What does the Bible say about praying to the dead?
- 17-06-2011
- Categorized in: Prayer & Meditation, Saints, Stories from The Lutheran, Theology & Church Practices, What Lutherans Believe
Mary McKillop supposedly performed miracles for those who prayed to her after her death. What does the Bible say about praying to the dead?
The Bible doesn’t give any examples of people praying to the dead. There are no commands or specific reasons to do so. Rather, in the Scriptures people pray to the Lord, the object of their faith and the granter of their petitions. We know that prayer proceeds from faith in the promises of God and is guided by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, 'Whatever you ask for in my name you will receive' (John 14:13,14). Paul encourages us to pray, intercede and give thanks for all people and tells us that there is one mediator between God and people, the man Jesus Christ (1 Tim 2:1-5).
One of the few passages I am aware of that comes anywhere close to this question is from the book of Job. After Job suffered great loss, his friend Eliphaz said to him, 'Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?' (Job 5:1). The ‘holy ones’ is a reference to the angels and Satan, who present themselves to the Lord as if they were in a heavenly court. Eliphaz seemed to be saying to Job, ‘Call on one of these holy ones, these heavenly beings in God’s royal court, and see who will answer you’. Similarly, the book of Revelation uses imagery of God’s heavenly courtiers (Rev 5:6-8, 8:3,4). None of this, though, points to an efficacious praying to the dead.
Mary McKillop certainly was a saint, a godly woman who achieved much for the education of the poor in rural parts of our country. Like Martin Luther, she struggled against the hierarchy of the church and was excommunicated from it. However, we don’t need to highlight some of the saints of the church and put them on a pedestal at the expense of others. The saints were fallible people who drew their strength from Jesus. The New Testament makes it quite clear that we Christians are all saints, made holy by the blood of Christ, yet sinners at the same time. We don’t get to God through the saints, as if they had better access to God because of their status.
A helpful distinction for me is thanking God for those who have died, rather than praying to the dead. Interestingly, the Lutheran Confessions say, ‘We know that the ancients speak of prayer for the dead, which we do not ban’ (Apology of the Augsburg Confession: XXIV, 94). In our holy communion liturgy we pray, ‘With angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven ...’ At various times of the church year we name patriarchs, apostles, even the Virgin Mary, in these prefaces. Departed saints can provide us with examples of how to live the Christian life. We can certainly honour and acknowledge them in our prayer life, but we do not look to them for help or to answer our prayers. Jesus is our one mediator to God the Father.
Response by Rev Tim Jarick, school pastor of Victory college, Wodonga, Victoria.
This question appeared in the RAQ (Rarely Asked Questions) column in the March 2011 edition of The Lutheran. While responses to RAQ questions are supplied by LCA leaders or theologians, they should be treated as personal opinions and not as official statements on behalf of the church.
"However, we don’t need to highlight some of the saints of the church and put them on a pedestal at the expense of others."
Don't we do this when we name churches after saints; for example St Thomas, St Martin, St Andrew, St Paul, St John's, St Peter's
There has been a well known practice of placing a rabbits foot on a ladys blouse or coat, and much of religious culture is bound up with an anthropological dependancy upon a source beyond the sensate, which practice has been handed down to younger folk for centuries, particulary among primitive peoples- voodoo is still deep in Africa even today.
The practice of invoking saints however is quite different, and it is not uncommon and certain saints are well known and invoked for things, patronised also, not merely to justify canonisation. While there is nothing biblical to supply a reason not to seek the saints, there are very good sound reasons to seek Jesus also.
In Zeitoun, known Marxist Abdul Gamel Nasser claimed he saw the Mary the Mother of Jesus, seen also be a thousand coptics and moslems (which rules out hallucination), who was also photographed and televised. There was nothing sinister about her appearing in this way and seeking the local colour to act- they were at loggerheads, and the peace that she supplied in her presence may well have prevented a holocaust. At Fatima (another Moslem name), there is ample evidence for her presence, and her ask for prayer and penance justified with Communist Russia. Invoking her aid is fundamental to intecessory prayer. After Jesus died, the gospel account indicates that saints came and appeared to many. What the public so often does not do right is keep worship of God sacrasanct, and everything else in the proper order. Prayer not fully appreciated may well become problematic, when it is applied to abitrary dead (near antecedents for instance), and necromancy becomes the option. Simple praying to known sanctified persons is harmless, and if it produces results, as in the case of Mary McKillop, is that so sinful? There is no biblical command not to pray to saints. However communal worship of God rises above all else.
A small but important correction, Catholics do not pray to saints in the manner you seem to imply here. Catholics ask the saint, a brother or sister in Christ to pray for us.
Just as we ask other Christians we know to pray for us at difficult times, Catholics simply believe we are still bound by the communion of saints with those who have died in Christ. Thus, we can ask them, as brothers and sisters in Christ, to pray for us.
Actually, a lot of Catholic people do pray TO saints. I know some of them.