To Whom Should We Pray?

[Guest]

re: "in my name"--

in a sense as christians we are the "agents" of Jesus. Legally, an agent has the authority to act in the name of the principal, as long as the agent does not overstep the authority granted by the principal.

"in Jesus name" has become a formulaic addition to our prayers, most of the of time. i dont think the formula is required, if we in fact ARE submitting to the authority of Jesus when we pray. I have been listening to Steve's teaching on the book of Acts and he brought up that rarely do you see prayers in the NT tacking on the phrase "in jesus name." this is because they were, in fact, even w/o stating it, under Jesus' authority.

TK

[Guest]

Does the phrase call on the name of Jesus Christ refer to :
- praying to Jesus
or
- that calling on the name of Jesus is to submit to the Lordship of Christ and therefore be included as a part of the body of Christ?

Good question Schoel. I lean towards understanding it to mean the first- praying to Jesus. What points me to this is that we have the group of believers in mind who are currently sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, joined together with all who in everyplace call on the name of Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.

Acts 9:10-14
10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

The usage of a similar phrase in Acts 9:14 seems to refer to calling on a name as submitting to the authority invested in that name.

I actually don't think it really matters which member of the Trinity one prays to. We know from scripture that they are all united in purpose and I can't imagine that a prayer addressing one causes the other two to not listen or respond.
Prayer is relational communication with God and since our comprehension of the Trinity is a bit fuzzy, I believe there is freedom in whom we address.

Personally, my prayers tend to address the Father (the Lord's prayer) but sometimes I pray to Jesus as well.

[Guest]

Yes, it seems that your explanations of "in my name" would tend to agree with Schoel's second option vs. praying to Jesus. When I started reading the Bible through in my teens and when I have done so since, and before I had really studied much of it, there just seemed to be an inherent emphasis in the wording on praying to the Father. I agree with Schoel that I don't think Jesus would mind our praying to him. Whether you are a trinitarian or a binitarian, do you see the "persons" of God as having different functions that don't necessarily need to overlap, but could? How's that for a tongue twister!

[Guest]

I had never thought of the phrase "calling upon the name of the Lord" to be in reference to prayer in general, but rather to the appeal made to God to save us:

Romans 11:13; "For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Acts 22:16; "And why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

Jesus taught us to pray to the Father and the Apostles appear to have followed that example. Christopher has noted the only exceptions of any prayer addressed to Jesus that I am aware of. Perhaps they are examples of spontaneous emotion. I know in my own case I pray to the Father but am likely to exclaim "thank you Jesus" spontaneously.

Regarding prayer to the Holy Spirit, where do we find either precept or precedent for this in scripture? I realize that it may be argued that Father, Son, and Spirit are all God, but it seems they are different functionally.

Consider this, John 14:16; "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever,...". If they all function interchangeably, why did Jesus need to pray to the Father?

Sometimes these days I think The Father doesn't get much respect, as though He is kind of on the sideline.

[Guest]

Regarding prayer to the Holy Spirit, where do we find either precept or precedent for this in scripture? I realize that it may be argued that Father, Son, and Spirit are all God, but it seems they are different functionally.

Are'nt we supposed to have "fellowship" with the Holy Spirit?" If you have fellowship with a person should'nt you occasionally say something to him. And isn't the Holy Spirit here wheras Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of the Father.

[Guest]

The recipient of prayers is normally the Father. However, the Son is Another One exactly like the Father. He is "the exact image of [the Father's] essence". Both share the Name Yahweh (two Yahwehs in Gen 19;24), and both share the same Spirit. So it is appropriate also to address the Son in prayer. The Father, who is Deity, begat a Son who is also Deity. The Son and the Father are equally divine, even though the Father is "greater" than the Son [John 14:28] in other respects. For example, the Father is the leader, and the Son obeys. The Father knows when the Son will come back again; the Son doesn't. The details of the events to take place in Revelation were not known to the Son, but was revealed to Him by the Father (Rev 1:1).

However, there is not a single instance in the Bible, of someone praying to the Holy Spirit. The Lord (Jesus) who IS the Spirit (2 Cor 3:1), promised that He and the Father would make their dwelling with the disciples. (John 14:23) Is not the presence of the Father and the Son the Holy Spirit?

I can conscientiously sing a song addressed to the Holy Spirit such as "Come Holy Spirit, I need Thee", if I consciously bear in mind that I am praying to the Father and to the Son who reside within me.

But there may be a danger in addressing prayers or hymns to the Holy Spirit if one has in mind "a Third Person" of the Deity. If there are exactly two divine Persons, and we address a third, we may be addressing a demon who is all too ready to impersonate God and to take for himself a place in our lives which belongs only to the Father and to the Son.