Acts 4:29

4:29 And now, Lord, pay attention to ¹  their threats, and grant ²  to your servants ³  to speak your message ⁴  with great courage, ⁵ 

Isaiah 65:24

65:24 Before they even call out, ⁶  I will respond;

while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Matthew 18:19-20

18:19 Again, I tell you the truth, ⁷  if two of you on earth agree about whatever you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. ⁸  18:20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.”

Matthew 21:22

21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, ⁹  you will receive.”

John 14:12

14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁰  the person who believes in me will perform ¹¹  the miraculous deeds ¹²  that I am doing, ¹³  and will perform ¹⁴  greater deeds ¹⁵  than these, because I am going to the Father.

John 15:7

15:7 If you remain ¹⁶  in me and my words remain ¹⁷  in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. ¹⁸ 

John 15:16

15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you ¹⁹  and appointed you to go and bear ²⁰  fruit, fruit that remains, ²¹  so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

John 16:23-24

16:23 At that time ²²  you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, ²³  whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. ²⁴  16:24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive it, ²⁵  so that your joy may be complete.

James 1:5

1:5 But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him.

[4:29]  ¹ tn Or “Lord, take notice of.”

[4:29]  ² sn Grant to your servants to speak your message with great courage. The request is not for a stop to persecution or revenge on the opponents, but for boldness (great courage) to carry out the mission of proclaiming the message of what God is doing through Jesus.

[4:29]  ³ tn Grk “slaves.” See the note on the word “servants” in 2:18.

[4:29]  ⁴ tn Grk “word.”

[4:29]  ⁵ tn Or “with all boldness.”

[65:24]  ⁶ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[18:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[18:19]  ⁸ tn Grk “if two of you…agree about whatever they ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in keeping with contemporary English style, and the pronouns, which change from second person plural to third person plural in the Greek text, have been consistently translated as second person plural.

[21:22]  ⁹ tn Grk “believing”; the participle here is conditional.

[14:12]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[14:12]  ¹¹ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ¹² tn Grk “the works.”

[14:12]  ¹³ tn Or “that I do.”

[14:12]  ¹⁴ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “greater works.”

[15:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “reside.”

[15:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “reside.”

[15:7]  ¹⁸ sn Once again Jesus promises the disciples ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. This recalls 14:13-14, where the disciples were promised that if they asked anything in Jesus’ name it would be done for them. The two thoughts are really quite similar, since here it is conditioned on the disciples’ remaining in Jesus and his words remaining in them. The first phrase relates to the genuineness of their relationship with Jesus. The second phrase relates to their obedience. When both of these qualifications are met, the disciples would in fact be asking in Jesus’ name and therefore according to his will.

[15:16]  ¹⁹ sn You did not choose me, but I chose you. If the disciples are now elevated in status from slaves to friends, they are friends who have been chosen by Jesus, rather than the opposite way round. Again this is true of all Christians, not just the twelve, and the theme that Christians are “chosen” by God appears frequently in other NT texts (e.g., Rom 8:33; Eph 1:4ff.; Col 3:12; and 1 Pet 2:4). Putting this together with the comments on 15:14 one may ask whether the author sees any special significance at all for the twelve. Jesus said in John 6:70 and 13:18 that he chose them, and 15:27 makes clear that Jesus in the immediate context is addressing those who have been with him from the beginning. In the Fourth Gospel the twelve, as the most intimate and most committed followers of Jesus, are presented as the models for all Christians, both in terms of their election and in terms of their mission.

[15:16]  ²⁰ tn Or “and yield.”

[15:16]  ²¹ sn The purpose for which the disciples were appointed (“commissioned”) is to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains. The introduction of the idea of “going” at this point suggests that the fruit is something more than just character qualities in the disciples’ own lives, but rather involves fruit in the lives of others, i.e., Christian converts. There is a mission involved (cf. John 4:36). The idea that their fruit is permanent, however, relates back to vv. 7-8, as does the reference to asking the Father in Jesus’ name. It appears that as the imagery of the vine and the branches develops, the “fruit” which the branches produce shifts in emphasis from qualities in the disciples’ own lives in John 15:2, 4, 5 to the idea of a mission which affects the lives of others in John 15:16. The point of transition would be the reference to fruit in 15:8.

[16:23]  ²² tn Grk “And in that day.”

[16:23]  ²³ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:23]  ²⁴ sn This statement is also found in John 15:16.

[16:24]  ²⁵ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.