Implication 2- Praying to Jesus

Should Christians pray to Jesus? This is not merely a theoretical question. It profoundly affects Christian practice. Today, many Christians direct a large portion of their prayers to Jesus. I believe the New Testament presents a different normal pattern: Christians pray to God the Father, through Jesus Christ and in Jesus’ name.

I want to make this argument carefully. The New Testament does contain a small number of passages in which believers directly address or invoke the risen Jesus. I do not think those passages should be explained away. However, when we examine both the New Testament’s actual vocabulary for prayer and its explicit teaching about prayer, a remarkable pattern emerges: ordinary Christian prayer is consistently directed to God, while Jesus is the Messiah, Lord, mediator, and Son through whom believers approach God.

The New Testament’s Actual Vocabulary for Prayer

The most common Greek verb meaning “to pray,” proseuchomai, occurs approximately 85–86 times in the New Testament, depending on the textual edition. Its ordinary New Testament usage is prayer directed to God; Jesus is never the recipient of proseuchomai (Moulton and Geden, s.v. “προσεύχομαι”; BDAG, s.v. “προσεύχομαι”).

Jesus himself uses this verb when he teaches:

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name...’” (Matthew 6:9)

Similarly, Paul writes:

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.” (Colossians 1:3)

The corresponding noun, proseuchē, meaning “prayer,” occurs approximately 36–37 times. Again, it is never used to describe a prayer directed to Jesus. Some occurrences do not specify an addressee—for example, “house of prayer”—but when the object of prayer is identified, the normal biblical pattern remains prayer to God (Moulton and Geden, s.v. “προσευχή”; BDAG, s.v. “προσευχή”).

For example:

“Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” (Luke 6:12)

And:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6)

Another related verb, euchomai, occurs seven times in the New Testament. Its meaning can range from praying to wishing, so I would not treat every occurrence as a technical instance of prayer to God. Nevertheless, where it clearly describes prayer, God—not Jesus—is the recipient; for example, “Now we pray to God...” in 2 Corinthians 13:7. Thus, across more than 120 occurrences of the New Testament’s primary verb and noun for prayer—and roughly 130 occurrences if the related verb euchomai is included—Jesus is never the explicit recipient of these standard prayer terms (Moulton and Geden, s.v. “εὔχομαι”; BDAG, s.v. “εὔχομαι”).

I do not think this fact alone proves that no Christian may ever directly address Jesus. The New Testament contains other kinds of direct appeal and invocation that do not use proseuchomai or proseuchē. Nevertheless, I think this linguistic pattern is highly significant.

If ordinary Christian prayer were intended to be routinely directed to Jesus in the same way it is directed to God, it is striking that the New Testament’s ordinary vocabulary of prayer is repeatedly associated with God and never explicitly with Jesus.

Jesus Explicitly Teaches Prayer to the Father

The vocabulary evidence fits the actual instruction Jesus gives his followers. Jesus teaches:

“Our Father in heaven...” (Matthew 6:9)

Later he tells his disciples: “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.” (John 16:23)

Likewise: “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you.” (John 15:16)

Paul continues this same pattern. Christians are to be: “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20) and: “giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).

Notice the distinction: God is the One being thanked, prayed to, and approached; Jesus is the One in whose name and through whom believers approach Him.

This is exactly what we would expect from Jesus’ role as mediator. Ephesians 2:18 says: “Through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”

Hebrews similarly describes Jesus as the One through whom people “come to God” (Hebrews 7:25).

The biblical pattern is therefore beautifully coherent: to the Father → through the Son → in/by the Spirit.

In Scripture, Jesus does not replace God as the destination of prayer. Jesus brings us to God.

The Post-Resurrection Church Follows This Pattern

Acts 4:24–30 is particularly important because Jesus has already died, risen, and ascended.

The gathered Church begins: “Sovereign Lord...you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.”

They are explicitly praying to God.

Within that same prayer, they refer to Jesus as God’s “holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,” and ask God to act so that signs and wonders occur through the name of Jesus.

This is remarkably close to the theology I believe the rest of the New Testament teaches: the Church prays to God, while approaching Him in Jesus’ name and expecting God to work through what Jesus has accomplished.

If the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus were supposed to change the normal recipient of Christian prayer from God to Jesus—or even make Jesus an equal recipient of ordinary prayer—Acts 4 would have been an obvious place to see it.

Instead, the risen Jesus remains the exalted servant and Messiah through whom the Church approaches God.

What About Direct Appeals to Jesus?

I do not think we need to deny that several New Testament passages involve genuine direct appeals to or invocations of the risen Jesus.

However, an important distinction is often overlooked: directly addressing Jesus is not necessarily the same phenomenon as ordinary prayer to God.

The clearest narrated appeals to Jesus frequently occur when Jesus has revealed himself directly to the person speaking, while other invocations concern specifically Jesus’ own promised return.

Stephen is one of the clearest examples.

Immediately before Stephen says: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” (Acts 7:59) he sees heaven opened and sees Jesus standing at God’s right hand.

Stephen therefore is not simply portrayed as directing an ordinary prayer toward an unseen Jesus somewhere in heaven because Jesus inherently hears all human prayer. God has supernaturally revealed Jesus to Stephen, Stephen can see him, and Stephen directly addresses the Jesus he sees.

That distinction is important.

Scripture clearly establishes that the risen Jesus can communicate supernaturally with human beings. Jesus appears to and communicates with Paul. Stephen sees him. John receives extraordinary revelation involving direct communication with the risen Christ. None of this requires Jesus to be God.

If Jesus is a real human being whom God has raised, exalted, and given extraordinary authority, God can certainly enable Jesus to appear to someone, hear that person, and communicate with that person.

What these passages do not establish is that Jesus inherently possesses God’s omnipresence or omniscience and therefore continuously hears every private prayer offered by every Christian everywhere in the world.

That is an entirely different claim.

There is a significant difference between Scripture showing Jesus hearing Stephen while Stephen is supernaturally seeing him and assuming that Jesus simultaneously hears prayers such as:

“Jesus, please heal my mother.”

“Jesus, give me wisdom about this decision.”

“Jesus, protect my children today.”

“Jesus, help the Christians suffering in China.”

“Jesus, please comfort my friend on the other side of the world.”

Those may be sincere and beautiful requests. But for Jesus to be the normal recipient of millions of such prayers simultaneously requires something much more than the biblical accounts of particular people being placed in supernatural communication with him. It requires the assumption that the human Jesus is somehow continuously aware of innumerable people, in innumerable places, speaking aloud or silently to him at the same time.

Where does Scripture actually say that Jesus possesses that ability?

I do not think it does.

Scripture certainly teaches that God possesses this kind of unlimited awareness. God knows our thoughts. God is everywhere. God knows everything. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that every believer everywhere can pray directly to God simultaneously. If Jesus can hear someone supernaturally, I believe that ability ultimately comes from the God who raised him, exalted him, and gave him authority. A supernatural ability granted by God in a particular circumstance should not automatically be transformed into an inherent divine attribute Jesus possesses independently and universally.

What About “Maranatha” and “Come, Lord Jesus”?

First Corinthians 16:22 contains: “Maranatha”—“Our Lord, come.” (BDAG, s.v. “μαράνα θά”)

And Revelation concludes: “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)

These are genuine direct invocations of Jesus even though they do not use the New Testament’s ordinary vocabulary for prayer.

But notice what is being requested: Come.

Jesus is the person who has promised personally to return. Asking Jesus to come is therefore an appeal to Jesus concerning something Jesus himself has said that he will do.

That is materially different from using Jesus as the ordinary recipient of every kind of prayer concerning events occurring everywhere in the world.

Revelation 22 is additionally taking place within extraordinary revelatory communication involving John and the risen Jesus. John is seeing a vision of the risen Jesus when this invocation occurs. This is a different context than calling on a Jesus who is omnipresent and able to hear every prayer.

These passages do establish that believers can call upon Jesus concerning his promised return. They do not establish that Jesus should therefore become the normal recipient of requests for healing, wisdom, protection, provision, forgiveness, guidance, and countless other matters for Christians throughout the world.

What About “Calling Upon the Name of Jesus”?

First Corinthians 1:2 describes Christians as those who “call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I think it is better to acknowledge that this probably represents genuine invocation of the risen Jesus rather than trying to explain it away as merely saying Jesus’ name while praying to God (BDAG, s.v. “ἐπικαλέω”).

But calling upon Jesus is still not linguistically identical to the New Testament’s ordinary terminology for prayer, and this verse does not tell us the content, frequency, or circumstances of those invocations.

It establishes that Christians invoke Jesus as Lord.

It does not establish that every kind of ordinary prayer should therefore be routinely directed toward Jesus rather than toward the God whom Jesus himself taught us to pray to.

What About 2 Corinthians 12?

Second Corinthians 12:8–9 is probably the most difficult passage for the distinction I am making.

Paul says that concerning his thorn:

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.” The Greek says the Lord; it does not explicitly say “Jesus.” The title Lord can refer either to God or to Christ.

It is therefore possible that Paul is referring to God.

However, immediately afterward Paul says: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Because Paul immediately connects the answer with “the power of Christ,” I think the Lord here may be Christ. I do not think we need to force the passage to refer to God in order to maintain the broader biblical pattern (Harris; Thrall).

Suppose, then, that Paul genuinely appealed directly to Jesus three times.

What does the passage actually establish?

It establishes that Paul appealed to the risen Jesus concerning a particular problem and that the Lord responded:

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

But notice the larger context. Paul has just been discussing “visions and revelations of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 12:1-12).

The passage does not tell us how Jesus communicated this answer to Paul.

Was it through a vision?

A revelation?

Some other supernatural communication?

We are not told.

Therefore, even if Jesus is unquestionably the Lord in this passage, the text establishes that Jesus could hear and respond to Paul in this circumstance.

It does not establish that Jesus independently and continually hears every prayer offered by every Christian everywhere.

This distinction is important.

We should not move from:

Paul appealed to Jesus and Jesus answered Paul to: therefore Jesus possesses the inherent omniscient ability to hear millions of simultaneous prayers throughout the world and should function as the ordinary recipient of Christian prayer.

The first proposition is biblical.

The second requires substantially more evidence.

What About John 14:13–14?

John 14:13–14 is one of the strongest passages that should be considered on the other side.

Jesus says: “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

Some manuscripts omit “me,” but important early manuscripts contain it. I therefore think the stronger reading should be taken seriously rather than explained away (NA28, John 14:14; Metzger).

But I think an extremely important contextual distinction is often missed: Jesus says this while he is still physically alive, sitting with his disciples, speaking to them face-to-face.

These men already ask Jesus things constantly.

They ask him questions.

They ask him for explanations.

They ask him to act.

They ask him where he is going.

They ask him to show them the Father.

That is not extraordinary.

That is human relationship.

If I am sitting across from another human being and say, “Can you help me?” I am not praying to that person as God.

And the Greek word Jesus uses here is simply “ask” (aiteō), not the ordinary New Testament vocabulary for prayer that we have already examined.

So when Jesus tells the disciples who are physically sitting with him that they may ask him for something, I do not think we should immediately convert that into an entirely different proposition: After Jesus has ascended into heaven, Christians throughout the world should direct ordinary prayer to the unseen Jesus as though he possesses God’s omnipresent ability to hear everyone everywhere.

Those are not the same claim.

John 14 establishes that Jesus’ disciples can ask him for things and that Jesus possesses extraordinary authority to respond.

It does not call those requests prayer.

It does not tell Christians that Jesus is now the universal recipient of prayer.

And it does not say that the human Jesus inherently hears the thoughts and requests of every believer everywhere.

Jesus’ power still comes from the Father

The immediate context makes this even clearer.

Jesus has just said: “The Father who lives in me does his works.” (John 14:10)

Earlier he said: “The Son can do nothing of himself.” (John 5:19)

And in John 14:13 Jesus explicitly explains the purpose of what he will do: “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

So even Jesus’ extraordinary ability to act on behalf of his disciples does not establish independent divine power.

Throughout John, Jesus acts because God works through him.

The Father dwells in him.

The Father gives him authority.

The Father performs the works through him.

Therefore, even if Jesus responds supernaturally to a request, that does not mean Jesus must be God.

God can empower His Messiah to hear, act, answer, reveal himself, or communicate in whatever way God chooses.

John 16 tells us where ordinary prayer is actually directed

But I think the most important clarification comes only two chapters later.

Jesus tells the same disciples: “In that day you will ask me nothing.... Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.” (John 16:23)

The first statement can also carry the sense of no longer questioning Jesus, so I would not build an absolute prohibition against ever addressing Jesus on that phrase alone.

But the second statement is completely clear: “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.”

Then Jesus explains: “In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you.” (John 16:26–27)

I think this is extraordinarily important.

Jesus is preparing his disciples for the time when he will no longer be physically sitting beside them.

And what does he teach them to do?

He does not say: “Once I am gone, continue directing all of your requests to me invisibly.”

He says: Ask the Father.

That is the normal prayer relationship Jesus establishes for his followers.

John 14 is asking a person; John 16 is teaching prayer

This distinction makes the two passages fit together beautifully.

In John 14, Jesus is physically present with his friends. They can ask him things, and he can act for them through the authority God has given him.

That is not difficult to understand.

People ask other people for things.

And Jesus is not an ordinary person: he is God’s uniquely empowered Messiah.

But John 16 addresses the disciples’ future relationship with God after Jesus returns to the Father.

And Jesus tells them: “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.”

This is the pattern I believe Christians should follow.

John 14 does not establish that Jesus should become the invisible divine recipient of ordinary prayer.

John 16 explicitly establishes that because of Jesus, believers can go directly to God.

The Father Himself loves you

Then Jesus says something I think Christians should hear much more clearly: “The Father himself loves you.”

You do not need to redirect your prayer life toward Jesus because God is distant.

You do not need Jesus to become a kinder substitute for God.

You do not need to speak to Jesus so that Jesus can persuade an unwilling Father to listen to you.

Jesus tells you the opposite.

The Father Himself loves you.

Because of what Jesus accomplished, you can approach God directly.

Therefore, I would not read John 14 as though Jesus were teaching:

“After I leave, treat me as God and direct your normal prayer life toward me.”

The text never says that.

John 14 shows Jesus’ extraordinary God-given authority and the real relationship he had with his disciples.

John 16 establishes the normal pattern of Christian prayer: Ask the Father directly in Jesus’ name.

Jesus does not replace God as the destination of prayer.

Jesus brings us to God.

Jesus Reconciles Us to God

Second Corinthians 5:18–20 captures the larger purpose of Jesus’ work: “God...through Christ reconciled us to himself...in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself...We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

Jesus did not die to reconcile humanity to Jesus.

God reconciled humanity to Himself through Jesus.

Jesus is therefore not an obstacle standing between us and God, nor does Jesus replace God as the center of Christian spiritual life.

Through Jesus, we have been brought directly into relationship with our Father.

That is exactly what John 16:26–27 communicates: “I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you.”

Because of Christ, we can pray directly to God.

Jesus is not a second God to whom we direct the same prayers.

Jesus is the reason we can approach God Himself.

So Should Christians Pray to Jesus?

I would not say Scripture establishes that every direct appeal to Jesus is wrong, because Scripture itself contains several such appeals.

Stephen’s “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” makes an absolute prohibition especially difficult to maintain.

Paul probably appeals directly to Christ in 2 Corinthians 12.

Christians invoke Jesus’ promised return with “Maranatha” and “Come, Lord Jesus.”

First Corinthians 1:2 describes Christians as those who “call upon the name” of Jesus.

Those passages should be acknowledged.

But we should also pay very close attention to what they actually establish:

The clearest narrated appeals to Jesus frequently occur when Jesus has revealed himself directly to the person speaking, either in person or some sort of vision, while other invocations concern specifically Jesus’ own promised return. Scripture therefore establishes that the risen Jesus can be addressed and can communicate supernaturally with believers. What it does not establish is that Jesus, like God, inherently hears every prayer of every Christian everywhere or that ordinary Christian prayer should therefore be directed to him.

That distinction profoundly changes how I understand what Scripture says regarding prayer to Jesus.

Consider the cumulative pattern:

The primary New Testament verb for prayer occurs approximately 85–86 times and never explicitly has Jesus as its recipient; rather, prayer is directed to God. (Moulton and Geden, s.v. “προσεύχομαι”).

The corresponding noun occurs approximately 36–37 times and is likewise never used for prayer directed to Jesus. (Moulton and Geden, s.v. “προσευχή”).

Jesus himself teaches his followers to pray, “Our Father.”

Jesus repeatedly tells them to ask the Father in his name.

After explaining that his disciples will ask in his name, Jesus emphasizes that “the Father himself loves you," and that they can go directly to God without Jesus asking the Father on their behalf (John 16:26).

Paul and other New Testament authors direct prayer and thanksgiving to God the Father through Jesus.

The earliest post-resurrection Church gathers and prays to God while referring, within that very prayer, to Jesus as God’s anointed servant.

Jesus is repeatedly described as the mediator through whom believers approach God.

Against this massive pattern are a comparatively small number of direct appeals and invocations of the exalted Jesus.

Those exceptional passages are real.

But they do not overturn the dominant pattern.

Nor do they establish the enormous additional proposition required by much modern Christian practice: that Jesus, a real human being exalted by God, inherently hears the internal and external prayers of millions of Christians simultaneously throughout the entire world.

Scripture does not tell us that.

Therefore, I believe the normal biblical pattern of Christian prayer is: pray to God our Father, through and in the name of His Son Jesus Christ.

Directly addressing Jesus in an exceptional circumstance is not necessarily wrong.

Scripture itself gives examples of it.

But that is very different from making Jesus the routine recipient of prayers such as:

“Jesus, heal my mother.” 

“Jesus, give me wisdom.” 

“Jesus, protect my family.” 

“Jesus, help Christians suffering on the other side of the world.”

The New Testament overwhelmingly directs those kinds of needs to God.

This does not diminish Jesus.

It honors what Jesus actually accomplished and who Jesus actually is: a man, not God. Jesus himself taught that his authority and works came from the Father (John 5:19, 30; Matthew 28:18). Even when Jesus acts on our behalf, Scripture reveals that his power and authority are received from God, rather than exercised independently of Him.

Jesus died to reconcile us to God. Jesus is the way to the Father. Jesus brings us to God. Because of Jesus, the Father Himself loves us and welcomes us into His presence.

That is why I believe Christians should normally do exactly what Jesus taught us to do: pray to our Father.

Who Is Your God—and Who Is Your Messiah?

At this point, I think the question becomes larger than whether the New Testament contains an occasional direct address to Jesus.

It does.

Stephen sees the risen Jesus and says, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Paul probably appeals directly to Christ in the context of “visions and revelations of the Lord.”

Christians say, “Maranatha”—“Our Lord, come”—and Revelation ends with the appeal, “Come, Lord Jesus.”

Christians are also described as those who “call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I do not want to explain those passages away.

The risen Jesus is alive.

God has exalted him.

God can enable Jesus to appear to people, communicate with people, hear people, answer people, and exercise extraordinary authority.

The question is not whether Jesus can ever be addressed.

The question is:

Who is your God?

And:

Who is your Messiah?

Those are not the same question.

Jesus is our Messiah—not our God

Throughout this study I have argued that Jesus is genuinely human.

He is the Messiah.

He suffered.

He was tempted.

He learned obedience.

He became perfect.

He died.

God raised him from the dead.

God exalted him.

God made him Lord and Christ.

God gave him authority.

Jesus is now the glorified human Messiah, King, High Priest, mediator, and Savior through whom God is restoring humanity and creation.

That is an astonishing identity.

But it is not the identity of God.

And once I understood that distinction, the question of prayer changed for me.

I did not primarily stop praying to Jesus because I discovered one verse saying, “Never pray to Jesus.”

I stopped because I understood who Jesus actually is.

If Jesus is not God, why would I relate to him as though he were?

Why would I routinely direct to Jesus the prayers that Jesus himself taught me to direct to God?

Why would I ask Jesus, as though he were omnipresent and omniscient:

Hear me.

Guide me.

Protect my family.

Know my thoughts.

Comfort Christians throughout the world.

Hear millions of believers speaking to you simultaneously.

Scripture teaches that God possesses that unlimited knowledge and presence.

Scripture does not teach that the human Jesus inherently does.

If God supernaturally enables Jesus to hear or communicate with someone, of course He can do so.

But that is very different from treating Jesus as though omnipresent awareness of every Christian everywhere belongs inherently to him because he is God.

I do not believe he is God.

Prayer reveals whom we are treating as God

This is where I think the issue becomes spiritually serious.

Prayer is not merely communication.

Our normal prayer life expresses whom we trust as God.

Whom do we call upon when we are afraid?

Whom do we ask for wisdom?

Whom do we ask to search our hearts?

Whom do we ask to forgive us, guide us, protect us, provide for us, and hear us wherever we are?

Whom do we believe is listening when millions of people across the earth pray silently at the same time?

Scripture's answer is overwhelmingly:

God.

Jesus himself prayed to God.

Jesus taught us:

“Our Father in heaven...”

Jesus said:

“Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.”

Paul describes Christians as giving thanks to God the Father through Jesus Christ.

The post-resurrection Church prays to God while speaking within that very prayer about God's anointed servant Jesus.

Hebrews says that Jesus brings us to God.

Paul says that God reconciled us to Himself through Christ.

The direction matters.

Jesus did not reconcile us to Jesus

I think this is one of the most beautiful truths in the New Testament.

Jesus did not die so that humanity could finally gain access to Jesus.

Jesus died to bring humanity back to God.

Paul writes:

“God...through Christ reconciled us to himself.”

And:

“In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.”

The appeal is:

“Be reconciled to God.”

Jesus is the mediator.

God is the destination.

Jesus is the way.

God is the One to whom the way leads.

And Jesus himself makes this even more personal in John 16.

He tells his disciples that they will ask the Father in his name and then says:

“I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf...the Father himself loves you.”

Think about what Jesus is saying.

You do not need to stop at Jesus because you are afraid to approach God.

You do not need Jesus to function as a safer, kinder substitute for the Father.

The Father Himself loves you.

Because of Jesus, you can go directly to God.

That is what Jesus accomplished.

Why then are so many Christians praying primarily to Jesus?

This is the question I think the Church needs to confront.

If Jesus is the mediator who reconciles us to God, why have Christians so often made the mediator the destination?

If Jesus teaches us to pray to the Father, why do so many Christian prayers begin:

“Jesus...”

If Jesus repeatedly speaks about his God, why do Christians routinely speak to Jesus as though Jesus were that God?

I understand why.

Most Christians have been taught from childhood that Jesus is God.

If Jesus is Almighty God, then praying to him naturally follows.

I do not question the sincerity of Christians who pray to Jesus. I did it myself.

But once the underlying Christology changes, the practice has to be reconsidered.

If Jesus is not God, then routinely treating Jesus as God in prayer is not a harmless theological detail.

It gives God's Messiah a devotional role that Scripture gives to God.

And that raises the issue of idolatry.

The idolatry question

I use that word carefully.

I am not saying that every Christian who has ever prayed to Jesus is consciously worshiping a false god. Most Christians who pray to Jesus genuinely believe that Jesus is God and are trying to honor God according to what they have been taught.

God knows the heart.

But sincerity does not make every religious practice correct.

If Jesus really is a human Messiah rather than Almighty God, then treating Jesus as though he possesses God's inherent omnipresence, omniscience, and position as the universal recipient of prayer is a serious category mistake.

At some point we have to ask:

Are we honoring Jesus—or turning Jesus into the God he came to reveal?

Jesus never told us to replace God with himself.

Jesus never presented himself as the God to whom he prayed.

Jesus never said that the Father was inaccessible and that Christians should instead direct their spiritual lives toward him.

Quite the opposite.

Jesus brought us to God.

Rare supernatural communication does not change the normal relationship

This does not mean Jesus is inaccessible.

Scripture establishes that the risen Jesus can communicate with human beings.

Stephen saw him.

Paul encountered him.

John received revelation from him.

If God chooses to enable supernatural communication between Jesus and someone on earth, I have no biblical reason to say God cannot do that.

And if Jesus appeared to me and spoke to me, I would speak back to him.

That would not make Jesus God.

It would mean I was speaking to Jesus.

Likewise, I see nothing contradictory about saying:

“Come, Lord Jesus.”

Jesus is the one who is coming.

Calling upon him concerning his promised return makes perfect sense.

But none of this establishes that Jesus should function as a second God in ordinary Christian spirituality.

Exceptional communication with the Messiah should not be transformed into a doctrine that the Messiah inherently hears every thought and prayer offered everywhere on earth.

The Church should stop teaching Christians to pray to Jesus as though he were God

After studying this question, that is where I have landed.

I do not think Christians should cultivate an ordinary prayer relationship with Jesus that belongs properly to God.

I do not think Christians should teach children to address Jesus as though he were the omnipresent God hearing every private thought.

I do not think Christian worship should blur the distinction between the God whom Jesus worships and Jesus, God's Messiah.

And I do not think the Church should take a small number of unusual direct appeals to the risen Jesus and use them to overturn the overwhelming biblical pattern of prayer to God.

Jesus taught us how to pray.

“Our Father...”

I think Christians should listen to him.

Know your God. Honor your Messiah.

None of this diminishes Jesus.

It puts Jesus exactly where Scripture puts him.

Jesus is God's beloved Son.

God's Messiah.

Our Lord.

Our King.

Our High Priest.

Our brother.

Our Savior.

The one who died for us.

The one God raised from the dead.

The one through whom God reconciles the world.

The one through whom we approach God.

The one who shows us what humanity can become.

Honor him.

Love him.

Follow him.

Obey him.

Learn from him.

Thank God for him.

Call upon him when Scripture gives us reason to call upon him.

Long for his return:

“Come, Lord Jesus.”

But do not confuse the Messiah with his God.

Jesus himself did not.

He said:

“My God and your God.”

And because of Jesus, that God welcomes us directly.

Jesus reconciled us to God.

So go to God.

Pray to God.

Know God.

Love God.

The Father Himself loves you.