John 4:19) The Father then loves us, because we love the Son, (Diligamus Deum, Vulg.) it being from the Father and the Son, that we receive the love from the Father and the Son. He loves what He has made; but He would not make in us what He loved, except He loved us in the first place. (Tr. cii) He came forth from the Father, because He is of the Father; He came into the world, because He showed Himself in the body to the world. He left the world by His departure in the body, and went to the Father by the ascension of His humanity, nor yet in respect of the government of His presence, left the world; just as when He went forth from the Father and came into the world, He did so in such wise as not to leave the Father. But our Lord Jesus Christ, we read, was asked questions, and petitioned after His resurrection: for when about to ascend to Heaven He was asked by His disciples when He would restore the kingdom to Israel; when in Heaven He was asked by Stephen, to receive his spirit. And who would dare to say that as mortal He might be asked, as immortal He might not? I think then that when He says, In that day ye shall ask Me nothing, He refers not to the time of His resurrection, but to that time when we shall see Him as He is: which vision is not of this present life, but of the life everlasting, when we shall ask for nothing, ask no questions, because there will remain nothing to be desired, nothing to be learnt. (Tr. cii) The word whatsoever, must not be understood to mean any thing, but something which with reference to obtaining the life of blessedness is not nothing. That is not sought in the Saviour's name, which is sought to the hindering of our salvation; for by, in My name, must be understood not the mere sound of the letters or syllables, but that which is rightly and truly signified by that sound. He who holds any notion concerning Christ, which should not be held of the only Son of God, does not ask in His name. But he who thinks rightly of Him, asks in His name, and receives what he asks, if it be not against his eternal salvation: he receives when it is right he should receive; for some things are only denied at present in order to be granted at a more suitable time. Again, the words, He will give it you, only comprehend those benefits which properly appertain to the persons who ask. All saints are heard for themselves, but not for all; for it is not, will give, simply, but, will give you; what follows: Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name, may be understood in two ways: either that they had not asked in His name, because they had not known it as it ought to be known; or, Ye have asked nothing, because with reference to obtaining the thing ye ought to ask for, what ye have asked for is to be counted nothing. That therefore they may ask in His name not for what is nothing, but for the fulness of joy, He adds, Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. This full joy is not carnal, but spiritual joy; and it will be full, when it is so great that nothing can be added to it. (1. de Trin. c. 8) And this is that full joy, than which nothing can be greater, viz. to enjoy God, the Trinity, in the image of Whom we are made. (Tr. cii) Whatsoever then is asked, which appertained to the getting this joy, this must be asked in the name of Christ. For His saints that persevere in asking for it, He will never in His divine mercy disappoint. But whatever is asked beside this is nothing, i. e. not absolutely nothing, but nothing in comparison (computatione) with so great a thing as this. It follows: These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. The hour of which He speaks may be understood of the future life, when we shall see Him, as the Apostle saith, face to face, (1 Cor. 13:12) and, These things have I spoken to you in proverbs, of that which the Apostle saith, Now we see as in a glass darkly. But I will show you that the Father shall be seen through the Son; For no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal Him. (Mat. 11:17) (Tr. cii. c. 3) But this sense seems to be interfered with by what follows: At that day ye shall ask in My name. What shall we have to ask for in a future life, when all our desires shall be satisfied? Asking implies the want of something. It remains then that we understand the words of Jesus going to make His disciples spiritual, from being carnal and natural beings. The natural man so understands whatever he hears of God in a bodily sense, as being unable to conceive any other. Wherefore whatever Wisdom saith of the incorporeal, immutable substance are proverbs to him, not that he accounts them proverbs, but understands them as if they were proverbs. But when, become spiritual, he hath begun to discern all things, though in this life he see but in a glass and in part, ye doth he perceive, not by bodily sense, not by idea of the imagination, but by most sure intelligence of the mind, perceive and hold that God is not body, but spirit: the Son showeth so plainly of the Father, that He who showeth is seen to be of the same nature with Him who is shewn. Then they who ask, ask in His name, because by the sound of that name they understand nothing but the thing itself which is expressed by that name. These are able to think that our Lord Jesus Christ, in so far as He is man, intercedes with the Father for us, in so far as He is God, hears us together with the Father: which I think is His meaning when He says, And I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you. To understand this, viz. how that the Son does not ask the Father, but Father and Son together hear those who ask, is beyond the reach of any but the spiritual vision.

So what should we pray for? “Ask in my name.” And he did not say what for, but in his words we can understand what we ought to ask for. “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Ask, and you will receive, in my name. But what? Not nothing. What though? “That your joy may be full,” which means, ask for what can finally satisfy you. Because sometimes you ask for nothing. “Whoever drinks of this water will be thirsty again.” You lower the bucket of greed into the well, you pull up something to drink, and you will again be thirsty. “Ask, so that your joy may be full,” that is, so that you may be permanently satisfied, not just so as to enjoy yourselves for a time. Ask for what can satisfy you. Utter Philip’s words, “Lord, show us the Father, and that suffices us.” The Lord says to you, “Have I been with you such a long time, and you do not know me? Philip, whoever sees me also sees the Father.” So give thanks to Christ who took our humanity to himself for you in your weakness. And get your stomachs ready to be satisfied with Christ’s divinity.

"Hitherto," He says, "ye have not asked anything in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." This that He calls a full joy is certainly no carnal joy, but a spiritual one; and when it shall be so great as to be no longer capable of any additions to it, it will then doubtless be full. Whatever, then, is asked as belonging to the attainment of this joy, is to be asked in the name of Christ, if we understand the grace of God, and if we are truly in quest of a blessed life. But if aught different from this is asked, there is nothing asked: not that the thing itself is nothing at all, but that in comparison with what is so great, anything else that is coveted is virtually nothing. In order, then, that, they may ask in His name, not that which is nothing, but a full joy (since anything different from this that they ask is virtually nothing), He addresses to them the exhortation, "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full;" that is, ask this in my name, that your joy may be full, and ye shall receive. For His saints, who persevere in asking such a good thing as this, will in no wise be defrauded by the mercy of God.

He urges the disciples to seek for spiritual gifts and at the same time gives them confidence that, if they ask for them, they will not fail to obtain them. He adds the word Amen, that he might confirm their belief that if they ask the Father for anything they would receive it from him. He would act as their mediator and make known their request and, being one with the Father, grant it. For this is what he means by “in my name.” For we cannot draw near to God the Father in any other way than through the Son. For it is by him that we have access in the one Spirit to the Father. It was because of this that he said, “I am the door. I am the way. No one comes to the Father but by me.” For as the Son is God, he being one with the Father provides good things for his sanctified people and is found to be generous of his wealth to us.… Let us then offer our prayers in Christ’s name. For in this way, the Father will most readily consent to them and grant his graces to those who seek them, that receiving them we may rejoice.

If the Father gives us everything we ask in the name of the Son, what then does it mean that Paul asked the Lord three times and did not deserve to be heard, but it was said to him: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness"? Did not that most excellent preacher ask in the name of the Son? Why then did he not receive what he asked? How then is it true that whatever we ask the Father in the name of the Son, the Father gives us, if the Apostle asked in the name of the Son that the angel of Satan be removed from him, and yet did not receive what he asked? But since the name of the Son is Jesus, and Jesus means savior, or is also called salvation, therefore he asks in the name of the Savior who asks for that which pertains to true salvation. For if something that is not expedient is asked for, the Father is not being asked in the name of Jesus. Hence the Lord says to those same apostles while they were still weak: "Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name." As if it were openly said: You have not asked in the name of the Savior because you do not know how to seek eternal salvation. Hence it is that Paul also is not heard, because if he were freed from the temptation, it would not profit him unto salvation. Behold, we see, dearest brothers, how many of you have gathered for the feast of the martyr: you bend your knees, you beat your breasts, you utter words of prayer and confession, you wet your faces with tears. But consider, I ask, your petitions; see whether you are asking in the name of Jesus, that is, whether you are seeking the joys of eternal salvation. For in the house of Jesus you do not seek Jesus, if in the temple of eternity you pray inappropriately for temporal things. Behold, one person in prayer seeks a wife, another asks for an estate, another requests clothing, another begs that food be given to him. And indeed when these things are lacking, they should be sought from almighty God. But we ought to remember continually what we have received from the command of our same Redeemer: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." And so to ask these things from Jesus is not to err, provided they are not sought excessively.

For when your prayers shall be fully answered, then will your gladness be greatest.

"Until now you have asked nothing in My name," but from now on "ask, and" you will certainly "receive." Therefore it is more beneficial that I die; for from now on you will have greater boldness before My Father. Although I will be separated from you, do not think that you have been abandoned by Me; for My separation from you will give you greater boldness, and your joy will then be most complete, when you receive everything you ask for. Observe then: he who asks in the name of Christ receives. But of those who desire worldly and soul-harming things, no one asks in the name of Christ, and therefore does not receive. For the name of Christ is Divine and salvific. But if someone asks for something ruinous to the soul, shall we really say that he asks in the name of the Savior?

2143 Now he encourages them to act with the confidence he has given them: first, he reminds them of what they lacked in the past; secondly, he encourages them to advance in the future, ask. 2144 What they lacked in the past was not asking; thus he says, Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name. But this seems to conflict with Luke (9:1) where it says that Christ gave the twelve "power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases"; and the same in Matthew (10:1). Now they did these things by praying. Therefore, they did ask something in the name of Christ, especially because the disciples said: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name" (Lk 10:17). We must say, then, that this can be explained in two ways. First, Hitherto you have asked nothing, that is nothing great, in my name. For to ask for cures for the body is a small matter compared to the great things they would accomplish by their prayers; nor had they yet received the Spirit of adoption to make them aspire to spiritual and heavenly things. And if you object that they did ask for something great when they asked before, "Lord, show us the Father" (14:8), I answer that they were not asking the Father (which is what Christ is talking about here), but only Christ as man, trusting that as a mediator he would show them the Father. Another explanation: if you ask anything of the Father in my name. Up to now they had not asked in his name because they did not have a complete knowledge of the name of Christ. 2145 When he says, ask, and you will receive, he is urging them to make progress, that is, they are now to ask: "Ask, and it will be given you" (Mt 7:7). Ask, I say, and you will receive, that is, what you are asking for, that your joy may be full: "The seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name'" (Lk 10:17). The phrase that your joy may be full can be taken to indicate the reason why their prayers are heard. Or, it can point to what they are praying for, so the meaning is: ask, and you will receive, and what you should ask for is that your joy may be full. 2146 Note that the object of joy is a good that is desired. Since desire is a kind of movement toward a good, and joy is rest in that good, a person has joy when he rests in a good, now possessed, to which his desire was moved. And one's joy is proportionate to the good possessed. There cannot be full joy in a created good because it does not give complete rest to man's desires and yearnings. Our joy will be full when we possess that good in which all the goods we can desire are found superabundantly. This good is solely God "who satisfies our desire with good things" (Ps 103:5). Therefore he says, ask this, that your joy may be full, that is, ask to enjoy God and the Trinity, as Augustine says, and no joy is greater: "You will fill me with joy with your face" (Ps 16:11). And why is this? Because "all good things came to me along with her," that is, with the contemplation of divine wisdom (Wis 7:11).

Christ warns his disciples, and foretells the persecutions they should receive from the Jews, Joh 16:1-4. Foretells his death, and promises them the Comforter, Joh 16:5-7. Points out his operations among the Jews, and in the world, Joh 16:8-11. His peculiar influences on the souls of the disciples, Joh 16:12-15. Speaks figuratively of his death and resurrection, at which his disciples are puzzled, Joh 16:16-18. He explains and illustrates the whole by a similitude, Joh 16:19-22. Shows himself to be the Mediator between God and man, and that all prayers must be put up in his name, Joh 16:23-28. The disciples clearly comprehend his meaning and express their strong faith in him, Joh 16:29, Joh 16:30. He again foretells their persecution, and promises them his peace and support, Joh 16:31-33.

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name - Ye have not as yet considered me the great Mediator between God and man; but this is one of the truths which shall be more fully revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. Ask - In my name; and ye shall receive - all the salvation ye thus request; the consequence of which shall be that your joy shall be full - ye shall be thoroughly happy in being made completely holy.

DISCOURSE AT THE SUPPER TABLE CONCLUDED. (John 16:1-33) These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended--both the warnings and the encouragements just given.

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name--for "prayer in the name of Christ, and prayer to Christ, presuppose His glorification" [OLSHAUSEN]. ask--when I am gone, "in My name."