What does it mean to pray “in the name of Jesus”?

And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it (John 14:13-14).

The more important a biblical truth is, the more constant and firm Satan’s attack against it is. He knows that if he manages to distort the understanding of that truth, then it will cease to be effective in the believer’s life. A misunderstanding of biblical truths will inevitably lead to misapplication, resulting in adverse and harmful consequences for the believer’s spiritual health.

Over the years, great biblical truths, such as justification by faith alone, biblical repentance, regeneration, progressive sanctification, the deity of Christ, the substitutionary nature of His death, and many more, are increasingly being distorted by people who openly claim to be part of biblical Christianity. Although many do not do so intentionally, it is sad and painful to see the ignorance they display when they open their mouths to argue, relying on “the Bible says,” damaging the testimony of the true gospel. On the other hand, there are those who very subtly use the cloak of their profession of faith to hide their hypocrisy and manipulation.

That is why those of us who love the word of God, who are passionate about theology —I do not use the word in its fully technical sense as an academic discipline, but in its basic sense: the study of the being of God and his works— find it extremely painful to observe the current state of the church.

In this article, we will try to understand what Jesus taught when he said, “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” We will basically address two points. First, we will look at what it does not mean, and second, we will look at what it does mean.

What it does not mean

Many see prayer simply as a tool we can use to inform God of our problems: these Christians reduce prayer to a mere accessory we can use to get God to give us the things we want.

When Jesus said, “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it,” he was not establishing some kind of magic formula for the practice of prayer. Most have come to understand this—consciously or unconsciously—as a command to add the expression “in Jesus’ name” to every prayer. Those who think this way believe that what is being taught here is that we must add this expression to the end of each of our prayers, and then they will be correct before God. But Jesus was not simply trying to establish correct “syntax” in our prayers. Jesus is talking here about the kind of prayer that is accepted by God, and it is not something that depends on syntax, grammar, ease of expression, and those kinds of things that so attract our attention and so often lead us to make misguided judgments about the truthfulness of appearances.

What it does mean

So what does it mean to pray “in the name of Jesus”? It means two things. First, it is prayer that is done with Jesus’ approval and authorization. And second, it is prayer that is in accordance with his character, and both of these things are two sides of the same coin.

First, to do something “in someone’s name” means that that person has authorized us to do it based on their authority. When Peter commanded the lame man, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” (Acts 3:6), he was speaking in Jesus’ authority, not his own. When the members of the Sanhedrin asked, “In what name have you done this?” (Acts 4:7), they were asking, “By whose authority did you do this?” Another example is when Paul casts out the spirit of divination from the girl in Acts 16:18. In these two examples, the prayer is answered because they were made in the real authority of Jesus. It was not because they said “in the name of Jesus,” as if it were a magic spell that, when pronounced correctly, gives power to the prayer. As I said, it is not a matter of syntax, grammar, or correct expression; it is a matter of real authorization from God.

That is why many of the prayers in today’s religious performances go unanswered: because they do not have God’s approval or authority, but are the result of the presumption of many. Today we have many movements in the evangelical world with a theology that is a millimeter long and a millimeter wide. Their members are always proclaiming, declaring, canceling, binding, loosing, rebuking, releasing, establishing, visualizing, etc., etc., etc. I am not saying that the use of these words is wrong in itself. The sad thing is that when we analyze all this phraseology—very popular today—we realize, in the vast majority of cases, that underneath it all lies a sterile, dead theology; a theology that does not know God. We see people being declared healthy when they are not, prophecies that never come true, prophecies that go against the Bible itself, and every kind of nonsense we can imagine.

I am sure that someone will ask: Are you, Brother Andrés, saying that it is wrong to pray for healing, rebuke demons, or that there are no true prophecies today? Of course not! Our God heals, delivers, supplies our needs, can communicate through prophets at certain times, etc., and therefore, we should pray for these things. But He will respond according to His will, not according to anyone’s whim or presumption. We should pray for all these things, but we must be humble, submit to His will, and wait for Him to answer in His time.

Secondly, we can say that in a more complete sense, a person’s “name” in biblical times represented the person himself and, therefore, his entire character. This may be a little confusing to us because in our society names are merely labels that serve to identify a person, period.

To have a “good name” (Pr 22:1; Ec 7:1) was to have a good reputation. Therefore, the name of Jesus represents everything He is, His entire character. This means that praying “in the name of Jesus” is not only praying in His authority, but also praying in a way that is consistent with His character, that truly represents Him and reflects His way of life and His holy will. Does this mean that it is wrong to add “in the name of Jesus” at the end of our prayers? Certainly not, as long as we understand what it means and that it is not mandatory to do so. We repeat: it is not a question of adding or not adding a phrase at the end of the prayer, but there can be danger if we add this expression to all our prayers without a correct understanding of what it means. We can fall into empty and superficial ritualism in our prayers.

A passage that clearly teaches this truth is Psalm 37:4. For years I have heard many Christians quote this passage with a misunderstanding of its meaning. Many understand this passage to teach that if we are busy in the things of the Lord, if we participate in programs and do a lot of things, then God will answer the requests of our hearts. Thus, they measure the depth of their relationship with God in terms of activity, not theology. But this text, correctly interpreted, teaches us that the one who delights in God is the one who trusts in Him and is being fed by His truth—see the context. So, this delighting is the result of a true knowledge of God—deep theology—which translates into a life that trusts and waits on Him. When this is a reality in the life of the believer, their desires and longings are in complete harmony with the desires and longings of God. He puts His desires and longings in our hearts, and when our mouths open, they are expressed, and God is pleased. This is contrary to what usually happens in evangelical shows: when mouths open, desires and longings are expressed that are the result of the worldliness that dwells in hearts.

I would like to conclude with the following definition of prayer: “It is the appeal of a dependent creature; the groaning of a guilty sinner; the articulate worship of an intelligent soul.”

Benjamin Palmer

God bless you.