Why Jesus Prays to the Father
Bernard’s answer that Jesus prays as a complete human being whose genuine will, dependence, obedience, and suffering are directed toward the one indwelling God.
Overview
Why does Jesus pray if the one God is fully present in him? David K. Bernard treats this as a test of whether Christians take the incarnation seriously. His answer is not that God performs both sides of a staged conversation. Jesus prays as a real human being—with a human mind, will, emotion, vulnerability, dependence, and vocation before God.
In Bernard’s model, Father identifies the one divine Spirit, including the deity dwelling in Christ. Son includes the genuine human life conceived in Mary. Prayer is therefore the man Christ Jesus addressing God. The distinction is real, but Bernard locates it between humanity and deity rather than between two divine persons.
Prayer belongs to complete humanity
The Gospels present prayer throughout Jesus’ ministry: at baptism, before major decisions, in solitude, before signs, for disciples, in Gethsemane, and on the cross. Hebrews 5:7–8 remembers petitions, tears, suffering, and learned obedience “in the days of his flesh.”
Bernard argues that removing this dependence to protect Jesus’ deity would produce an incomplete humanity. A true human life includes trust, obedience, worship, and prayer. Jesus does not merely look human; he lives the faithful human relation to God that others fail to live.
“Not my will, but yours”
Gethsemane is the clearest case. Jesus does not want suffering as an abstract human preference, yet freely submits: not his will, but God’s will (Luke 22:42). Bernard sees a genuine human will yielding to the divine will.
This does not create a second divine will or divine person in his account. The human will belongs to the incarnate man; the divine will belongs to the one God. The union is morally perfect rather than coercive: Jesus’ humanity consistently follows the Spirit.
Why Jesus says “he”
Jesus can speak of the Father in the third person because “Father” does not simply mean “another name for my body.” In John 14:10, Jesus distinguishes the Father dwelling in him from the words and works expressed through his human life. The man speaks about the deity as “he” because deity and humanity are distinguishable even while united in one Jesus Christ.
The same grammar explains “I seek not mine own will” (John 5:30) and “the Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). Bernard reads these from Jesus’ humbled human position. They are not denials of the divine fullness in Christ; they reveal real service, limitation, and obedience.
Public prayer and revelation
At Lazarus’s tomb, Jesus says his spoken prayer serves the surrounding people so they may believe he has been sent (John 11:41–42). Bernard does not reduce all prayer to public demonstration, but this scene shows that prayer can also reveal Jesus’ messianic relation and mission.
John 14 keeps both sides together: Jesus prays and speaks of the Father as greater, yet says the Father dwelling in him does the works and that seeing Jesus is seeing the Father. Bernard treats the chapter as an incarnation text—real humanity before God and the one God personally disclosed through that humanity.
The risen intercessor
Romans 8:34 and Hebrews 7:25 speak of the exalted Christ interceding. Bernard assigns intercession to the continuing mediatorial office of the glorified man Christ. The saving work of the Son is not finished until every enemy is defeated and the kingdom reaches completion.
Key passages
- Luke 3:21; Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12 — prayer across Jesus’ ministry.
- John 5:30 — human will ordered to God’s will.
- John 11:41–42 — prayer and public revelation.
- John 14:9–10, 28 — indwelling deity and humbled humanity.
- Luke 22:42 — real human struggle and submission.
- Hebrews 4:15; 5:7–8 — tested humanity, tears, suffering, and obedience.
- Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25 — risen intercession.
Where traditions disagree
Nicene theology reads Jesus’ prayer as the incarnate Son addressing the distinct Father; Christ’s human will belongs to the eternal person of the Son. Bernard agrees on complete humanity and a real human will but denies that the prayer requires two divine persons.
Connected Atlas concepts
The Divine-Human Christ · Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: A Oneness Reading · The Sending of the Son · Prayer of Jesus · Christ’s Intercession
Primary source
This article paraphrases The Oneness of God, chapter 8, especially pp. 176–182 and 186–195.