John 16:24

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name.—Comp. Note on John 14:13. They had not up to this time received the Holy Spirit. When He came, He was as the presence of Christ dwelling in them. Under His influence their will became the will of Christ, and their thoughts the thoughts of Christ, and their prayers the prayers of Christ. They had not yet so learnt Him .as to pray in His name. It would be otherwise in that day.

Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.—The future is thought of as already present, and they are directed to ask, as though they had already entered into the new region of spiritual life. The pangs of the present travailing are passing away (John 16:22). The fulness of joy is already at hand. (Comp. Note on John 15:11.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:23-27 Asking of the Father shows a sense of spiritual wants, and a desire of spiritual blessings, with conviction that they are to be had from God only. Asking in Christ's name, is acknowledging our unworthiness to receive any favours from God, and shows full dependence upon Christ as the Lord our Righteousness. Our Lord had hitherto spoken in short and weighty sentences, or in parables, the import of which the disciples did not fully understand, but after his resurrection he intended plainly to teach them such things as related to the Father and the way to him, through his intercession. And the frequency with which our Lord enforces offering up petitions in his name, shows that the great end of the mediation of Christ is to impress us with a deep sense of our sinfulness, and of the merit and power of his death, whereby we have access to God. And let us ever remember, that to address the Father in the name of Christ, or to address the Son as God dwelling in human nature, and reconciling the world to himself, are the same, as the Father and Son are one.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hitherto - During his ministry, and while he was with them.

Have ye asked ... - From the evangelists, as well as from this declaration, it seems that they had presented their requests for instruction and aid to Jesus himself. If they had prayed to God, it is probable that they had not done it in his name This great truth that we must approach God in the name of the Mediator was reserved for the last that the Saviour was to communicate to them. It was to be presented at the close of his ministry. Then they were prepared in some degree to understand it; and then, amid trials, and wants, and a sense of their weakness and unworthiness, they would see its preciousness, and rejoice in the privilege of being thus permitted to draw near to God. Though he would be bodily absent, yet their blessings would still be given through the same unchanging Friend.

Ask ... - Now they had the assurance that they might approach God in his name; and, amid all their trials, they, as well as all Christians since, might draw near to God, knowing that he would hear and answer their prayers.

That your joy ... - See John 15:11.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name—for "prayer in the name of Christ, and prayer to Christ, presuppose His glorification" [Olshausen].

ask—when I am gone, "in My name."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

All the prayers of believers under the Old Testament were accepted upon the account of the Mediator, who was typified by the temple, and the ark, where their solemn worship was performed by Divine appointment; but the explicit naming of him was not usual in their requests. Indeed the prophet Daniel enforced his requests for the Lord’s sake, which may peculiarly respect the Messias, the promised Mediator. Our Saviour, in the form of prayer dictated to his disciples, gave no direction of addressing themselves to God in his name. But now he was ready to accomplish the will of his Father, by offering himself as an expiatory sacrifice for sin, and thereby reconciling God to them; and the prevalence of his intercession depending upon his meritorious, all sufficient sufferings, he directs and encourages them to pray with a humble confidence in his name for all the blessings they stand in need of. And it is matter of exceeding joy, that notwithstanding their unworthiness of the least favours, yet they are assured of obtaining their petitions offered up in his name; for the Father was so pleased with his voluntary obedience to the death of the cross, that no blessing is so good or great, but he most willingly bestows for his sake to all humble supplicants.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name,.... Not that they had never prayed as yet; for they had desired him to teach them to pray, which he did: they had prayed to him particularly for an increase of faith, and for many other things; but either they had only asked him, he being present with them, and not the Father; or if they had asked the Father anything, yet not in the name of Christ: they had made no mention of his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, nor any use of his mediation; things they had not as yet such clear knowledge of; or they had not asked as yet any extraordinary thing, as they afterwards did; see Acts 4:29;

ask, and ye shall receive; that is, in my name, and whatever ye ask for, ye shall have it, to fit you for your work, to carry you through it, and to give you success in it: see Matthew 7:7;

that your joy may be full; go cheerfully through your work, find much pleasure in it, and with great satisfaction see the Gospel spread, souls converted, Satan's kingdom weakened, and the interest of your Redeemer thrive and flourish; than which nothing can more contribute to complete the joy of the ministers of Christ.

Geneva Study Bible

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 16:24. ἕως ἄρτι οὐκ ᾐτήσατε οὐδὲν ἐν τ.… “Until now ye have asked nothing in my name.” They had not yet realised that it was through Christ and on the lines of His work all God’s activity towards man and all man’s prayer to God were to proceed.—αἰτεῖτε … πεπληρωμένη, “ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full,” or “fulfilled,” or “completed”. The joy they were to experience on seeing their Lord again, John 16:22, was to be completed by their continued experience of the efficacy of His name in prayer. Prayer must have been rather hindered by the visible presence of a sufficient helper, but henceforth it was to be the medium of communication between the disciples and the source of spiritual power.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. nothing in my name] Because Jesus was not yet glorified, was not yet fully known to the Apostles.

ask] The full meaning of the Greek is go on asking; it is the present not aorist imperative. Comp. John 5:14, [John 8:11,] John 20:17, and contrast Matthew 7:7 with Mark 6:22.

may be full] Or, may be fulfilled, so as to be complete and remain so. His return to the Father will gain for them (3) perfect joy. See on John 15:11 and comp. John 17:13; 1 John 1:4; 2 John 1:12.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 16:24. Ἕως ἄρτι, hitherto) As often soever as they prayed, Our Father, so ought they hereafter to say in the name of Jesus Christ.—αἰτεῖτε, ask) in My name.—ἵνα, that) This assigns the cause, why He desires them to ask.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - Hitherto - up to the present period - ye asked (ἠτήσατε, the common word for petition and request made by the inferior to the superior, the man to his Maker) nothing in my Name. The disciples had not comprehended the fullness of that Name of the well-beloved Son, filling their minds with the revelation of God made in it, and feeling it to be the great inducement and guarantee of acceptable prayer. Ask (continuously, habitually, for this is no longer in aorist, but in the present tense), and ye shall receive (ἵνα here not relic, but indicates "contemplated result"), that your joy may be fulfilled [rendered complete and full] (comp. John 15:11; Ver. 22); the joy of your love to one another and to me may reach its highest expression. There may be reference to their unanimity in the Holy Spirit, the Pentecostal outburst of perfect love which casts out fear. John 16:24

Vincent's Word Studies

Ask (αἰτεῖτε)

The present imperative, implying continuous asking. Be asking. Compare Mark 6:22, αἴτησον, the aorist imperative, marking a single, definite petition.

May be full (ᾖ πεπληρωμένη)

Very literally, may be having been fulfilled. Rev., more correctly, fulfilled. Compare John 15:11.