Church Fathers Commentary John 16:23-28

"And in that day ye shall ask me no question. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full. These things have I spoken unto you in dark sayings: the hour cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in dark sayings, but shall tell you plainly of the Father. In that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came out from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father." — John 16:23-28 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: Again our Lord shows that it is expedient for Him to go: And in that day you will ask Me nothing.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The word “ask” here means not only to seek for something but also to ask a question; the Greek word from which it is translated has both meanings.

St. John Chrysostom: He says, And in that day, that is, when I have risen again, you will ask Me nothing. This means you will not say to Me, “Show us the Father,” or, “Where are you going?” since you will know this through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Or, you will ask Me nothing in the sense that you will not need Me as a Mediator to obtain your requests, as My name will be enough if you only call upon it: Verily, verily, I say to you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you.

In this, He shows His power: that even when not seen or asked, but only named to the Father, He will perform miracles. Do not think, then, that because I will not be with you in the future, you are therefore forsaken, for My name will be an even greater protection to you than My presence. Hitherto have you asked nothing in My Name; ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Or, when your prayers are fully answered, then your gladness will be greatest.

St. John Chrysostom: Because these words were obscure, He adds, These things have I spoken to you in proverbs, but the time comes when I shall no more speak to you in proverbs. For forty days He talked with them as they were assembled, speaking of the kingdom of God. And now, He says, you are too fearful to pay attention to My words, but then, when you see Me risen again, you will be able to proclaim these things openly.

Theophylact of Ohrid: He still cheers them with the promise that help will be given to them from above in their temptations: At that day you shall ask in My Name. And you will be so in favor with the Father that you will no longer need My intervention: And I say not to you that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you. But so that they would not draw back from our Lord, as though they no longer needed Him, He adds, Because you have loved Me. It is as if to say, “The Father loves you because you have loved Me; therefore, when you fall from My love, you will immediately fall from the Father’s love.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: But does He love us because we love Him? Or rather, do we not love Him because He first loved us? This is what the Evangelist says: Let us love God, because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). The Father, then, loves us because we love the Son, since it is from the Father and the Son that we receive the very love with which we love them. He loves what He has made, but He would not have made in us what He loves unless He loved us in the first place.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Perfect faith in the Son believes and loves what has come forth from God and deserves to be heard and loved for its own sake. This faith, which confesses the Son of God was born from Him and sent by Him, does not need an intercessor with the Father. For this reason, it follows, And have believed that I came forth from God. His nativity and advent are signified by the words, I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world. The one refers to His divine plan (dispensation), the other to His nature.

To have come from the Father and to have come forth from God do not have the same meaning. It is one thing to have come forth from God in the relationship of Sonship, and another thing to have come from the Father into this world to accomplish the mystery of our salvation. Since to come forth from God is to exist as His Son, what else can He be but God?

St. John Chrysostom: Since it was comforting for them to hear of His resurrection and how He came from God and went to God, He dwells on these subjects again and again: Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. The first was proof that their faith in Him was not in vain; the second, that they would still be under His protection.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He came forth from the Father because He is of the Father; He came into the world because He showed Himself in the body to the world. He left the world by His physical departure and went to the Father by the ascension of His humanity; yet, with respect to His governing presence, He did not leave the world. This is just as when He came forth from the Father and came into the world, He did so in such a way that He did not leave the Father.

But we read that our Lord Jesus Christ was asked questions and petitioned after His resurrection. For example, when He was about to ascend to heaven, He was asked by His disciples when He would restore the kingdom to Israel. And when in heaven, He was asked by Stephen to receive his spirit. And who would dare to say that He might be asked questions as a mortal, but not as an immortal? Therefore, I think that when He says, In that day you shall ask Me nothing, He is not referring to the time of His resurrection, but to that time when we will see Him as He is. This vision is not of this present life but of the life everlasting, when we will ask for nothing and ask no questions, because there will be nothing left to be desired and nothing left to be learned.

Alcuin of York: This, then, is His meaning: “In the world to come, you will ask me nothing. But in the meantime, while you are traveling on this wearisome road, ask what you want from the Father, and He will give it to you.” Verily, verily, I say to you, Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The word “whatsoever” must not be understood to mean just anything, but rather something that, in reference to obtaining the blessed life, is not nothing. Whatever is sought that hinders our salvation is not sought in the Savior’s name. For “in My name” must be understood not as the mere sound of letters or syllables, but as that which is rightly and truly signified by that sound. He who holds any notion about Christ that should not be held of the only Son of God does not ask in His name.

But he who thinks rightly of Him asks in His name and receives what he asks, if it is not against his eternal salvation. He receives it when it is right that he should receive it, for some things are denied at present only to be granted at a more suitable time. Again, the words, He will give it you, only include those benefits that properly pertain to the persons who ask. All saints are heard for themselves, but not for everyone, for the promise is not simply “He will give,” but “He will give you.”

What follows, Hitherto have you asked nothing in My name, can be understood in two ways. Either they had not asked in His name because they had not known it as it ought to be known, or they had “asked nothing” because, in comparison to the great thing they ought to ask for, what they had asked for counts as nothing. Therefore, so that they may ask in His name not for what is nothing but for the fullness of joy, He adds, Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. This full joy is not a carnal but a spiritual joy, and it will be full when it is so great that nothing can be added to it.

And this is that full joy, than which nothing is greater: namely, to enjoy God the Trinity, in whose image we are made.

Whatever, then, is asked that pertains to obtaining this joy must be asked in the name of Christ. He will never, in His divine mercy, disappoint His saints who persevere in asking for it. But whatever is asked besides this is “nothing”—not absolutely nothing, but nothing in comparison with so great a thing as this. It follows: These things have I spoken to you in proverbs; but the time comes when I shall no more speak to you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. The “hour” of which He speaks could be understood as the future life, when we will see Him, as the Apostle said, face to face. And “These things have I spoken to you in proverbs” could refer to what the Apostle said: Now we see as in a glass darkly (1 Corinthians 13:12). But I will show you that the Father will be seen through the Son, for no man knows the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal Him (Matthew 11:17).

St. Gregory the Great: When He declares that He will show them plainly of the Father, He alludes to the coming manifestation of His own majesty, which would truly show His own equality with the Father and the procession of the coeternal Spirit from both.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But this interpretation seems to be contradicted by what follows: At that day you shall ask in My name. What will we have to ask for in the future life, when all our desires will be satisfied? Asking implies the want of something. It remains, then, that we understand these words as referring to Jesus making His disciples spiritual, transforming them from carnal and natural beings. The natural man understands whatever he hears of God in a bodily sense, as he is unable to conceive of God in any other way. Therefore, whatever Wisdom says about the incorporeal, immutable substance is a “proverb” to him—not because he considers it a proverb, but because he understands it as if it were one.

But when he becomes spiritual, he begins to discern all things. Though in this life he sees only in a mirror and in part, he nevertheless perceives—not by bodily sense, not by an idea of the imagination, but by the most certain intelligence of the mind—and holds that God is not a body, but spirit. The Son shows the Father so plainly that He who shows is seen to be of the same nature as the One who is shown. Then those who ask, ask in His name, because by the sound of that name they understand nothing less than the reality itself which is expressed by that name.

These people are able to understand that our Lord Jesus Christ, insofar as He is man, intercedes with the Father for us; and insofar as He is God, He hears us together with the Father. I think this is His meaning when He says, And I say not to you that I will pray the Father for you. To understand this—namely, how the Son does not ask the Father, but how the Father and Son together hear those who ask—is beyond the reach of any but the spiritual vision.