The boldness of Christian prayer lies not in any merits of our own or in that of others but wholly in Jesus Christ our Lord. Nor does it lie in some working up of faith on our part where God is held to the mat and forced to honour our requests because we have achieved some level of effective faith. Indeed, such a false understanding of faith turns faith into a work of our own. As a work, such faith is understood to be a merit of our own that requires God to reward.
This erroneous view of faith is the antithesis of a faith in God that acknowledges Him as the
author of every good and perfect gift (James 1.17). Our confidence is not in ourselves but in God. We know that God is our Heavenly Father. He wants us to come to Him, to make known our
requests before Him (Philippians 4.6).
James encourages us to ask God for what we need, though with right
motives (4.2-3). Our access is not through human merit but through Christ
Jesus. For this reason, we traditionally pray in His name.
Where did the idea of praying to
dead saints come from in early Christianity?
There is nothing to support this practice from the Old Testament or
Judaism. There is nothing of the sort in
the New Testament or earliest Christianity. The practice of praying to the dead is rather
an example of the pressure of the culture on the Christian faith.
Greek culture practiced offerings
to the dead that involved requests for help.
This was a longtime practice of the culture, and cultural practices that
involve honouring ancestors are not easily changed. The 5th century BC playwright,
Euripides, provides an example. The
character, Helen, says:
Hermione,
daughter, come out in front of the house! … Take these libations and my hair
offering in your hands. Go to the tomb of Clytaemestra and around it pour out
the milk and honey mixture and the foaming wine. Then stand on top of the grave
mound and say, “These libations are a gift to you from your sister Helen. She
was afraid to approach your tomb for fear of the Argive multitude.” Then ask
her to show a kindly spirit to me, to you, and to my husband, and also to these
two luckless ones the god has ruined. Promise her all the funeral offerings it
is appropriate to make for a sister (Orestes 112-123).[1]
We may certainly speculate that later
beliefs—again, with no Biblical support—about the holiness of martyrs and remarkable
individuals granting them some higher status among the dead contributed to the
veneration of the saints and prayers offered to them. A theology of superabundant merits also supported prayer to the saints. Yet here
we simply note that a time-honoured, pagan practice was continued in the
Graeco-Roman world despite its unbiblical origins. The pressure of cultural practices presses hard against true faith.
We have, however, a far more
wonderful truth in Holy Scripture. We
have no need of seeking out someone’s merits to gain a hearing before God. Encouraging his disciples to pray, Jesus
spoke of the kindness and generosity of God:
Luke 11:8 I tell
you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend,
yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And
I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock,
and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one
who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father
among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a
serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then,
who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Moreover, we have access to God
through Jesus Christ, not through dead ancestors—no matter how saintly they
might have been. Paul says God realized
His eternal purposes in Christ Jesus our Lord
in whom we have boldness
and access with confidence through our faith in him (Ephesians 3.12).
Through Christ, our high priest,
we go directly to God with our prayers, as the author of Hebrews says:
For we do not
have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who
in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then
with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and
find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4.15-16).
Later, the same author encourages
his readers that
we have
confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and
living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his
flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near
with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water’ (Hebrews 10.19-22).
We need no merits of our own to
gain access to God. Indeed, we would
never have such access were it dependent on our merits. As Paul, the author of Hebrews emphasizes
that our access is through Jesus Christ.
Because of His sacrifice and His alone, we can approach the holiness of
God with our prayers. No one else cleanses
us from our sins. No sacrifice is
needed. No merit of others is wanted. No deceased ancestors or spiritual powers
stand in our way. We have Jesus Christ,
the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12.2). Through Him and Him alone we have access to God. As Paul affirms, having been justified by
faith,
We have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also
obtained access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God (Romans 5.1-2).
Our boldness in prayer lies in
the assurance of Christ’s work and the character of God.
[1]
Euripides, Euripides II: Electra, Orestes, Iphigeneia in Taurica,
Andromache, Cyclops, trans. A. S. Way (Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press, 1978).
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