Praying in the Name of Jesus Christ



John Calvin teaches that praying in the name of Jesus Christ is a matter of great and continuing importance in the nature and practice of Christian prayer. To do so is to acknowledge that we have no where to stand before God on the basis of any merit of our own. Conversely, the only way we can possibly pray is through the merit and mediation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To admit this is to approach prayer with the proper humility. To deny it would be unspeakable arrogance.

"Because every person is unworthy to address God and present himself before His face, in order to raise us up from this shame which we have--or ought to have--in ourselves, the heavenly Father has given us His Son our Lord Jesus Christ to be our Mediator and Advocate with Him. By Christ's leading we can freely approach Him, since we are assured by having such an Intercessor, to whom the Father can refuse nothing, that nothing of all that we ask in His name will be denied us, and that God's throne is not only the throne of majesty but also of grace. In the name of such a Mediator and Intercessor we can appear at this throne with full confidence and boldness to obtain mercy and find grace and help and all that we need. That is why, since we are commanded to call upon God and given the promise that those who invoke Him will be heard; and since He has also especially and explicitly commanded us to call upon God in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have the promise that we will be heard with regard to everything that we ask in His name. . . .     

"From this it is very clear without any doubt that all those who call upon God in another name than that of Jesus Christ disobey God's commandment and go against His will. . . .

"In this way Jesus Christ is established as the unique Mediator by whose intercession the Father is made favorable and can be moved by our prayers."

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion: 1541 French Edition, translated by Elsie Anne McKee (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2009), pp. 466-467.

This, of course, excludes prayers in the name of, or through, the saints. In our own day, it rules out the mind-numbing audacity of those who think they can approach God in prayer--approach God Almighty, Lord of the universe, in prayer--totally apart from the person, work, and name of Jesus Christ. This is not to say that every prayer has to include this explicitly, as a tag line, since even Calvin acknowledged that we pray the Lord's Prayer in the Lord's name without having to say so. But it does mean, of course, that unless we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we do not pray at all.

For more information about this edition of Calvin's Institutes, please click on this link and scroll down to Institutes of the Christian Religion:

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