Greater Works??? Exposition of John 14:12-14

¹²“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. ¹³And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.– John 14:12-14

If we are honest with ourselves these verses on prayer are some of the most difficult in all of Scripture for us to understand. They occur in the context of Jesus giving encouragement and comfort to the distraught disciples, who were troubled by the news that He was leaving them; that one of them would betray Him; and that Peter would deny Him. Jesus tells them that after He is gone they will do greater works than He did and that He will do anything that they ask in His name so that He the Son may bring glory to the Father. So Jesus’ promises in these verses should encourage and comfort us as well.

But the problem is, these verses do not seem to be true in my experience. I’d be very hesitant to say that I’m doing greater works than Jesus did. I don’t know anyone that ever has! Jesus has never used me to perform a miracle. However, I must be careful with my words here as I have had the privilege to see people come to know Jesus through my proclamation of the gospel. A person being brought from death to Life would qualify as a miracle, and glory be to God this happens mightily every day! But, I can’t say that whatever I ask Him to do, He does every time. So we need to think carefully about what these verses mean. (We will encounter similar verses in John 15:7, 15:16, and 16:23-24; also, see 1 John 5:14-15 and Matt. 21:22 [parallels, Mark 11:24; Luke 16:6]).

The biggest problem today is that the “health and wealth” preachers use these verses to teach people to “name it and claim it” in prayer: “Give me a mansion and a new car!” “Heal my cancer!” They tell people to “claim it by faith.” When it doesn’t happen as the people requested, these cruel false teachers then tell the disappointed person that the reason he/she didn’t receive what they asked for is that they didn’t ask in faith or don’t exercise enough faith!


Let’s first tackle the “greater works”; then we’ll look at prayer in Jesus’ name.


¹²“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.– John 14:12

Note that Jesus is the head of His body, the church. As His body, we are to carry on the works that He did when He was on earth. This is implied in Acts 1:1, where Luke refers to “all that Jesus began to do and teach…” He goes on to show how Jesus continued to work through the apostles and the early church as they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

In John, Jesus’ works include His miracles, but extend to all that He taught and did in obedience to the Father.


John 5:36-36 
But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. 


In John 17:4, Jesus sums up His ministry when He prays, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” 

So if we are doing the works that Jesus did, and even greater works, it would seem that we should be doing miracles, living in complete dependence on the Father, obeying Him in all things, demonstrating the Father’s love and mercy, confronting the religious errors of our day and teaching and disciplining. Jesus did all these things and more.

One clue to Jesus’ meaning in John 14:13 is His explanation of why His disciples should do greater works: “because I go to the Father.” As John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:13-15 make clear, Jesus promised that after He returned to the Father, He would send the Holy Spirit to indwell them. And so the greater works that the disciples would do were the direct result of the Spirit’s working in and through them.

This verse can’t mean miracles because none ever has done greater miracles as in greater quality then Jesus. When we look at the apostles to whom heard these words personally, we do not see anything superior in miracles by them. In the first century when the apostles lived these greater works took place. If they did greater miracles the proof should be found in the Bible, but it is not there. So this Scripture must mean something other than the way the Health and wealth movement interpret it.

Like Jesus, the apostles healed those brought to them. However, the Apostles’ miracles were limited in variety, mostly to casting out demons and healing diseases and raising the dead. No prophet or apostle was ever able to duplicate or exceed all the miracles that Jesus did in quality or quantity. Jesus says His works were unique and He did works “which no one else did” (John 15:24).

Now for what the phrase actually means. Notice John 14:12 does not say greater miracles, but rather greater works (Gr. miezon ergon).

Greater:

Greater is the Greek word meizon -neuter of 3187; (adverbially) meaning greater degree: more.

Works:

Jesus says, “the works I do” works (Gr. ergon), means to work; toil as an effort or occupation; an act of labor. They will labor greater in degree. 

Jesus saying “greater works than these” meant a more extensive ministry.

What, then, are the greater works that Jesus’ followers are to perform? D. A. Carson (The Gospel According to John [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 496) argues that the greater works are those done on the basis of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and exaltation. The greater works point to the power of the gospel to transform lives as it spread through the apostolic witness. Through Peter’s preaching on the Day of Pentecost, 3,000 were born again, probably more than Jesus saw converted during His entire ministry! The Book of Acts tells how the message kept spreading, first around Jerusalem, and eventually to the Gentiles around the Roman Empire. J. C. Ryle succinctly observes (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels Baker], on John 14:12, p. 67), “There is no greater work possible than the conversion of a soul.”

Now lets look at the next verses: 

¹³ And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.– John 14:13-14

The context is important! Jesus isn’t promising that He will do any crazy thing you ask, as long as you tack on, “in Jesus’ name, Amen” to your prayer! The context of “whatever you ask” is tied into doing Jesus’ works. So to think that you can pray, “Jesus, give me a new house and while You’re at it, throw in a new Lexus,” is to completely misapply Jesus’ promise.

As Christ spoke that evening to His personally chosen representatives, Jesus was imparting full authority to them by giving them the power to ask in His name. At that time, to speak in the name of a person meant to fully represent them in all ways.

Jesus was promising His disciples that while they were fulfilling their mission; He would do anything they asked Him to do while asking with the authority of His name. This was a blessing He personally imparted to them specifically. He was handing His disciples a great privilege as well as a tremendous responsibility.

You may ask me for anything in my name is a great promise. We need however to read this verse carefully and analyze the word “anything” within the context of Scripture. A new Christian or a shallow Christian may look at this promise with an incorrect motive because they have not studied the Bible thoroughly. An example in further searching the Scriptures is found in James who reminds us: “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3).

Prayer isn’t a means of getting God to give us what we want so that our lives can be more comfy. Rather, prayer is the means by which we ask God to extend His kingdom and do His will on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10). True, there is a place to ask God to meet our needs. But the center of all that we pray should be, “Lord, do Your work through Your people! Bring sinners to genuine conversion! Sanctify Your people so that we will be faithful representatives of Jesus on earth!”

So there is a tension here: We should ask God to extend the gospel and glorify His name around the world. We should ask Him “to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). And yet, we need to keep in mind that His ways are not always our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa. 55:8-9). He sometimes puts His greatest servants in chains or allows them to be killed for His sake (Rom. 8:36). So although we often don’t understand why God doesn’t do exactly what we ask, we should pray big prayers for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The extent of, “Whatever you ask,” is pretty unlimited!

Many Christians also think that because they end their prayer with “in Jesus’ name” that they have the ability to somehow control the process by which these things come to pass. We need to understand that to pray in Jesus’ name means that we accept what God wants for our lives, which is the process by which the Father brings matters to be. Praying in the name of the Son of God is in surrender to His will and to the authority given to that name.

Jesus is teaching us here that like Himself, we need to pray so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. It is to this end that Jesus as our High Priest will do everything we ask in His name. Every answer to prayer He gives will have this as its object. Our Savior taught us that we should pray: “your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

Our prayers need to reflect petitions that will honor and bring glory to His holy name and require that we: 

1.) Pray with a clean heart and for the right reasons: “If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” – Psalm 66:18

2.) Pray in the Jesus’ name and according to His will: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” – 1 John 5:14

3.) Pray in faith: “If you have faith and do not doubt … it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” – Matthew 21:21-22

True prayer is born when the work of grace manifests a new desire in the soul and self becomes crucified. When everything of self is cut off and we are totally surrendered to the authority of Christ, and the glory of the Father being the aim of our prayer.

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20)


I hope this helps clear up misconceptions of this passage. Unfortunately, I fear that many will not take head to this exposition of the passage. I pray for those of you that you will pray and search the scriptures as the Bereans did for the Truth. It will set you free!