There is no me in the Greek in verse 14. It is translated, "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."
The import of the discussion is Jesus is our entre to the Father for the Father's glory and in verse 16 it is Christ who is praying for the sending of the Holy Spirit.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
But this sort of feels more like wordplay since God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It has been instructive, however, to see that overall the Bible says to pray to the Father. I'm going to keep looking for the exception, just because. 8~)
But reading Romans 8 brought me to these verses again and they again knock my socks off as to their beauty, teaching, discernment and security...
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." -- Romans 8:5-15"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
And these are the verses which the papacy all but ignores. Here Paul tells us the Holy Spirit literally indwells believers and that it is the righteousness of Christ, via the Holy Spirit, which is counted as our own.
All this Mariology displays the carnal mind of Rome, concentrating on the creature when clearly the Creator alone deserves our veneration, worship, prayers, devotion, time and every thought.
INDEED.
There is no me in the Greek in verse 14. It is translated, "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."
That would seem to leave it open as to whom we could ask. If the only interpretation is that the Father only is proper, then I do not see how verse 14 is anything other than a useless repetition of verse 13. Of course many things are repeated in scripture, but when it is back to back, isn't it usually phrased a little differently to maybe make it more clear? I mean, here it really would seem to add nothing ("I will do what you ask", "You may ask and I will do"). If, however, Jesus was adding that it is also proper to ask Him directly, then verse 14 would have a real and clear purpose.
The import of the discussion is Jesus is our entre to the Father for the Father's glory and in verse 16 it is Christ who is praying for the sending of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, but I don't see how this changes what we are talking about. It wouldn't make sense for Jesus to pray to Himself, but perhaps for us it would be perfectly fine. Christ praying for the sending of the Spirit does not, imo, necessarily imply that it would be theoretically wrong for someone five minutes earlier to have prayed to Christ for the sending of the Spirit. Christ says both that He will pray AND elsewhere that He will send.
That's kinda' what I thought would be the case... Sorry I missed this yesterday... I go down in my pings to where I left off last, so that I can reply to them in order. I simply hadn't gotten to yours till now. Catching up... here I come :D