In my essay, “Through and Through. Thank God for Prepositions” (December 7) I noted and explained why in Liturgy the primary way of ending a Collect or Prayer is “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (or similar words). This phrase is normally part of the prayer in that it is within the sentence that ends before the word “Amen” is said in response by the assembly.
However, in Evangelical churches/colleges/seminaries which use Liturgy the way that most people end an “ex tempore” prayer (composed by the speaker) is most often, “in Jesus’ Name. Amen.” In fact, it is not usually an ending properly speaking; it is a statement that is added to the Prayer, after the prayer is finished. Grammatically it stands alone as does the word “Amen” in formal Liturgy.
Where does this ending, “In Jesus’ Name. Amen.” come from? The first part is obviously derived from the teaching of Jesus who in his last Discourse before his arrest (John 14-17) spoke several times of the importance of asking the Father in his (Jesus’) name. For example, he said to the disciples: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatsoever you wish and it will be given you” (15:7 –NIV). Here we note that the promise is not an open one for any occasion and need. For only as the disciples are in intimate communion with Jesus, and obedient to his word, does this “law of prayer” actually work.
“Amen” is the traditional ending of a prayer (“So be it, Lord”); but it is the word of the assembly not of the person who prays. It is the agreement of the congregation to that which has been prayed. So there is a certain oddity about the person who composes a prayer within the assembly adding his own “Amen” to it!
Both the use of “through Jesus Christ” and “in Jesus’ Name” point clearly to the unique mediatorship of the Lord Jesus. That he brings God to man and then lifts man to God. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no-one comes to the Father except with, by, in and through Him!
So what concerns me about the popular use of “in Jesus’ Name. Amen.” in the average prayer meeting is this. It seems to be added to a prayer (often in a staccato voice) as a kind of triumphal statement and after-thought that God will most certainly hear – forgetting that the promise of Jesus requires that very profound conditions be met for this “law of prayer” to be effective. And that those conditions will most surely lead the person who prays to do so with a truly humble and reverent attitude and voice. (In saying this I realize that “through Jesus Christ…” can also descend into formality where true piety is absent!)
Another concern that I have is that public prayer is a sphere where we not only address God the Father but also that we teach others who are listening. Who is Jesus? He is the Lord, the Christ, the Son of God, the Mediator, the King, the High Priest and so on. Prayer-endings have traditionally been means of celebrating the identity of the Lord Jesus and thus imprinting on the hearts of hearers His full identity and vocation. Thus only to use Jesus can sound over-familiar and lacking in full respect for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Father-God
I am also deeply worried about the addressing the Deity as “Father-God.” This expression may seem on first sight to be fine because (a) Jesus addressed God as “my Father”, and (b) Jesus taught his disciples to address his Father as “our Father.” In the Epistles St Paul & St John teach us that “God” is “the Father” of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not “a Father” and not “Fatherly” but “the one and only Father, the Father of glory”. He is the “Father of the only-begotten Son” and by adoption and grace “the Father of all who believe on the Name of the Son.”
Thus the Church in her Liturgies has never prayed “Father-God” but rather, “O God, our Father,…” and, “O God, the Father of all mercies…” and “O God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ…” and so on.
“Father-God” suggests that there is one God and this one God is characterized by “fatherliness.” In contrast, the Christian Religion is based on the belief and the doctrine that there is One God who is a Trinity in Unity and a Unity in Trinity and who as such is The Father, together with His Only-Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit. Thus we believe, teach and confess that there is one God in Three Persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We baptize and bless in this Triune Name!
Certainly, it is proper to use the simile of fatherhood to describe God as God – as does the OT (like as a father pities his children so the LORD…) – but with the fullness of Revelation given in our Lord Jesus Christ, we now know that the Name of “the Father” is the Proper Name (not a metaphor or simile) of the First Person of the Blessed, Holy and Undivided Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let us say, AMEN!
(See Peter Toon, OUR TRIUNE GOD, Regent College, Vancouver, Publishing Dept, and take time to read The Athanasian Creed, printed at the back of the ECUSA 1979 prayer Book, and after Morning Prayer in the BCP 1662)
petertoon@msn.com December 9, 2005
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