What did John really mean in 1 John 5:14 when he said God hears us "if we ask anything according to His will..."?
The only other passage in the NT that translates to this phrase uses a different Greek word for "according" and is found in Luke 12:47:
| προς | | το | | θελημα | | αυτου |
| according to | | ⋄ | | his will, | | ♦ |
| πρός | | ὁ | | θέλημα | | αὐτός |
| 4314 | | 3588 | | 2307 | | 846 |
| P | | TASN | | NASN | | RP-GSM
|
Lest we be guilty of splitting hairs here, we accept that they are the same and so are the contexts in which they are used.
Most interpretations of this passage in Scripture turn out to be classical and useless for practical applications. The phrase, "according to His will" is meant to say "according to His prescribed manner of conduct" but most commentaries state "according to His purpose" and is subsequently distorted by Greek scholastic thought. They are viewed and subsequently interpreted from the viewpoint of a Hellenist Gentile instead of a Jew in a Hellenistic environment. Perspective makes all the difference in the world for good and true hermeneutics.
It is true that the Bible was written for the whole world to understand. However, there are nuances of language and context that can only be properly dissected using the right perspective. One has to put himself in the shoes of the "immediate" author and audience of the scripture context. John was one of those "uneducated" fisherman who captured the heart of Jesus and was called the "Beloved" disciple.
John's lack of formal Hellenistic education much less Jewish education is key here. John must have only learned from the Rabbi's the "simple" truths of the Torah. John later learned from the Greatest Communicator, Jesus Christ, the unfolding revelation of His heart. Note that in Acts 1:3, Jesus spent 40 days with His inner circle of disciples in His resurrected body to open and break forth the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. Note also that John's learning process could not have been, in any way shape or form, distorted by Hellenistic thought during these 40 days. God forbid, and Jesus would have seen to that! Yes, they were using Aramaic or Koine Greek to communicate but this was the common "street" or "market" Greek. This was the Greek for and of the uneducated (Hellenistically speaking).
That is how we should approach the interpretation of Scripture whether Old Testament or New Testament...through Jewish eyes.
According to a classical interpretation of this passage, we can only pray what is in the purpose of God and that pupose is fixed and unmovable. Hence, our prayers can only be "heard" by God within a narrow scope of requests. If you analyze this interpretation, it does not mean anything sensible or practical other than an expression of Hellenistic philosophy. Hellenistic philosophy always ends up with almost everything about God being a mystery, EVEN WHEN IT HAS ALREADY BEEN REVEALED IN SCRIPTURE! Talk about the blindness of wisest of man and the wisdom of the world being mere foolishness to God. This is one example.
How often do we hear classical prayers utter, "if it be Your will..." and it degrades to a prayer of unbelief. Classicists would cross-reference this with phrases like, "if the Lord wills..." (1 Corinthians 4:19) or "God willing" (Acts 18:21). They are further intimidated and limited by the warning from James 4:15, "Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” ". But these statements are related to plans and not prayers. The attitude we ought to have when we declare our plans should be different from the expression of our inner desires and longings when we are on our knees before our Loving Heavenly Father. Prayer is where we can let ourselves go and come as we are before God, open and candid but with godly fear and reverence.
Let us look at two key cross references for the phrase, "according to His will". The first will be the other exact "english" translation passage of Luke 12:47.
The Luke 12 parable of Jesus illustrates one alternative meaning of the phrase. Here is the definition of Enhanced Strong's Lexicon:
[
2307 θέλημα [thelema /thel·ay·mah/] n n. From the prolonged form of 2309; TDNT 3:52; TDNTA 318; GK 2525; 64 occurrences; AV translates as “will” 62 times, “desire” once, and “pleasure” once. 1 what one wishes or has determined shall be done. 1a of the purpose of God to bless mankind through Christ. 1b of what God wishes to be done by us. 1b1 commands, precepts. 2 will, choice, inclination, desire, pleasure.
Strong, J. (1996). The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the text of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurrence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) (G2307). Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship. ]
"1b of what God wishes to be done by us." This is the closest to the sense of the phrase and passage which is the object of our study.
The servant was guilty of not following the mandate of proper conduct by his master and "shall be beaten with many stripes". Note that this mandate of proper conduct is fixed by his master and yet he still had the free will not to comply. Reward and punishment is a result of his behavior and his behavior alone. Reward and punishment had little to do with the mandate apart from setting a guideline.
Likewise when we "ask anything according to His will", that means we come to God with our petitions with the right heart ("pure in heart", Matthew 5:8), the right spirit (we are the branches constantly abiding in and completely dependent on the Vine, John 15:5), conscious that we are standing on holy ground and knowing that "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6). In other words, we approach God in the context of a covenant relationship knowing that we have fulfilled our part of the covenant so that He is moved to fulfill His part in a relevant way to us.
Recall that in the OT, God issued a series of blessings for faithfulness, and curses for disobedience to His own chosen people the Jews (Deuteronomy 28-30). Recall also that the seven churches in Asia in the first 3 books of the Revelation received its own dose of verbal commendations and warnings of curses and judgment (Revelation 2,3).
Covenant relationship is God-initiated-and-signed but is two-way. God explicitly declares that He will fulfill His end of the covenant if we are faithful to fulfill our end. There is absolutely no middle ground or fence-sitting in the covenant. Hence, God is NOT a vending machine to get what we want when we need it. However, God DOES promise to grant us anything when we are in fulfillment of our covenant relationship with Him, and God DOES NOT and CANNOT lie!
The 2nd passage that will help explain the meaning and context of God's will (thelema) comes from The Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:10. Here is a plea for God's will to be done. That plea does not make sense if God's will would be done anyway without that plea. So the concept of the unchangeable and unmovable will of God in many ways is Hellenistic and unbiblical (even non-sensible). We are not talking about the absolute and ultimate will of God for all of creation and man, here. We are simply talking about day to day prayer items. There is no reason for anyone, classicism, especially to apply God's absolute will on any item in this world that has to do with His will and even purpose.
In fact, the prayer for God's will to be "done on earth as it is in heaven" is a plea to do His will quickly, and that was prayed over 2,000 years ago and has been prayed millions of times in various ways ever since. So even to interpret it in a generalized sense does not make sense at all. From a simple mind approach, that prayer illustrated by Jesus really meant that it is our prayer that we taste a little of heaven on earth that applies to our immediate situation. And that my friends has been answered by God millions of times as well, but only when we come to Him in prayer, "according to His will" as interpreted in this blog.
I believe such interpretation shows the difference when we read the Bible with a simple, Hellenistically "uneducated" mind like John, from a Jewish perspective compared to a Classical Hellenistic "educated", but philosophically-distorted viewpoint.
Finally, the best explanation of the concept of "according to His will" comes from the very same person and author, John himself. In 1 John 3:21,22, he writes,
"21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight."
Now let us talk Greek for a moment. The Greek word for confidence is this verse is exactly the same as 1 John 5:14, parresis, meaning courage or boldness. The Greek word for "ask" even connotes "demand" aside from request but is used in the Greek more for demand than request. It means to ask for with urgency, even to the point of demanding. Not only are we to have boldness in approaching God but we can almost demand with due respect to His Deity. The Greek word, in fact, is used when requesting something of someone more superior...and yet it hints of demand?
Note also that the word for "know" in 1 John 15:15 comes from the Greek word "oida" in contrast to "gnosis". Although they are often used interchangeably, they have different flavors depending on context. gnosis speaks of knowing as a result of seeing or observation while oida actually speaks of understanding of the process and inner workings of its object. Isn't that fascinating that "uneducated" but "inspired" John picked that word!
John was actually talking about getting assurance that our prayerful requests are truly answered in a timely (sometimes, immediate) and relevant manner.
Let us recap what we said earlier.
When we "ask anything according to His will", that means we come to God with our petitions with the right heart ("pure in heart", Matthew 5:8, or according to John, "if our heart does not condemn us,"), the right spirit (we are the branches constantly abiding in and completely dependent on the Vine, John 15:5), conscious that we are standing on holy ground and knowing that "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6). In other words, we approach God in the context of a covenant relationship knowing that we have fulfilled our part of the covenant so that He is moved to fulfill His part in a relevant way to us.
Let us now address a specific passage of Scripture which on the surface seems troublesome and contradictory to what we just proposed. Observe the story of leper Jesus healed in Matthew 8:1-3:
1 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Now, one would ask, "Isn't this a literal example of praying according to God's will?". The leper did say, "Lord, if you are WILLING...", right? Rewind for a moment, take a step back and let us see this from the viewpoint of relational theology.
The leper, before he met Jesus, had almost no relationship with Jesus. Hence, he is an "outsider" and should pray like an outsider! The same is true for a Christian that prays that way, he only betrays that fact that there is something lacking or missing in his relationship with God which is why he could pray that way. It is a prayer of uncertainty. It is a prayer of no-faith, if you will.
Let us now examine the Lord's response to the leper. "I am WILLING!" Yes, it is a Biblical fact that God is ALWAYS WILLING! It is a principle in His nature. An good analogy is what St. Peter said in 2 Peter 3:9:
"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
The Lord is not willing that any should perish BUT MANY HAVE PERISHED!!!
Applying this to prayer and/or healing, the Lord is willing to heal but many are NOT HEALED; The Lord is willing to ANSWER PRAYER but many prayers are NOT answered at all, and... for exactly the SAME reason that many perish...THEY DO NOT BELIEVE! THEY DO NOT HAVE FAITH! Because, they do NOT have a REAL RELATIONSHIP with the Living God! No ifs, buts, or other excuses!
The prayer of faith is different and the difference is night vs. day!
The Bible clearly declares in the last testament of Christ before He faced the cross, starting in John 15 and following that if we are in relationship with Him and behave like the branches abiding in the Vine (i.e., in such an attached and vital relationship with God), Jesus GUARANTEED that if we ask ANYTHING in His Name, he will respond with solid answers...so that your joy may be full! Read it again! You may have missed it because you were reading with the wrong lens.
May you pray according to His will indeed, so that your prayers get heard!
May your prayers be rewarding and always answered in covenant relationship with God!
