What Does John 14:13 Mean?
And whatever you ask in my nature, this I will do, so that the Father may be given weight in the Son.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.THE KEY
The name is not a verbal stamp on a request; it is the nature shaping what is asked and made visible through the Son’s action.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks of asking within the Son’s name, his revealed nature and authority, and of him acting in response. Through that action, the Father’s weight becomes visible in the Son.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that attaching a sacred name to any request guarantees its fulfillment: “in my name” speaks to the nature in which the asking happens, and the stated end is the Father honored in the Son.
THE ROOT
ὄνομα
onoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνομ-
onom-
Name, designation, or the identity by which someone is known.
The phrase “in my name” reaches beyond saying a name aloud: it places the asking within the Son’s known nature and authority. The verse links that nature to action, the Son acts, and the Father’s character is seen through him.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: To name, call, or speak of by name.
ὀνομάζω
Naming makes an identity known; here, the Son’s name points to the nature through which the request and response take shape.
onomastos: Named, renowned, or well known.
ὀνομαστός
This branch connects a name with what is recognized about someone, echoing the verse’s movement from the Son’s nature to the Father being recognized.
δοξασθῇ
doxasthē
GROWS FROM
δοξ-
dox-
Honor, esteem, reputation, and weight made evident.
“given weight” in this verse is doxasthē. The Father being glorified is the Father’s weight and honor becoming visible through what the Son does. The verse presents the Son’s action as the way the Father’s nature is recognized.
ALSO GROWS
doxa: Honor, reputation, or glory.
δόξα
This is the honor made visible in the verse’s outcome: the Father is recognized through the Son.
doxazō: To honor, glorify, or make someone’s worth evident.
δοξάζω
The action of honoring gives the verse its purpose: the Son acts so the Father’s weight is seen.
THE PATTERN
A name reveals the nature that becomes recognizable through action.
And the LORD passed by before his face, and called out, The LORD, The LORD God, compassionate and full of favor, slow to flare, abounding in faithful love and truth,You did not pick me out, but I picked you out and set you, that you may go and bear fruit, and that your fruit may remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my nature, he may give you.I have made your nature visible to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have guarded your word.THE THREAD
I have made your nature visible to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have guarded your word.The same word, ὄνομα (onoma), appears as “name.” John 17:6 shows what the name means here: the Son makes the Father known, so asking in the Son’s name belongs to the nature he reveals.
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