50 Erroneus Proofs of God's Non-Existence 1:89-94

John 14:12-14

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Your comments read as follows:

“Look at how direct this statement is: "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." This is the "Son of God" speaking. Have we taken him "too literally?" No. This is a simple, unambiguous statement. Have we taken his statement "out of context?" No - Jesus uses the word anyone. Yet Jesus' statement is obviously false. Because when we ask God to cure cancer tonight, nothing happens.”

Before anything else is said, it must be noted that regarding the two questions you pose in your comments, only the first of your given answers is correct, but even though that answer is correct, it is not accurate in the way you apparently think it is. The given response, “No”, is correct not because you have taken the words of our Lord “too literally”, but because you fail to take them “literally enough”. We shall see why in that which follows. As for the second question to which your reply is once again, “No”,  I suggest you most certainly have taken the words out of their context, and furthermore, I seriously doubt that you could explain the context to me even if I were to ask you. Thus, your obvious difficulty at staying “in” context.

The initial statement in your reply, however, is right on the money. The words Jesus speaks in these verses truly are “direct”. Rather than isolate a single sentence in your reference from the rest, however, as you have done, or for that matter, rather than separating your reference from the beginning of the conversation that began in John 14:1, we must take the Scripture as a whole, and in order to accomplish that, we really do need to begin, at the very least, with the question that Thomas asked in verse 5, which brought forth the Lord's ensuing reply.

Thomas was commenting on what Jesus had just told His disciples, regarding the fact that they should not be sad that He was about to leave them, since He was going so that He could prepare a place for them, and He would surely return, so that He could take them to that place (John 14:1-3). He then told them that they already knew the way to that place (a reference to having faith, and trust in Jesus and the Father, which is the path we all must use, and a path that we all should know).

"Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.'"

John 14:5-7 (Emphasis mine.)

Now there is a great deal that we could discuss regarding the Scriptures just given, but since we are actually dealing with a verse that appears later in this particular accounting, we should just use this one, as is necessary, to clarify that later verse. For now, let us just continue.

After hearing Jesus' answer to Thomas' question, a second disciple added his voice to the conversation,

"Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.'

            John 14:8

It seems to me that what Philip was asking for was "proof", very much so as you are doing today. Even though it was common among believers during that period, as well as in our own, to believe that seeing the Glory of The Lord with human eyes would result in the death of the unfortunate one who should experience it (another topic for another time), still, there had been limited exceptions (something Philip would almost certainly have known). Moses, and several other prophets experienced "visions of God" (Theophanies), though they were watered down in various ways, as did Gideon, who we spoke of earlier. In each of those cases, those who experienced the events, survived, perhaps due to the watered-down nature of the vision, or even more likely, due to the Lord's Mercy and Graciousness.

It should be noted here, that Philip was apparently a good disciple, one of the first several to be called by Jesus,  and in every mention of him, it seems we hear only good things. He was actively involved in the Lord's miracle of the loaves (John 6:5-13), it was he to whom the Greeks attending the Feast brought their request to meet Jesus (John 12:20-22), and even when Philip was originally commanded by Jesus to "Follow me" (John 1:43b), he wasted no time in proving his unselfishness by quickly finding his friend Nathanael, testifying to him about Jesus being the one Moses had written about, and then inviting Nathanael to come and see for himself (John 1:45).

It is for the reasons given above that I don't believe Philip's request to Jesus to "show us the Father", spoke of any special dullness, or naïveté, or lack of faith on the disciple's part that was not common among many of the disciples, at that exact time in their walk with Jesus. Rather, I think Philip truly felt a deep desire to see the Father, and hadn't yet fully grasped, that, in Jesus, whom he had been travelling with for approximately three years, he had already seen the true essence of the Father in heaven. This is what Jesus was about to tell him yet again, but just before we look at that, there is another possibility for Philip's request that I have just recently in my readings seen suggested, and I would like to offer an excerpt from my study material to explain its premise.

"B. Weiss suggests that some whisper of the Transfiguration-glory (see Luke 9:28-36) had escaped from the favoured three (the disciples chosen to accompany Jesus up the Mount of Transfiguration, who were then instructed by Jesus not to tell anyone, at that time, about what they had been so blessed to witness) leading the other disciples to desire a corresponding theophany.[1]" I certainly think that that might be a distinct possibility.

At any rate, whatever the actual reason was for Philip's question, Jesus answered,

"'...Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work. Believe me when I say I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

John 14:9-11 (Emphasis mine.)

There seems to be a certain amount of sadness at Philip's apparent lack of spiritual progress in the Lord's first question, and His ensuing comment of explanation. In His second and third questions, however, I get much more of a sense of how He seems to be guiding Philip into self-reflection, bringing the disciple to a questioning of what it is that he truly believes. When He then implores Philip to "Believe me" it is because that is not just the best of the roads to salvation that Philip could take, it is the only successful road to be certain. When He continues by saying, "at least believe on the evidence of the miracles, it is because without belief in Jesus, Philip would have to return to the beginning of his spiritual path, which is quite often, believing, but for the wrong reasons; a state in which many, if not all, believers, began their journey of faith. Though a belief of that nature is an excellent place to begin, it is not a "saving" belief, which only comes through belief in Jesus. And this conversation continues right on into the Scriptures that you have referenced.

In verse 12, Jesus clearly states “…anyone who has faith in me…”, so we can plainly see that the promises herein contained are only pertinent to unbelievers should they ever accept the call of the Spirit to return in faith unto the Lord, at which time, they would not be unbelievers anymore. The clause "...who has faith in me..." is that which qualifies the pronoun "...anyone..." By the very clarity of the qualification, the word "anyone" refers only to those who have “faith in Jesus”. If you don’t believe in God, it stands to reason that you don’t believe in His Son, so I’m very interested in knowing how you can claim to have faith in a figure which you don’t believe exists. We shall try and supply you with the tools needed to grasp the principle I am attempting to make, when we pick this up tomorrow.

Just before we leave, however, it should also be noted that exactly as the phrase "who has faith in me" limits the scope of the word, "anyone", so does the phrase, "in my name" limit, and restrict, the meaning of the second word you latched onto, the word "anything", as found in verse 14 of your reference. Neither of the two words in question can be taken as you have tried to take them, since you, in both cases, neglected to include the qualifying phrases. So you see, despite your continual objections to Christians who claim that you have taken things "out of context", the simple fact of the matter is, you have, and as long as you continue to do so, you should expect to hear that statement continually repeated. After all, it's not paranoid behaviour on the part of Christians who accuse you of this practice, if in fact, it's really happening, as it clearly is. But for now...

TO BE CONTINUED……

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[1] "The Pulpit Commentary, The Gospel of John", H.D.M. Spence, M.A, D.D., Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1950, p.223  (Parenthetical statements are mine.)