8:07 AM
“In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.” Is this just habit, a formal closing in public prayer? Or, is it a powerful declaration that we who pray in that name are in him to whom that name belongs? Well, Christians from the time of Christ onward have prayed in the name of God’s Son. But only for the past two-hundred years or so has that name been relegated to the end of every prayer. Even though in many prayers it may be added as an afterthought, a nice closing that informs others in the room the prayer is about to end, the practice itself became popular during this modern era when the deity of the Son was being everywhere challenged. Ending petitions to the Father in the name of Jesus was a way for orthodox Christians to defend his divinity.
Nonetheless, praying in his name — whether at the beginning,...
