Tradidi
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Introduction
The Catholic belief that the Saints in heaven are aware of what is going on here on earth, that they are eager to assist us with their prayerful intercession, and that we can even ask them for their intercession is a big stumbling block to most Bible-believing Christians. They claim that such practice of “praying to the dead” is unscriptural, even forbidden by scripture itself.
Let’s reason from the scriptures.
One Mediator
One popular verse that is often quoted as an argument against praying to Mary and the Saints in heaven is 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God: and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The argument here is that since the Bible teaches that there is one mediator between God and men, we should not pray to anyone else, because that would make these others mediators in opposition to, or in replacement of the one mediator, Christ Jesus. In other words, if Jesus is the one mediator, then there can be no other mediators.
But notice the first word in this verse, “for”, which is a translation of the Greek word γαρ, a conjunction word, and which “ties two (or more) clauses or statements together in which one explains or affirms the other(s).” (Abarim Publications’ Biblical Dictionary) What follows that little word “for” affirms, explains, or is given as a reason for what precedes it. So as usual, in order to correctly understand this verse we must look at the context, and in particular the verses immediately preceding it.
In verse 1 St. Paul is urging the brethren to make “supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for all men,” adding in verse 3 that “this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.” So what St. Paul is saying here is that praying for others is good and acceptable, precisely because we have one mediator between us and God, the man Christ Jesus. Why is this so? Because it is through Jesus, on account of the merits that He obtained for us, that our prayers are made good and acceptable in the sight of God.
In John 14:13, Jesus Himself explains this: “whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do.” The prayers of an unbeliever are not good and acceptable, because unbelievers do not pray in Jesus’ name. They do not rely on the merits that Jesus obtained for us, they bypass Jesus, the only mediator between men and God that can and does make the prayers of men acceptable to God. This is what St. Paul is telling us, that our prayers are good and acceptable in the sight of God, because we pray in Jesus’ name, which is the only mediator that can make our prayers good and acceptable in the sight of God.
But does that mean that we Christians cannot mediate for one another by praying for each other in Jesus’ name? Of course not, as St. Paul himself says so in the same breath. In Romans 15:30, St. Paul even asks his brethren to be mediators between him and God, but only “through Our Lord Jesus Christ”, the one mediator. In this sense, we share in Jesus’ mediatorship, who told us to even pray for our enemies (Luke 6:28, Matthew 5:44), just as there is only one teacher (Matthew 23:8) but all Christians participate in His teaching ministry (Ephesians 4:11), and just as there is only one high priest (Hebrews 3:1) but some are called to participate in Jesus’ priesthood (1 Peter 2:5,9). More examples of Christians being invited to pray for one another and to ask for each other’s prayers can be found in Ephesians 4:3, 6:18-19 and 2 Thessalonians 1:11, 3:1.
OK, so we can legitimately ask others to pray for us, but why would we want to do that if we can go directly to Jesus? James 5:16 gives us the answer: “For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.” If the prayer of a just man availeth much, it follows that the prayer of an unjust man does not avail as much. There is a nice illustration of this in the book of Job, where God refuses to hear the prayer of Eliphaz the Themanite and tells him to go to Job instead, adding that “Job shall pray for you: his face I will accept.” (Job 42:8)
At this point it is also important to note with St. Thomas Aquinas that there are two ways that prayers can be offered: “Prayer is offered to a person in two ways: first, as to be fulfilled by him, secondly, as to be obtained through him.” In the first way, we offer prayer to God alone, because God alone can give us “grace and glory” (Psalm 83:12). “But,” St. Thomas continues, “in the second way we pray to the saints, whether angels or men, not that God may through them know our petitions, but that our prayers may be effective through their prayers and merits.” Another illustration of this is given at the wedding feast in Cana, where Mary pleaded with Jesus on behalf of the servants that had run out of wine. And even though Jesus replied that His time had not yet come, He answered Mary’s prayers on behalf of the servants anyway. Mary is the first intercessor in the New Testament, and so powerful that Jesus is willing to perform His first miracle ahead of time, at Mary’s request!
Since the Bible teaches us, by the words and example of St. Paul, that asking others to pray for us is legitimate, and, by the words of St. James, that the prayers of the just man availeth much, it follows that it is good and acceptable for us to find a just man and to ask him to pray for us. And if there’s anyone whom we know for certain that is considered just in God’s eyes, it is Mary and the Saints in heaven.
So, at this point, the argument then becomes: “OK, I have no problem with intercessory prayers, even if they are directed to living saints in order to ask them to pray for us in Jesus’ name, but where does the Bible teach us that we can pray to dead saints?”
The Mystical Body of Christ
The phrase “dead saints” betrays a misunderstanding of the Mystical Body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-17 St. Paul explains that we are all “baptized into one body”, and that we have all become members of the same body, of which Christ is the head (Colossians 1:18). Christians are so closely united into one body, that “if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it: or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Colossians 12:26) This is what it means to belong to the Mystical Body of Christ. Jesus uses the image of the branches grafted onto the Vine to express the same idea. (John 15:1-8)
Since then we are so firmly incorporated into the Mystical Body of Christ, and since St. Paul assures us that nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even death itself (Romans 8:38-39), it follows that the just who die in the grace of God remain united to His Mystical Body. They remain grafted into the Vine. The saints that “die” on earth, may have died a physical death, but they will never suffer the second death mentioned in Revelation 2:11. As the saying goes, “born once, die twice, born twice die once.”
In Romans 8:10-11 St. Paul tells us that our bodies may be “dead, because of sin; but the spirit liveth, because of justification”. And in Mark 12:27 Jesus assures us that God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” We see this also in the Transfiguration, where Jesus spoke with Moses and Elias, not with two dead and unresponsive bodies! (Matthew 17:3) The just dead are truly alive with and in Christ!
The living saints on earth are called the Church Militant, because they are still fighting the good fight. The living Saints in heaven are called the Church Triumphant, because they have already obtained their crown. The saints in purgatory are called the Church Suffering, because, even though they can no longer lose the crown that is awaiting them, they are still being purified and suffer on account of this purification. The three are joined together in Christ and this is what Catholics call the Communion of Saints.
So, the argument then becomes: “OK, we believe the Saints in heaven are alive, but that does not mean they are aware of what is happening here on earth, or that they care about us.”
(to be continued)
Introduction
The Catholic belief that the Saints in heaven are aware of what is going on here on earth, that they are eager to assist us with their prayerful intercession, and that we can even ask them for their intercession is a big stumbling block to most Bible-believing Christians. They claim that such practice of “praying to the dead” is unscriptural, even forbidden by scripture itself.
Let’s reason from the scriptures.
One Mediator
One popular verse that is often quoted as an argument against praying to Mary and the Saints in heaven is 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God: and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The argument here is that since the Bible teaches that there is one mediator between God and men, we should not pray to anyone else, because that would make these others mediators in opposition to, or in replacement of the one mediator, Christ Jesus. In other words, if Jesus is the one mediator, then there can be no other mediators.
But notice the first word in this verse, “for”, which is a translation of the Greek word γαρ, a conjunction word, and which “ties two (or more) clauses or statements together in which one explains or affirms the other(s).” (Abarim Publications’ Biblical Dictionary) What follows that little word “for” affirms, explains, or is given as a reason for what precedes it. So as usual, in order to correctly understand this verse we must look at the context, and in particular the verses immediately preceding it.
In verse 1 St. Paul is urging the brethren to make “supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for all men,” adding in verse 3 that “this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.” So what St. Paul is saying here is that praying for others is good and acceptable, precisely because we have one mediator between us and God, the man Christ Jesus. Why is this so? Because it is through Jesus, on account of the merits that He obtained for us, that our prayers are made good and acceptable in the sight of God.
In John 14:13, Jesus Himself explains this: “whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do.” The prayers of an unbeliever are not good and acceptable, because unbelievers do not pray in Jesus’ name. They do not rely on the merits that Jesus obtained for us, they bypass Jesus, the only mediator between men and God that can and does make the prayers of men acceptable to God. This is what St. Paul is telling us, that our prayers are good and acceptable in the sight of God, because we pray in Jesus’ name, which is the only mediator that can make our prayers good and acceptable in the sight of God.
But does that mean that we Christians cannot mediate for one another by praying for each other in Jesus’ name? Of course not, as St. Paul himself says so in the same breath. In Romans 15:30, St. Paul even asks his brethren to be mediators between him and God, but only “through Our Lord Jesus Christ”, the one mediator. In this sense, we share in Jesus’ mediatorship, who told us to even pray for our enemies (Luke 6:28, Matthew 5:44), just as there is only one teacher (Matthew 23:8) but all Christians participate in His teaching ministry (Ephesians 4:11), and just as there is only one high priest (Hebrews 3:1) but some are called to participate in Jesus’ priesthood (1 Peter 2:5,9). More examples of Christians being invited to pray for one another and to ask for each other’s prayers can be found in Ephesians 4:3, 6:18-19 and 2 Thessalonians 1:11, 3:1.
OK, so we can legitimately ask others to pray for us, but why would we want to do that if we can go directly to Jesus? James 5:16 gives us the answer: “For the continual prayer of a just man availeth much.” If the prayer of a just man availeth much, it follows that the prayer of an unjust man does not avail as much. There is a nice illustration of this in the book of Job, where God refuses to hear the prayer of Eliphaz the Themanite and tells him to go to Job instead, adding that “Job shall pray for you: his face I will accept.” (Job 42:8)
At this point it is also important to note with St. Thomas Aquinas that there are two ways that prayers can be offered: “Prayer is offered to a person in two ways: first, as to be fulfilled by him, secondly, as to be obtained through him.” In the first way, we offer prayer to God alone, because God alone can give us “grace and glory” (Psalm 83:12). “But,” St. Thomas continues, “in the second way we pray to the saints, whether angels or men, not that God may through them know our petitions, but that our prayers may be effective through their prayers and merits.” Another illustration of this is given at the wedding feast in Cana, where Mary pleaded with Jesus on behalf of the servants that had run out of wine. And even though Jesus replied that His time had not yet come, He answered Mary’s prayers on behalf of the servants anyway. Mary is the first intercessor in the New Testament, and so powerful that Jesus is willing to perform His first miracle ahead of time, at Mary’s request!
Since the Bible teaches us, by the words and example of St. Paul, that asking others to pray for us is legitimate, and, by the words of St. James, that the prayers of the just man availeth much, it follows that it is good and acceptable for us to find a just man and to ask him to pray for us. And if there’s anyone whom we know for certain that is considered just in God’s eyes, it is Mary and the Saints in heaven.
So, at this point, the argument then becomes: “OK, I have no problem with intercessory prayers, even if they are directed to living saints in order to ask them to pray for us in Jesus’ name, but where does the Bible teach us that we can pray to dead saints?”
The Mystical Body of Christ
The phrase “dead saints” betrays a misunderstanding of the Mystical Body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-17 St. Paul explains that we are all “baptized into one body”, and that we have all become members of the same body, of which Christ is the head (Colossians 1:18). Christians are so closely united into one body, that “if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it: or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Colossians 12:26) This is what it means to belong to the Mystical Body of Christ. Jesus uses the image of the branches grafted onto the Vine to express the same idea. (John 15:1-8)
Since then we are so firmly incorporated into the Mystical Body of Christ, and since St. Paul assures us that nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even death itself (Romans 8:38-39), it follows that the just who die in the grace of God remain united to His Mystical Body. They remain grafted into the Vine. The saints that “die” on earth, may have died a physical death, but they will never suffer the second death mentioned in Revelation 2:11. As the saying goes, “born once, die twice, born twice die once.”
In Romans 8:10-11 St. Paul tells us that our bodies may be “dead, because of sin; but the spirit liveth, because of justification”. And in Mark 12:27 Jesus assures us that God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” We see this also in the Transfiguration, where Jesus spoke with Moses and Elias, not with two dead and unresponsive bodies! (Matthew 17:3) The just dead are truly alive with and in Christ!
The living saints on earth are called the Church Militant, because they are still fighting the good fight. The living Saints in heaven are called the Church Triumphant, because they have already obtained their crown. The saints in purgatory are called the Church Suffering, because, even though they can no longer lose the crown that is awaiting them, they are still being purified and suffer on account of this purification. The three are joined together in Christ and this is what Catholics call the Communion of Saints.
So, the argument then becomes: “OK, we believe the Saints in heaven are alive, but that does not mean they are aware of what is happening here on earth, or that they care about us.”
(to be continued)
