1 John 5:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then he says that the sign of this undoubted faith is nothing other than the boldness that we find before Him through blameless faith, as we said above. Again, the sign of such boldness is receiving everything we ask. But since not everyone receives everything asked, and not every request is heard, he adds, “according to His will.” That is, whoever asks for what is contrary to the Teacher's will will not be heard. In this case he speaks like Saint James: “You ask and do not receive,” he says, “because you ask amiss” (Jas 4:3).

Therefore, the apostle commanded us to have a full and undoubted hope that God will hear only what does not concern our advantages and temporal consolations, but agrees with the will of God.

If we ask according to His will, He hears us. And if He hears us in our prayers, we know that we offer them according to His will, and that what we prayed for is within us. This is His kingdom and righteousness, which He Himself commanded us to ask for (cf. Mt 6:10-12).

Believers in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, must have such confidence in the goodness of the heavenly Father on the basis of the teaching of the Lord and Savior Himself.

He says to His disciples: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Mt 7:7-8).

And: "Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive" (Mt 21:22). He also said: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and become My disciples" (Jn 15:7-8).

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you" (Jn 16:23).

Every believer senses in his own heart the assurance of the unfailing inheritance of eternal life. He knows almost by touch the immutability of the promise given to him.

For who among the members of the Church has not experienced, and who does not know, that the Lord fulfills the desires of those who fear Him and does not deprive them of His good things?

When He does this for the purposes of temporal life, will He refuse us what is needful for salvation and eternal life?

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Rom 8:32).

The Apostle affirms that through faith in the Son of God we receive such boldness toward God that we may ask of Him everything in accordance with His will. So also Christ promised: "Whatever you ask of the Father in My name, I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (Jn 14:13).

The Apostle does not add in vain, "according to His will." Faith itself teaches us to ask of God only what conforms to His will, and to pray: "Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Mt 6:10).

Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is confirmed by extraordinary witnesses and unites the believer with God. It raises the believer's prayer to an equally extraordinary boldness, not only prayer for himself, but also for other believers (1 Jn 5:16).

The boldness of believers toward the Lord is so great (cf. 1 Jn 2:28; 3:21; 4:17; Eph 3:12; Heb 4:16) that, when they ask Him for anything in prayer, He hears them (1 Jn 3:22 and note).

"According to His will": this is a necessary condition of what is asked in prayer. The believer must ask only what accords with God's will concerning him.

"If we ask God for what conforms to His will, then He hears us. ... But whoever asks what is contrary to the will of the Teacher will not be heard" (Theophylact).

"He who has the Son of God," that is, who believes in Him with his soul and heart, "has life. ... These things I have written to you, that you may know that you, believing in the Son of God, have eternal life" (1 Jn 5:12, 13).

The Apostle then says that the good possessed by believers gives them such confidence that they will be heard in all their prayers, provided, of course, that these prayers accord with the will of God. An example is prayer for the correction and salvation of a sinning brother.

Yet here one must make a great distinction between ordinary sins and sins unto death, for which the Apostle does not command prayer (1 Jn 5:14-17).

The fulfillment by Jesus Christ of what Christians ask constitutes the third proof of His divine power and majesty. This proof is drawn from Christians themselves, from their own state.

In explanation of this passage, Blessed Theophylact says: "The Apostle speaks, as it were, in this way. If we ask God for what conforms to His will, then He hears us. If He hears us in our petitions, then we know that we offer petitions in accordance with His will, and that we have the things asked by us in our very possession. Such objects are the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, which He Himself commanded us to seek in the Gospel" (see Mt 6:33).

Those who learn by experience of a craft how everything necessary for some work is achieved have a more perfect hope that, when the matter arises, they will be able to carry it out. For even holy men, John and those with him, the apostles, learned from their own experience what would be pleasing and acceptable to Him, since they often ask God. They made this their own and foresee in advance that, as often as they ask in this way, they are granted what they desire according to the will of God.