Some have asked . . .

This is a copy of a conversation I had with a person from Ireland about whether or not it is permissible to pray to Jesus as well as to God. It went something like this:

Some have asked the question: Can we pray to Jesus or Can we only pray to God? Discussing this information in detail some of the following scriptures were used in support of the belief that praying to Jesus was acceptable. Here is how one discussion went:

You say that Sticking with the idea of Jesus being prayed to: The oldest surviving fragment of an early Christian liturgical prayer is probably "Our Lord, come" (Maranatha, I Corinthians 16:22; compare Revelation 22:20); it implies that prayer was addressed to the risen, glorified Christ.

I say - I don’t know if I would use or support 1Corinthians 16:22 in stating that there had been a conversation or prayer “to” Jesus since in this case, as one translation (The New American Standard) puts it, the statement was simply “If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed, Maranatha.” Even Revelation 22:20 says: “The one who bears witness of these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’” “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus.” This is more of a statement "about" Jesus rather than “to” Jesus.

You say - The Aramaic title Mar or Lord (Greek Kyrios; 1Corinthians 12:3) was a term or title regularly used in religious worship. (Encyclopedia Americana, Trinity, p116). I’ve attached several Greek texts of this verse, including the Watchtower’s Greek. Ads you can see from all of them, Jesus was very much a part of the original Greek. These can be very easily verified. If you examine 1 Corinthians, you find: "And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times [involving direct prayer] that it might depart from me. 9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me." (2Cor. 12:7-9).

I say - How is it that when Paul made the statement in vs.8: “I entreated the Lord three times” you have concluded that he is talking to Jesus and not God? As you admit below since the statement “Paul entreated the Lord 3 times” could be the father, it seems it would be the responsible thing to do to consider the context which to me suggests that there is not sufficient evidence to overturn my belief that in this case, Paul was referring to any other than to God Himself.

You say - A few things I believe are worth noting, Todd.
• Paul entreated the LORD 3 times
• Although Lord could refer to the Father, we notice that God is the usual/normal term to refer to the Father and Lord is the normal term that refers to Christ. (See Eph. 4:4-6) – see the original Greek manuscripts I have attached (including relevant Greek texts on John 14:14).

I say - In Eph 4:4-6 although in this case the term Lord refers to Jesus, in another scripture the Bible at 1Cor 8:4-6 says: 4 Now concerning the eating of food offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even though there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many “gods” and many “lords,” 6 there is actually to us one God, the Father, from whom all things are and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and we through him. Often in other cases, God is also referred to as Lord as in the case of Ezra 2:4, Matthew7:21-22, 1Cor 7:39 and so many other scriptures, God is also referred to as Lord. This could only indicate that the word “Lord” may be nothing more than a title such as President or King.

You say -
• This Lord, whom Paul prayed to three times replied: "My (the Lord's) power is perfected in weakness" (Lord is still either Father or Son.)
• The irrefutable proof is the contrast of Paul's weakness with the "Power of Christ" (which refers back to Lord, to whom Paul was praying.)
• Power of Christ is a direct reference back to the statement, "MY POWER is perfected in weakness.
• After Paul prayed to the LORD, this same LORD said, "MY POWER (Christ's power) is perfected in your weakness.

Further to that, Todd, there are several other examples of prayer to Jesus: We are commanded to pray to Jesus: John 14:14;

I say - In John 14:14 you suggest that this is a prayer to Jesus, but if you look at vs. 13 it says that if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. This suggests that the asking is to someone else and not to Jesus. Again, here he is the mediator not the intended recipient of the prayer. To conclude otherwise, you will have to take this verse out of context for which it was intended. James 1:1-7; I’m not certain how you would think that James 1:1-7 suggests a prayer to Jesus when in vs.5 it clearly states: “. . . let him keep on asking God . . .”

and 1Corinthians 1:2 says, “. . . together will all who everywhere are calling upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” I don’t see how this scripture suggests that “calling upon” is equal to “praying to”.

I say - Eph. 5:19; NWT says at Eph5:19 “Speak to one another with psalms, praises to God, and spiritual songs, singing and accompanying yourselves with music in your hearts to Jehovah,” I don’t see the relevance in this scripture to the topic of prayer.
Then KJV says: “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”

At Acts 8:22 KJV it says: “Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.”

You say - "We have apostolic examples of praying to Jesus: Rev. 22:20,"
My comment - Rev. 22:20 - Again, I don’t see that acknowledging that Jesus is coming or in saying, “amen come, lord Jesus” suggests a prayer to Jesus at all.

I say - 2 Cor. 12:7-9, 7 “just because of receiving such extraordinary revelations. To keep me from becoming overly exalted, I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan, to keep slapping me, so that I might not be overly exalted. 8 Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it would depart from me. 9 But he said to me: “My undeserved kindness is sufficient for you, for my power is being made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly, then, I will boast about my weaknesses, in order that the power of the Christ may remain over me like a tent.”

Although I feel Paul more than any other well knew the relationship between God and his son Jesus and that it was proper to address his concerns to God through Jesus, so to prove whether this is an appeal to God or to Jesus, to me by itself is ambiguous at best. I would use other scriptures in support of the channel approved by God in order to support the chosen direction given.

Acts 7:54-60; I think I discussed this one before with you, - Nevertheless, many versions do say that Stephen “prayed” to Jesus. And the footnote in the New World Translation shows that the term “made appeal” can also mean “invocation; prayer.” Would that not indicate that Jesus is Almighty God? No. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words explains that in this setting, the original Greek word, e•pi•ka•le′o, means: “To call upon, invoke; . . . to appeal to an authority.” Paul used this same word when he declared: “I appeal to Caesar!” (Acts 25:11) Appropriately then, The New English Bible says that Stephen “called out” to Jesus.

I continue - What prompted Stephen to make such an appeal? According to Acts 7:55, 56, Stephen, “being full of holy spirit, gazed into heaven and caught sight of God’s glory and of Jesus standing at God’s right hand.” Normally, Stephen would have addressed his requests to Jehovah in the name of Jesus. But seeing the resurrected Jesus in vision, Stephen apparently felt free to appeal to him directly, saying: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Stephen knew that Jesus had been given authority to raise the dead. (John 5:27-29) He therefore asked Jesus to safeguard his spirit, or life force, until the day when Jesus would raise him to immortal life in the heavens.

Does Stephen’s brief utterance set a precedent for praying to Jesus? Not at all. For one thing, Stephen clearly distinguished Jesus from Jehovah, for the account says that he saw Jesus “standing at God’s right hand.” Also, these circumstances were exceptional. The only other case of such an utterance being directed to Jesus is that of the apostle John, who similarly addressed Jesus directly when he saw Him in vision.—Revelation 22:16, 20. Although Christians today properly direct all their prayers to Jehovah God, they too have unshakable faith that Jesus is “the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) As it did Stephen, so faith in Jesus’ ability to raise his followers from the dead can help and sustain us in times of trial.

You say at Acts 8:24 In answer Simon said to them: “Make supplication for me to Jehovah that none of the things you have said may come upon me.” Bible scholars acknowledge that God’s personal name, as represented by the Tetragrammaton (יהוה), appears almost 7,000 times in the original text of the Hebrew Scriptures. However, many feel that it did not appear in the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures. For this reason, most modern English Bibles do not use the name Jehovah when translating the so-called New Testament. Even when translating quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures in which the Tetragrammaton appears, most translators use “Lord” rather than God’s personal name.

I respond - We have necessary inferences of pray to Jesus: 1 John 5:11-15, I’m going to post 11-15, but I think you’re more concerned with the verbage of vs.14-15. So I will focus my comment on that verses. 11 “And this is the witness, that God gave us everlasting life, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has this life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this life. 13 I write you these things so that you may know that you have life everlasting, you who put your faith in the name of the Son of God. 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that no matter what we ask according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us concerning whatever we are asking, we know that we are to have the things we ask for, since we have asked them of him.” I think the determining factor here is to find just what the “will” was that was spoken of here. Jesus identified this “will” when he said at John 4:34 Jesus said to them: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. It would seem from this scripture that God’s will and Jesus’ will are one and the same or that Jesus has adapted or trained his thinking to agree with that of his creator Jehovah God.

Acts 1:24 reads: Then they prayed and said: “You, O Jehovah, who know the hearts of all, designate which one of these two men you have chosen. To me, this appears to be an obvious approach to God and not to Jesus.

Heb. 7:25 says, “So he is able also to save completely those who are approaching God through him, because he is always alive to plead for them” Again, showing an obvious connection to Jesus as a mediator between men and God.

After this response, the conversation ended. It became obvious that no matter what logic was used or by reasoning on the scriptures, this person was convinced in his mind that praying to Jesus and worshiping Jesus as a god was permitted, even required by and according to his belief.