Is Jesus God? Part 17: Implication 3- Praying to Jesus and Knowing Him

If Jesus is not God, should Christians pray to Jesus? What does the Bible say? What about knowing Christ? How can we know him personally if he is not omnipresent and omniscient? First, in terms of Christians having a “personal relationship with Christ” or “accepting Jesus into our hearts”, that terminology is never used in the Bible. However, Christians are directed to “know Christ”. But what does that mean?

Paul says in Philippians 3:8-11, 8 “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” I think it is important not to take the Bible too literally. There are other ways of knowing someone besides being in close proximity with them and talking with them on a daily basis. Consider what Paul says earlier in Philippians, in chapter 1, 21-24, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” For Paul, he believes he can know Christ in the life he lives now, specifically through knowing “the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10) though it is only when he dies that he recognizes he will truly be with Christ, “which is better by far”. “Knowing Christ”, according to Paul, is not about knowing someone like the personal relationships people have on a day to day basis – though he looks forward to having that relationship with Christ when he dies and forever for eternity. The “knowing Christ” Paul describes in this passage is becoming one with Christ in his suffering and death – knowing him and relating to him in following him, picking up his cross, and dying like Christ did. Only through following Christ in his suffering and death and picking up our own cross can anyone truly know Christ in the way Paul is talking about. Paul is not “with Christ” literally – Christ is at the right hand of God in heaven. Paul cannot talk with Christ like the disciples could when Christ was alive on earth. But Paul can know Christ in participating in his sufferings – and this is arguably a deeper knowing than the disciples had when they were with Christ for 3 years before his death - before they themselves suffered, all but one, martyrdom. 

John 17:1-3 says, “After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’” Jesus is praying that all people who choose to follow him would have eternal life, which means knowing God and knowing him. Is Jesus praying that all of his followers are going to know him as a best friend like, perhaps, Peter was to him? How is this possible if Jesus is a man? Christians tend to think Jesus is their best friend – but only God has the power and capacity to have intimate relationships with every person. Jesus does not, as a man, have the ability to do that. He is not omnipresent, and nothing in the Bible suggests he is. Truly knowing Jesus is to know him in the way Paul talks about – to know him in his suffering and in the power of his resurrection – to follow him completely. That is part of eternal life, the other part being knowing God, who, as God, has the ability to have an intimate relationship with each of His children.  If the eternal life Jesus speaks of in this passage is about “knowing Jesus” in constant prayer and communion like he is our “best friend”, which is how many Christians operate, the New Testament would speak differently about both prayer and Jesus. The Bible says we should "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17), but Paul is referring to God, not Jesus, as I will explain below. Jesus is a man, not God, as I have shown, and while he is with his Church in spirit (Matthew 18:20, Matthew 28:20) as Paul, another man, is with the Corinthian Church (1 Corinthians 5:3-5), the Bible never says his conscious presence is with us. It says the opposite: again, Paul in Philippians 1:23 desires to depart and be with Christ because that is when he will be in Christ’s conscious presence, who at the time of his writing was at the right hand of God the Father. Moreover, prayer, according to the New Testament, is to be directed to the Father, as Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 6:9.

The verb “to pray” in the New Testament is used over 76 times, and it means to petition or to pray to a deity (Smith, 2022). Never once is Jesus the object of this particular Greek verb, “proseuchomai” (Smith, 2022). One example of when Jesus uses this verb is in Matthew 6:9, when he says, “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” Another example is Colossians 1:3 when Paul speaks of giving thanks to God, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you…” Another Greek verb for prayer is “euchometha”, used 7 times in the Bible and never once directed to Jesus (Smith, 2022). For example, 2 Corinthians 13:7, “Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed.” Another example is Acts 26:9, where Paul prays, “I would wish to God that whether in a short or long time – all may become like me except for my chains…”

Finally, there is also a noun used for prayer to deity in the New Testament: “proseuché”.  It is used over 35 times and never used referring to Jesus (Smith, 2022). For example, it used in Luke 6:12, “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” It is also used in Romans 15:30, “I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me,” and Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God,” in direct reference to praying to God, not Jesus. In summary: the 2 verbs and 1 noun used in Greek for praying to deity, used over 100 times, are never used in reference to Jesus in the Bible but are reserved for God alone.

What is more, the model for prayer in the Bible is generally to the Father, through Jesus, our mediator, in Jesus name. For example, in Ephesians 5:20 Paul encourages to be “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

All this being said, there are a handful of passages that, at first glance, seem to indicate Jesus is receiving prayer, which could be confusing as prayers are generally understood to be offered only to God. As we consider these instances, it is again important to note that the authors of the New Testament reserved the 2 specific Greek verbs and 1 specific Greek noun referring to “prayer to deity” for God alone. First, in John 14:13-14, Jesus says, “Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, so the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name I will do it.” In context, Jesus is speaking to his disciples the night before he died, telling them to ask him anything they want in his name. Even when he says this, Jesus is clear that answering any of their requests is done so that the Father can be glorified in Jesus. Further, we already know from earlier in John that Jesus can do nothing apart from the Father (John 5:19), so in answering any of his disciples' requests, he can only fulfill them because of the Father’s omnipotence. 

But is this prayer? Jesus is still alive and with his disciples in person, and he is telling his disciples they can ask for things in his name. They are friends. Jesus is lovingly telling his disciples they give him requests that he can fulfill by God’s strength, all to the Father’s glory. Moreover, Jesus is clear in John 16:22-24 that this state of the disciples asking him for direct requests is temporary. Jesus says,  “So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” According to Jesus, when he resurrects from the dead, his disciples will no longer ask him anything. Instead, they will ask the Father directly whatever they ask in Jesus’ name. The time of asking Jesus for things, while he was on earth, is over, because in Jesus dying and being raised from the dead he has made a way for everyone to have direct access to God, to the Father. This is why Christians are directed by Paul, for example, to pray to the Father in Jesus’ name and through Jesus (Ephesians 5:20, Colossians 3:17).  The words Jesus said specifically to his core group of disciples before he died cannot, therefore, be used to make any sort of theology that we should pray to Jesus. To the contrary: Jesus himself says, when he resurrects, they will no longer ask him anything – they will have direct access to God. 

Jesus died to reconcile the world to the Father, not to himself. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 says, “All this is from God,  who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Jesus further highlights this in John 16:26-27, “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 because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” When Jesus resurrects from the dead, his disciples will not need to go through Jesus to pray. Jesus will not be needed to ask the Father on their behalf. Instead, the disciples can directly pray to God in Jesus’ name because of Jesus’ work on the cross. John 15:16 underlines this sentiment, as Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” Again, ultimately the Father is the one who is fulfilling the requests of the disciples, not Jesus. 

Another verse sometimes used as proof that Christians should pray to Jesus is 1 Corinthians 1:1-2, “Paul… to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lords and ours…” While Christians call on “the name” of our Lord Jesus Christ every time we pray in Jesus’ name to the Father, as Jesus is the reason we are reconciled to the Father, this is certainly not the same thing as praying to Jesus. Paul does not say, “together with all those everywhere who call on our Lord Jesus Christ”. Rather, he says those who call on “his name”. Christians are not directed by Paul to call on Jesus in prayer but to use his name in prayer. The name of Jesus has power because Jesus is every Christian’s mediator, savior, and the one who reconciled us to God.  God has given Jesus the name above all names because of what he did (Philippians 2:6-11), and Christians are wise to call on that name. Calling on Jesus’ name is not the same as calling on Jesus. 

Jesus does have a unique relationship with Paul. He miraculously appears to him in Acts 9:4-6 and speaks with him. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Paul explains how he implores Jesus to take away his thorn, and Jesus speaks to him that his grace is sufficient in Paul’s weakness. The verb used here is not for prayer. It is used elsewhere in Scripture for human beings imploring or exhorting other human beings, for example in Luke 3:18 and Acts 8:31. These interactions between Paul and Jesus, moreover, are obviously unique and not general to the Christian experience given the New Testament's overall description of prayer. Further, this does not mean that Jesus is deity. God enabled him to miraculously appear to Paul and speak with him. God enabled Jesus to communicate to Paul given the situation in 2 Corinthians 12. One other unique instance of speaking to Jesus directly  is when the martyr Stephen calls out to Jesus when he dies (Acts 7:59), and he sees Jesus at the right hand of God. So, Jesus as a non-omnipresent man is present when Steven calls out to him. It is not surprising that Jesus, as a non-omnipresent, non-omniscient, non-omnipotent exalted human being, is at times enabled by God to supernaturally communicate with members of his Church like Paul and Stephen, the first martyr. This is especially unsurprising given the significant role both Paul and Stephen played in the birth of the Church. It cannot be emphasized enough, given the current unbiblical emphasis Christians place on praying to Jesus, that instances like this are few and far between in the Bible, and that Jesus and his disciples emphasized and taught Christians to pray to the almighty God in Jesus’ name.

Further, Jesus was not omnipresent, omnipotent, or omniscient while he was on earth, and there is nothing to suggest in the Bible that he is now, as discussed in my previous posts. While the Bible shows that following Jesus’ ascension Jesus was able, by God’s power, to interact with and speak with members of the Church, primarily Paul, this does not mean he is God. Perhaps no other human in history has been able to interact with people from heaven like God has enabled Jesus to do, but that does not mean Jesus is God. It means God has empowered Jesus, for example, to be able to speak to Paul in supernatural ways. 

The only other potential “prayers” to Jesus in the Bible are in Revelation 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 16:22. In Revelation 22:20 John writes, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” Jesus is appearing to John in a vision, and John is responding to Jesus in this vision and telling him to “come”. Jesus is present, so this does not point to John praying to a deity for him to state this and write this in Revelation.  In 1 Corinthians 16:22 Paul says, “If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord!” Perhaps this last verse again speaks to Paul’s unique relationship with Jesus that God supernaturally enabled. Jesus, by God’s enablement, “heard” Paul’s words, “Come, Lord!” These last two examples in no way, shape, or form provide evidence that Christians should generally pray to and offer prayers to Jesus. Once more: Jesus and his disciples, including the apostle Paul, taught the early Christians to pray to God. This is shown in the Bible through the over 100 times the verbs and noun for prayer are used in reference to God alone and by Jesus’ own example in praying to God himself. This, compared to the four examples I gave where Jesus supernaturally interacts with Stephen, John, and Paul, is conclusive evidence that God and Jesus never intended Christians to direct their prayers to Jesus. Prayers are to God in Jesus’ name. On a practical note, why would we pray to Jesus if he is not God? Why not go directly to God? God is ultimately the One who answers all prayers. Only He has the power to. Christians directing their prayers to Jesus, often in Jesus' name, is another example of the unintentional idolatry of Jesus by the Church. Jesus died to reconcile us to God - in part so we could pray directly to God in Jesus' name. To repeat Jesus' words to his disciples once again in John 16:23 "In that day [when Jesus resurrects from the dead and after] you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name."