Praying In the Name of Christ - Glenn Conjurske
Praying In the Name of Christ
by Glenn Conjurske
The evangelical church of our day is as fast bound by the traditions of men as ever the Church of Rome was. The traditions may be different (though alas, many of them are the same), but the evangelical traditions have no more scriptural sanction than the Romanist traditions. Some of those traditions are obviously detrimental. Others may be seemingly harmless. Yet our safety is always in “holding fast the form of sound words” (II Tim. 1:13), as they are found in the Scriptures, and no departure from them may ever be assumed to be altogether harmless.
One of the most universal of evangelical traditions—-though it is a modern one—-is the saying of “In Jesus’ Name” (or some similar phrase) as the closing of a prayer. A quarter of a century ago it became plain to me that much of what is commonly accepted and practiced among evangelicals has no sanction from the Scriptures, and at that point I took the Bible as my real and only authority, and let go the traditions. Among other things which I let go was this closing of my prayers with “In Jesus’ Name,” for I saw no authority for this in the Bible. The prayers which are recorded in the Bible itself are not closed after this manner. Of course I am well aware that Christ has said, “Verily, verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23-24). But I do not believe that to pray in Christ’s name means to say “In Christ’s name,” and no doubt thousands of fleshly and sinful prayers have been presented to God professedly “in Jesus’ name” which were not in his name at all. Of that more later.
But first, some will no doubt be ready to ask, What is wrong with it? To begin with, it generally contains such a display of spiritual ignorance and carelessness as Christians ought really to be ashamed of. Why, for example, do Christians almost universally say, “In Jesus’ name,” after the manner of the modern Pentecostals? Surely if Paul were to use such a closing to his prayers, he would say, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Some have indeed varied the expression from “In Jesus name,” but usually with less of spiritual sense rather than more. How often have I heard Christians pray to the Father, and then close the prayer with “In thy name.” What is this, but praying to the Father in the Father’s name?—-and the case is not helped a bit if they say, “In thy blessed name,” or “In thy mighty name,” or “In thy precious name.” It is still praying to the Father in the Father’s name—-or rather, a mere mouthing of the words which tradition has taught them, without spiritual sense or thought.
Others actually pray to Christ rather than the Father, and close with “In thy name,” but there is less of spiritual sense in this than in the other. What Christ said in John 16:23 is, “In that day ye shall ask ME nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the FATHER in my name, HE will give it you.”
But the modern tradition is productive of a much greater evil than this mere confusion. The fact is, the great majority of evangelicals suppose that to pray in the name of Christ means nothing more than to repeat at the close of their prayers this verbal formula, which they use as a sort of magic charm, in hopes that it will secure the answer to their prayers. This meaningless ritual has displaced and replaced the reality. The repetition of the verbal formula has been substituted for actually praying in the name of Christ. With the ritual they are content, it never having entered their minds that there is anything more to praying in the name of the Son of God than glibly (yea, or solemnly) to repeat these few words at the close of their prayers. What it actually means to pray in the name of Christ they have never inquired—-and never will, so long as this tradition holds sway over their minds.
It is worthy of observation that the same Bible which instructs us to pray in the name of Christ, instructs us also to pray “in the Holy Spirit”—-yet no one dreams of closing their prayers with “We pray in the Holy Spirit.” Such a profession, indeed, might be more than their consciences would allow them to make. The same Bible also demands that we pray according to the will of God, yet no one dreams of closing their prayers with “We pray according to thy will.” Again, their consciences might not allow them to make such a profession—-but then if they but understood what it means to pray in the name of Christ, they might not dare to make that profession either.
Now as said above, this tradition is a modern one. If we go back a century, to the recorded prayers of men like D. L. Moody and C. H. Spurgeon, we find no such custom reigning there, though we may find the seeds from which it grew. I find a reference to something similar more than two centuries ago, in the life of Sampson Staniforth, who says, “I asked a blessing, concluding as usual with `for the sake of Jesus Christ.”’ It is a rare thing to find any actual prayers recorded from the men of those days, but I am able to give a hint from the sermons of George Whitefield, which were taken down in short hand just as he uttered them. He closes one sermon with, “Grant this, O Father, for Christ’s sake; to whom, with thee and the blessed Spirit, be all honour and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.” But this, observe, is not merely the closing of a prayer, but the whole prayer.
A whole volume of Spurgeon’s prayers have been published, containing twenty-six of his prayers, as he prayed them. His closing words are multifarious, and betray no such adherence to the custom which binds Christians today. I give a number of them (with page numbers in parentheses following):
“…so he begs to leave a broken prayer at the mercy seat with this at the foot of it: We ask in the name of Jesus Christ Thy Son. Amen.” (6)
“Come, Lord Jesus, even so, come quickly. Amen and Amen.” (11)
“This is our prayer, and we crown it with this: Come, Lord Jesus,
come Lord and tarry not! Come in the fulness of Thy power and the splendour of Thy glory! Come quickly, even so come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.” (18)
“Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen and amen.” (24)
“…and let the intercession be accepted of God, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.” (31)
“And now unto Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (37)
“Oh! that Thy kingdom might come, and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, for Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.” (43)
“Father help us; bless us now for Jesu’s sake. Amen.” (49)
“Glory be unto the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen” (53)
“Make no tarrying, O Thou Son of Righteousness, but come forth speedily. We ask it for Thy name’s sake. Amen.” (59)
“Lord hear, forgive, accept and bless, for Jesu’s sake. Amen.” (65)
“Let the benediction of heaven descend on men, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” (77)
“And wherever Thou has a people, may Jesus dwell with them and reveal Himself to His own, for Christ’s sake, to whom be glory with the Father and with the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.” (83)
“We ask it for Christ’s sake. Amen.” (116)
“Let all tongues speak the name of Jesus and all men own Him as Lord and King. We ask it in His name. Amen.” (129)
“Father, glorify Thy Son that Thy Son may glorify Thee. Holy Spirit, do Thine office and take of these things of Christ and reveal them unto us. We gather up all our prayers in that salvation through the blood of the Lamb. Amen.” (134)
“We ask it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.” (139)
The rest of them are generally of the same character and variety as these. He seems to have a preference for “Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus,” but the prayers published in this book are too few to base any generalization upon.
D. L. Moody’s recorded prayers exhibit the same freedom from the tradition which binds the church today. One who knew him well and followed him closely speaks of “the words with which he closes his short direct prayers, `And Thou shalt have the praise and glory. Amen.”’ This would seem to indicate that this was the habitual way in which he ended his prayers (without any reference to the name of Christ), but he was not bound to this, as the following examples will prove:
“While the infidels are mocking and scoffing and saying, `God cannot save the drunkards,’ O God! make bare Thine arm and show them Thy strength; show them that God can save the lowest drunkards, and it will be to Thy great glory. Amen.”
“…and Christ will have all the praise and glory. Amen”
“…and Christ shall have the praise and the glory. Amen.”
“O God, hear our supplications here to-day, and answer our prayers; answer the many prayers that are going up to thee. Come Holy Spirit, in thy mighty power, and convict our hearts of sin, and melt them and turn them from darkness to light. Amen.”
“And thy name shall have the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
“…and thy name shall have the praise and the glory. Amen.”
“Grant us Thy blessing in all our work, and we will give all to the glory of Thy name through Jesus our Lord. Amen.”
“And now, may great grace be upon all men. Amen.”
“We ask it all in the name of Thy beloved Son. Amen.”
“And may Thy blessing rest on the songs we shall sing and the Gospel we shall preach. Amen.”
“We ask it all through the name of Immanuel Thy Son. Amen”
“We ask it all for Jesus sake. Amen”
“We shall never forget Thy goodness through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
“For thy name’s sake. Amen.”
“We pray now for thy blessing to rest upon us as we go hence.” Amen.”
It appears that the closing words of Moody’s prayers (and these examples might be multiplied almost without number) varied more than Spurgeon’s did, but this may be only because so many more of Moody’s prayers have been printed. Obviously neither of them were bound by the tradition which reigns today. They did sometimes use similar words, but this was evidently the expression of their own thoughts and feelings, and not the mere mouthing of words from habit and tradition.
How we got from that state of things to the present is unknown, though not hard to conjecture. Suffice it to say, the repetition of “In Jesus’ Name,” or some similar formula, at the end of a prayer is now nearly as universal a tradition among evangelicals as it is to follow that formula with “Amen.” It is even a matter of conscience with many, so that they could not omit it without being convicted that they had done wrong. Here and there, however, the man may be found who has been liberated from it—-probably because he has come to understand what it actually means to pray in the name of the Son of God. One such man was John R. Rice—-surely one of the greatest men which the present generation has laid eyes upon. I heard him preach sixteen years ago. It was a meeting of preachers, and there were perhaps 200 of them present. When he preached—-on prayer, of course—-the auditorium resounded with a score or a hundred of “Amen’s” after almost every sentence he uttered, but when in the course of his sermon he came to speak against the common ritual of saying “In Jesus’ Name” at the close of our prayers, I alone said “Amen,” and the rest of the crowd was silent. I observed that Rice himself did not use the common formula in closing his prayers, but simply said “Amen.”
But we must inquire, if to pray in the name of Christ does not mean merely to profess his name by the repetition of a verbal formula, what does it mean? The following from R. A. Torrey is worth quoting:
“To pray then in the name of Christ is to pray on the ground, not of my credit, but His; to renounce the thought that I have any claims on God whatever, and approach Him on the ground of Christ’s claims. Praying in the name of Christ is not merely adding the phrase “I ask these things in Jesus’ name” to my prayer. I may put that phrase in my prayer and really be resting in my own merit all the time. On the other hand, I may omit that phrase but really be resting in the merit of Christ all the time.” This is all right as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough.
To pray in the name of Christ is not only to rely on his merit, but is to pray according to his purposes and for the sake of his cause. An employee may have permission to use the company name to buy materials on credit for the company’s business, but as soon as he begins to use the company name for his own ends or projects, he is guilty of a crime. When I pray for the furtherance of the cause of Christ, I may legitimately pray under the authority of his name, but when his ends are not regarded, and I pray in the flesh for fleshly or worldly ends, it is a profanation of his name to use it as a magic charm with which to move God to answer me. God will no more regard this than he would if I prayed according to the will of the flesh, and closed my prayer with, “According to thy will.” It is a “vain repetition,” and God will no more be moved by it than he will by the vain repetitions of the heathen.
Glenn Conjurske