The economy is hard for everyone right now. Even prepositions have fallen on hard times. In popular media, in news media, and particularly in social media, one regularly sees the expression, “prayers to so and so.” This usage reveals two errors, one grammatical and one theological.

The grammatical error lies in the wrong preposition. All Christians (and at least some of the world’s religions) pray to God, who is, grammatically, the indirect object or recipient of prayer. Think of sending a letter, which is the direct object of the verb to send. Ordinarily a letter is sent to someone, a recipient, who is the indirect object. So, in the sentence, “Joey prayed to God that his sister might come to faith,” the preposition is quite proper because we pray to God.

When, however, bad news is announced—for example, Joey is injured in a soccer accident—people will respond, “Prayers to Joey.” That is improper because, as wonderful and gifted as Joey may be, he is not a deity. He can neither hear nor answer prayer. It would be proper to pray for Joey, to ask God, on Joey’s behalf, for healing mercies; but to pray to Joey would be fruitless. Worse yet, taken literally it is a form of paganism.

The correct preposition is for. We pray on behalf of someone in this life. We pray for blessing. We pray for healing or new life or whatever is necessary. The preposition signals “on behalf of” or “for the advantage of.” We pray to God and for Joey’s recovery.

As a matter of theology, Protestants would certainly say that it is improper to pray to a mere creature (e.g., Joey), even if, unexpectedly, Joey died as a result of his tragic soccer accident and then later was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church on the basis that he, Joey, had allegedly heard and answered prayers.

Certainly, confessional Protestants and Roman Catholics agree that Joey, while living, was not able to hear and answer prayers. We disagree over whether it is possible that Joey, having died in a state of grace and blessedness and with such sanctity, might progress in the next life to a state of blessedness (beatification) so that he could be canonized and named as a saint and a worthy recipient of prayer. Westminster Larger Catechism 179 asks, “Are we to pray to God only?” It answers, “God only being able to search the hearts, hear the requests, pardon the sins, and fulfill the desires of all; and only to be believed in, and worshiped with religious worship; prayer, which is a special part thereof, is to be made by all to him alone, and to none other.” In contrast, Rome confesses:

956 The intercession of the saints: “Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness. . . . They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus. . . . So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped.”

Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life.

I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth.¹

This section occurs under the ninth article of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of the saints.” When Roman Catholics say “holy catholic church,” they think of Rome; but when the church formed the rule of faith (regula fidei) there was no Roman Catholic church, no pope, and only two sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper).² The first quotation is taken from Lumen Gentium an influential “dogmatic constitution” of the Roman Catholic church promulgated in 1964. In it (§49) Rome confesses,

Some of His disciples are exiles on earth, some having died are purified, and others are in glory beholding ‘clearly God Himself triune and one, as He is’; but all in various ways and degrees are in communion in the same charity of God and neighbor and all sing the same hymn of glory to our God. For all who are in Christ, having His Spirit, form one Church and cleave together in Him. . . . Therefore the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who have gone to sleep in the peace of Christ is not in the least weakened or interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the perpetual faith of the Church, is strengthened by communication of spiritual goods.

It goes on to say that because of the spiritual union between earthly pilgrims and those in heaven, those no longer in purgatory are “present to the Lord, . . . through Him and with Him and in Him they do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, . . . showing forth the merits which they won on earth through the one Mediator between God and man.”³

Rome also quotes a saying attributed to St. Dominic (1170–1221), founder of the Dominican order, “Do not weep, for I shall be more useful to you after my death and I shall help you then more effectively than during my life,” as well as a saying attributed to St. Therese Lisieux (1873–97), known as St. Therese Little Flower, a Discalced (i.e., barefoot) Carmelite nun,⁴ “I want to spend my heaven in doing good on earth.”⁵

According to Rome, those whom the church “recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today” (emphasis added). Those who are now in the presence of Christ have been “put in charge of many things” (Matt 25:21) and their “intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.”⁶

There is, of course, no biblical support whatever for the notion that believers who have died and gone to heaven become omniscient or are otherwise given the ability to hear prayers from earth. Remarkably, in §956 the Catechism of the Catholic Church refers us to 1 Timothy 2:5, which says, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time” (ESV). It is ironic that Rome should appeal to this passage. Rome teaches that a certain class of believers is able to hear prayers (which seems to require a kind of omniscience and omnipresence) and that they are also able to “intercede” for us on earth. Quoting Lumen Gentium (§62), Rome confesses that the blessed virgin Mary has been taken “up to heaven” where “she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation. . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix.”⁷ According to Rome, she is able to be invoked (in prayer) because she is now our “Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix” (emphasis added).

The entire point of 1 Timothy 2:5, however, is that there are not many mediators (or mediatrices) but one. There is not a hint in 1 Timothy 2:5 that Christ shares his mediatorial office with anyone. We know this from Hebrews, which is at pains to distinguish Christ’s sole mediatorial office from that of the Levitical priests. He is the mediator of a “better covenant” (Heb 9:15) and the “mediator of a new covenant” (Heb 12:24). The very concept of a mediatrix is about as remote from the biblical conception of the office as is possible to be. It is pagan, not Christian.

Neither does Matthew 25:21—which Rome cites in §2683—help them. It says, “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’” (ESV). In the parable, the one to whom much is to be entrusted is to execute that service in this life. There is nothing in this passage that suggests that, after death, believers will be able to hear prayers or answer them. The citation is the sort of abuse of Scripture about which the Protestants justly complained.

It is a grammatical mistake to speak of praying to Joey, but it is a more serious theological error. Joey may be a great kid, but he is not the holy, holy, holy God (Isa 6:3).

Notes

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997), §956, p. 249.
2. The clause, “καὶ εἰς μίαν ἁγίαν καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν” (“and in one holy catholic church”) was used about AD 350 by Cyril of Jerusalem. The Council of Constantinople in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (AD 281). See Philip Schaff, ed. The Creeds of Christendom, 3 vols. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1890), 2.32.
3. The materials omitted are reference numbers.
4. The Carmelites were founded originally in the twelfth century and are noted for their special devotion to the blessed Virgin.
5. Each of these are quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church, §956.
6. Catechism of the Catholic Church, §2683.
7. Catechism of the Catholic Church, §969.

©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved.

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Post authored by:

• R. Scott Clark

  

  R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

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