John 16:23Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Thus, when He said, “A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me,” the disciples naturally did not understand this.

Now it is not so. But what does “you will not ask Me” mean?

You will not say, “Show us Your Father,” or, “Where are You going?” For you will know everything, and the Father will be as favorably disposed toward you as I am.

For now we see through a mirror and in an enigma, and we know in part, according to the word of Paul (1 Cor 13:12, 9). Yet, without passing beyond exactness in dogmas, and following the meaning of holy and God-inspired Scripture, we possess imperfect knowledge. No one would receive it otherwise unless the Holy Spirit sanctified him.

The objection is made, as though from the person of our opponents. And how, they say, is it not absurd and utterly ignorant to say that from the essence of God proceeds a Spirit so imperfect, who has nothing from Himself, but by participation in that One appears as what He is?

The Savior asserts this about Him most clearly in the Gospels, saying: "He shall not speak anything from Himself, but whatever He hears, He shall speak." For if He were able to have perfection from Himself, He would also speak from Himself, needing no reminder from another.

The refutation is this. One who discerns the folly and madness of our opponents would marvel, and rightly so. For from this very saying they should rather have learned the mystery of the Holy Spirit.

They should have understood that He is, as it were, a fruit of the divine essence, existing in it and proceeding from it indivisibly and inseparably. Yet by this they are scandalized, being, as it is written, "held fast by the cords of their sins" (Prov 5:22). Therefore they cannot walk the straight paths of instruction.

For the Savior says this about the Spirit not to show Him imperfect, but rather to make known to His hearers that, since the Spirit is of His essence, He will speak nothing other than what He Himself wills.

For since He is His mind, according to what blessed Paul said of the Spirit, "But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16), He will certainly think and command the same things as the One whose mind He is.

Therefore Christ also declares that the Spirit will speak nothing from Himself. It is almost as though He says, "It is I who speak again." So also the mind existing in a man might say of the word that proceeds from it: "It will say nothing from itself, but will speak what it hears."

Certainly no one will call this ordinary human spoken word imperfect because it is first formed in the mind and brings outward the meanings received from it. For natural unity immediately places within it what has been received from there.

Something like this must be understood concerning the Holy Spirit. For, being the mind of Christ, the Spirit speaks with the disciples about everything that is in Him. He does so not by some will of His own, nor by a purpose alien to the One in whom and from whom He speaks. Rather, He speaks as proceeding by nature from His essence, and as having in Himself all His purpose, as also His operation.

Therefore David, hymning this name in various places, says among other things, “How wondrous is Your name in all the earth” (Ps 8:2), and also, “For His name alone is exalted” (Ps 148:13).

It should be noted that Jesus Christ sometimes ascribes the granting of a request to God the Father, and sometimes to Himself, as He does with many other works.

Here He ascribes it both to God the Father and to Himself, since He adds, “in My name.”

In this way all passages where such an addition occurs must be explained. “Whatever you ask” means, of course, what is worthy and profitable.

How is it true that whatever we ask of the Father in the name of the Son, the Father gives us, if the Apostle asked in the name of the Son for the angel of Satan to depart from him and did not receive it?

Because the name of the Son is “Jesus,” and Jesus is called Savior, or even Salvific, the one who asks in the name of the Savior asks for something pertaining to true salvation.

But if one asks for what does not pertain to salvation, he does not ask the Father in the name of Jesus.

Therefore the Lord also says to the same Apostles, while they were still weak, “Until now you have asked nothing in My name” (Jn 16:24).

It is as though He clearly said, “You have not asked in the name of the Savior, because you do not yet know how to seek eternal salvation.”

For this reason Paul was not heard. Had he been freed from the temptation, it would not have been profitable for his salvation (2 Cor 12:9).

Behold, beloved brethren, we see how many of you have gathered for the feast of the Martyr.

You bend your knees, strike your breast, send forth sighs of prayer and confession, and water your faces with tears.

But examine your petitions, I ask you. See whether you pray in the name of Jesus, that is, whether you are seekers of the joys of eternal life.

For in the house of Jesus you do not seek Jesus if, in the temple of eternity, you pray untimely for what is temporal.

Behold, one man in prayer asks for a wife, another desires a village, a third asks for clothing, and a fourth prays that food be given him.

Although Almighty God must also be asked for these things if they are lacking, we must constantly remember what the same Redeemer commanded us.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Mt 6:33).

Therefore there is no sin in asking Jesus for these things also, provided they are not asked for in excess.

But again, what is more serious, one man asks for the death of an enemy. The man he cannot pursue with a sword, he pursues with prayer.

Though the one against whom he wishes evil still lives, the one who wishes evil against him already becomes guilty of his death.

God commands that the enemy be loved (Mt 5:44), and nevertheless men ask God to kill the enemy.

Therefore whoever prays in this way fights against the Creator by his very prayers.

For this reason it is said of Judas, “Let his prayer become sin” (Ps 108:7).

Prayer is turned into sin when one prays for what He to whom one prays has Himself forbidden.

They also understood that the Apostle did not ask in the name of the Savior for deliverance from the temptation given as a safeguard for his humility.

Had he been delivered, he might not have been saved.

When we are not heard in our requests, it is either because we ask something contrary to our salvation.

Then we are deprived of the grace of the all-good Father, because we ask what is inappropriate.

Or it is because, while asking for something truly useful and connected with true salvation, we lose the ability to hear the voice of the righteous Judge by our corrupt life.

Thus we justify the saying of Solomon: “He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Prov 28:9).

Or else we pray for sinners, that they may repent and be converted.

Although we ask for what pertains to salvation and deserve to be heard, their wickedness prevents the obtaining of what is asked.

In addition, they will then receive the power of prayer, by which everything will be given them that they ask in the name of the Lord.

“Whatever you ask,” and so forth. “You will not need a mediator, but it will be enough to pronounce My name in order to receive everything” (Chrysostom; cf. Theophylact).

Thus the believing soul, in the name of the Lord Jesus and thereby in the grace of the Holy Spirit, draws near to the Heavenly Father.

With boldness it cries to Him, “Abba, Father,” and with childlike simplicity tells Him its petitions.

He graciously receives its petitions, accompanied by the intercession of His Only-begotten Son and of the consubstantial Spirit.

No. When asking for something in particular, one must maintain persistence and tirelessness in prayer.

One must be like the widow who, by her importunity, compelled even a heartless judge to satisfy her petition.

True men of prayer, when they ask for something in prayer, join fasting, vigils, deprivations of every kind, and every act of beneficence to their prayer.

They ask not for one day or two, but for months and years. For this reason they receive.

Imitate them if you wish to have success in prayer.