In Colossians 3:17 Paul charges us to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. In Philippians 4:13 he testifies, “I can do all things in Him who empowers me.” It is somewhat easy to understand what it means to be able to do all things in the Lord who empowers us, but it is quite difficult to understand what it means to do all things in the name of the Lord. The name, of course, denotes a person. When we call someone by name, that person responds. Hence, a name denotes a person. Apart from the person, the name is empty and meaningless. Because the name denotes a person, to do things in the name of the Lord must mean to do things in His person.
At the end of their prayers many Christians add the words “In the name of Jesus, amen.” They use the Lord’s name as a seal, stamp, or signature to endorse their prayers. According to the Bible, however, this is not the meaning of praying in the Lord’s name. In John 15:16 the Lord Jesus says, “Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you.” Here the Lord speaks of asking the Father in the Lord’s name. John 14:13 and 14 say, “And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” If we ask something of the Father in the name of the Son, it may be possible for our petition to use the Son’s name as a signature of endorsement. But we certainly cannot use the Lord’s name in this way when we are asking something of Him directly. According to the basic truth revealed in John 14 and 15, to be in the Lord’s name means to be one with the Lord, to live by the Lord, and to let the Lord live in us. The Lord came in the name of the Father and did things in the Father’s name (John 5:43; 10:25). This means that He was one with the Father (John 10:30) and lived by the Father (John 6:57), and the Father worked in Him (John 14:10). In the Gospels, the Lord as the expression of the Father did things in the Father’s name. In the Acts, the disciples as the expression of the Lord did even greater things (John 14:12) in His name. Therefore, to be in the Lord’s name means to be one with Him in actuality.
In John 5:43 the Lord Jesus says, “I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me.” For the Lord Jesus to come in the name of the Father did not mean that He used the Father’s name as a stamp. The fact that the Lord came in the name of the Father means that He came with the Father and in the Father. When He came, the Father came also. Furthermore, according to John 10:25, the Lord Jesus said, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works which I do in the name of My Father, these testify concerning Me.” For the Lord to do works in the name of the Father is to be one with the Father and to do things in the person of the Father. For this reason, the Lord Jesus could say, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). In John 6:57 the Lord Jesus said that the living Father sent Him and that He lived because of the Father. The thought here is that the Lord Jesus was one with the Father and therefore was in the person of the Father and in the Father’s name. All these verses indicate that, according to biblical usage, to be in a person’s name means to be one with that person. Thus, the name is not merely a signature, stamp, or seal used as an endorsement to conclude a prayer.