Where James focused on wisdom, John widens the scope to “whatever we ask”— and he sounds like Jesus in Mark 11.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him (1 John 5:13-15).
Notice these parallel thoughts:
MARK 11
- HAVE FAITH IN GOD (v.22)
- WHOEVER (v.23)
- ASK (v.24)
- WHATEVER YOU ASK (v.24)
- BELIEVES… BELIEVE (v.23,24)
- THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED IT (v.24)
1 JOHN 5
- TO YOU WHO BELIEVE (v.13)
- IF WE (v.14,15)
- ASK (v.14)
- ANYTHING ACCORDING TO HIS WILL (v.14) WHATEVER WE ASK (v.14)
- CONFIDENCE… KNOW… KNOW (v.14,15)
- THAT WE HAVE THE REQUESTS THAT WE HAVE ASKED OF HIM (v.15)
John repeats in essence the lesson he learned from Jesus! This is not surprising since Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would help the apostles remember (John 14:26). But here John is writing to Christians in general, and to such an audience he applies the same principles. John uses three strong terms here:
- “Confidence” which is a positive sense of assurance. It is the opposite of doubt.
- We “know” He hears, and we “know” we receive. This term for “know” is oida and it is used also in 1 John 5:13. It refers to understanding with clarity and certainty.
- We “have”—we already possess—that which we request. Our confidence is so great that what we request is already known to have been given by God.
The Holy Spirit is telling us as forcibly as possible: “You can be absolutely sure about the effectiveness of your prayers!”