Love and Prayer

1 John 5:13–21

¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. ¹⁶If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. ¹⁷All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. ¹⁸We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. ¹⁹We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. ²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. ²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

John closes this Epistle with a summary of the whole letter. The important concepts are reiterated with a more personal tone as he moves into the first person, singular voice. This last paragraph rings with confidence and reassurance. Of course, the central theme is still the love of God shared with His Children and one cannot miss the last line – keep yourselves from idols. When I read that sentence my mind is moved back into the stories from the Old Testament were our Jewish brothers and sisters were unwilling to heed that advice.

Of particular interest in these closing thoughts is John’s attention to God’s willingness to hear our prayers. Anyone who has ever prayed to God in earnest hope of receiving what they want will tell you that this doesn’t always happen. God is not a candy dispenser in the sky who simply pours out whatever we ask of Him. His love for us is too great for that kind of disregard for what we actually need rather than what we simply want.

That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. John “switches from the second-person plural (v. 13) to the first-person plural in order to align himself with his audience as one who shares confidence in asking God anything according to God’s will.” Thus, our confidence is such that, if we ask for anything according to God’s good and gracious will, we know that he will hear us. John’s apparent “blanket assurance” has “doubtless puzzled a great many Christians whose prayers have not been answered in the way they would have hoped.” But “prayer is not seen as a blank check signed by Jesus and therefore like a traveler’s check, which produces results (or even cash) on demand.” Nothing should encourage us “to suppose that God will grant just anything we choose to ask, simply because we want it.” It is the will of God, “not the believer’s whim, that is the cardinal criterion of prayer that God honors.” Neither does John’s encouragement to ask “imply that God would otherwise be ignorant (Matt 6:8).”

Schuchard, B. G. (2012). 1–3 John. (p. 571). Saint Louis, MO: CPH.

So, we are reminded yet again of God’s great love that includes our forgiveness through Jesus and the Father’s willingness to be so engaged with us in relationship that He hears our every prayer. Finally, we are reminded to stay clear of idols, for the worship of anything or anyone rather than God is the fast track to despair. John provides us with two more brief letters and we will finish out the week in examination of them.