What Does John 14:14 Mean?
If you ask anything of me in my nature, I will do it.
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
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.THE KEY
“In my name” means within my nature: the name is the character carried by the request, not a verbal tag attached to it.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you now with a direct promise: whatever you ask within Jesus’ nature, he says he will do. His name gives the asking its character; the doing remains his.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that saying “in Jesus’ name” is a formula that guarantees any request.
THE ROOT
ὄνομα
onoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνοματ-
onomat- stem
Name, designation, and the identity or character represented by the name.
The Greek word can point beyond a spoken label to the person and standing represented by it. Asking “in my name” places the request within Jesus’ nature, holding the request and his character together.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: To name, call, or mention.
ὀνομάζω
This branch shows naming as identifying someone in speech, bringing that person’s identity into view.
onomasia: Naming or designation.
ὀνομασία
This branch carries the sense of a recognized identity, showing why “name” can mean more than a sound spoken aloud.
THE PATTERN
A name carries the identity and character of the one named.
No longer shall your name be called Abram, but Abraham, father of multitudes, for I have set you as a father of many nations.And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will call out the name of the LORD before you. I will favor whom I favor, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.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.“Name” translates the same Greek word, ὄνομα (onoma), in both verses. Jesus says he makes the Father’s name visible by revealing the Father, opening “in my name” as asking within the nature he makes known.
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