Copyright © 2006-2008 Robert D. Hosken, M.Min., D.Min.
Meditate Word By Word On These Verses:
1 Tim. 2:5-6,
Rom. 10:1,
11:1-3.
Paul instructed Timothy – “I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions (enteuxia), and giving of thanks, be made for all men” (1 Tim. 2:1). This is the classic passage on the various kinds of prayer, including intercession. Strong’s Dictionaries define intercession as “an interview, that is, (specifically) supplication: - intercession, prayer.”1 But by far the best definition I find for intercession is in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia – “to assail anyone with petitions, to urge, to interpose on behalf of a person.”2 So we see that intercession is specifically prayer or interposing on behalf of another person.
When we considered the topic of sanctification, we looked at the passage Luke 11:5-13, in which Jesus teaches us to “ask, seek and knock” by introducing it with a short parable – “Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’?” (verses 5-6). The point often missed here is that the person asking to borrow three loaves of bread isn’t asking for himself, but for another friend. That is intercession! We are to “ask, seek and knock” in prayer not for our own desires, but pray persistently on behalf of another, for his needs. That is the spiritual ministry which must accompany our practical diakonia-ministry for the disabled and needy people of this world.
Question:
1. In most English translations, the word enteuxia is translated as "intercession," and such prayer is intercessory or mediatory. What do you see in this regard in Luke 11:5-13?
The verb form of enteuxia is entugchano, which we see in Rom. 8:26-27 and 34 –
"In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don't know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession (huperentugchano) for us with groanings which can't be uttered. He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit's mind, because he makes intercession (entugchano) for the saints according to God. …Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession (entugchano) for us."
When we intercede in prayer, we are undertaking a priestly ministry. A priest is a go-between, an intercessor between God and man. That task may seem overwhelming, but here the Apostle Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit makes “hyper-intercession” over and above our intercession. The word “for” is also “huper,” so the verb prefix is repeated as a preposition to emphasize this verb, which occurs only once in the entire New Testament. Thus the weak little prayers that we barely manage to utter are straightened out, magnified, and made “hyper” and interpreted into a divine language that we can’t comprehend as the Holy Spirit and Christ both intercede before God the Father for us. As we do the spiritual ministry of intercessory prayer for others, the Holy Spirit and Christ are doing the same ministry for us on a higher plane!
Sometimes the concept of intercessory prayer is indicated by the context, even if the Greek word enteuxia or the verb form isn’t used – “As they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Separate Barnabas and Saul for me, for the work to which I have called them.’ Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away” (Acts 13:2-3). Also – “Brothers, my heart's desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved” (Rom. 10:1). In both of these passages believers prayed for other people, in the first case for Barnabas and Saul who were being sent out as missionaries and in the second case for unbelievers.
Paul takes his line of argument forward in the next chapter of Romans by using entugchano in an almost negative sense – “God didn't reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don't you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads (entugchano) with God against Israel: ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life’” (Rom. 11:1-3). Elijah was interceding against the false prophets of Baal and the king of Israel who supported them, but for the common people of Israel. At times we need to intercede against wickedness, corruption or just plain neglect in high places in order to “interpose on behalf of” the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind. So we see that diakonia-ministry for disabled and neglected people should include intercession on the social level of “interposing” as well as on the spiritual level of “interceding.” At times we must interpose at social bodies such as agencies for handicapped people to ask how we can work with them on behalf of a specific disabled person, or interpose at an educational institution to help a disabled person enroll and take courses in order to begin a new profession more suited to his condition.
Question:
2. Can we intercede against someone or something, when we are interceding for others? (See Rom. 11:1-3)
Of course we can, sometimes even we must!
No, it's impossible. We must always be positive.
Because of our cultural context in Russia, we must examine the question: Can the saints in heaven intercede for those on earth? A few passages in Revelation support this idea that is held by Orthodox and Catholics – “Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Rev. 5:8). Incense is often associated with intercession and atonement in the Old Testament.
The fact that the saints in glory are not simply asleep until Christ’s Second Coming is evident in Rev. 6:9-10 – “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. They cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’” The location of these saints’ souls under the altar and their cry for their blood to be avenged reminds us of the Old Testament sacrifices on the altar. But the pertinent fact here is that the saints are conscious and are crying out to God.
The third instance is in Rev. 8:3-4 – “Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand.” Again, incense is associated with the prayers of the saints, presumably those in heaven if we take into account where this action is taking place.
Question:
3. In Lk. 16:19-31; 20:37-38 and in the above Scripture passages (in Rev. 5:8; 6:9-10; 8:3-4) it is obvious that the saints in heaven aren't simply asleep, but they are alive and can call out to God. If we can ask our godly Christian friends and even believers we don't know to pray for us, can we ask the saints, holy people in heaven to pray for us? Explain.
We learn in Lev. 16:12-13 that incense was intended to make atonement (very similar to intercession) – “He [the high priest] shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: and he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he will not die.” Also, after Korah’s rebellion the Israelites complained to Moses that Yahweh had killed the rebels, Yahweh’s wrath broke out against the complainers, so – “Moses said to Aaron, Take your censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and lay incense thereon, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from Yahweh; the plague is begun” (Num. 16:46).
Thus we have two passages in Scripture that point to incense being used for atonement. Does all of this mean that the glorified saints do indeed intercede for the saints on earth? Although these texts may point in that direction, they do not give conclusive proof. In fact, there are dozens of passages in the Old Testament that tell us of incense being offered by the wrong persons, or the incorrect incense being burned to Yahweh, or incense being burned to idols. For example, the prophet Jeremiah confronted the Israelites for worshipping a pagan goddess whom they called "the queen of heaven," to which they retorted – “But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been devoured by the sword and by the famine”3 (Jer. 44:18 MKJV). Thus we see that one must be very careful with applying such an idea, considering this contrary evidence.
Question:
4. What material substance was used in the Old and New Testaments for intercession?
(Only one of the following answers is correct.)
grains of wheat
incense
hyssop
Orthodox and Catholic theologians point out that asking a departed Christian to pray for you is no different than asking a Christian on earth to pray for you. But Evangelicals may reply that in practice Orthodox and Catholic people often don’t ask departed saints to intercede for them, they are actually praying to the saints. In discussing such differences it is vitally important not to “mix apples and oranges,” comparing “our” glorious doctrines with “their” mistaken practices. Keep in mind, Orthodox and Catholics can find more than enough greed (which is idolatry), deceit, immorality, gluttony and disunity among Protestants too! Orthodox theology clearly teaches that anyone who prays to a saint or an icon is not truly Orthodox: they should ask the saint (depicted in the icon) to pray for them. We must be careful not to mix categories, we must compare our doctrines with their doctrines, not our apples with their oranges.
In his book The Three Great Churches, Kerby Rials sets forth seven reasons why it is not correct to pray to the saints, giving a full explanation for each point –
1. There is no special category of believer called a saint.
2. There are no examples of praying to saints in the Bible.
3. Jesus taught us only to pray to the Father.
4. The Old Testament warns against prayers to others than God.
5. Early Church Fathers opposed prayer to departed Christians.
6. God has established a separation between living and dead Christians.
7. The Bible says there is only one mediator between us and God.4
The first five points have already been adequately addressed here. On the sixth point, the Orthodox will reply with Luke 20:38, that all the saints are alive to God. The seventh point above bears looking into further. We read in 1 Tim. 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” The word “mediator” (mesites) here is literally “go-between” and can be translated “intercessor.” The one mediator we have is Jesus Christ, the God-Man. And 1 John 2:1 (ESV) states – “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”5 Here we find another word, “advocate” (parakletos), which means “defense attorney” or “go-between” and can also be translated “intercessor.” Christ is our all-sufficient intercessor, advocate and go-between before God the Father for us. But there are many verses that ask or tell us to pray for others.
Question:
5. Are Kerby Rials' objections against the intercession of the saints for us fully substantive, in your opinion? Explain.
The New Testament example is that intercessory prayers are directed to Jesus Christ Himself – “Therefore he [Christ] is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession (entugchano) for them” (Heb. 7:25). Adam Clarke explains how “the Jewish high priest made intercession for the people on the Day of Atonement, and which was a type of Christ’s intercession in heaven. He made it, not by offering of prayers for them in the most holy place, but by sprinkling the blood of the sacrifices on the mercy-seat, in token of their death.”6 This was a type or a shadow of what was to come in Christ, Who offered His own blood as the perfect atonement for our sins once for all. He is the perfect intercessor, never too busy, always attentive to our intercessory prayers for the needs of others.
But also, we read in 1 Tim. 2:1, “I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions (enteuxia), and giving of thanks be made for all men.” And in James 5:13-20 we read that the prayers of a righteous man are capable both of having others' sins forgiven and of bringing about their physical healing. So we see that righteous Christians can and should intercede for the less-righteous ones. An earthly intercessor or go-between is just what a disabled person needs, in order to help him make headway in our self-centered society that cares little about those who can’t compete. We can and must intercede for them not only out of compassion, but also because we have come to realize that in God’s sight we are all spiritually disabled and in need of an advocate or go-between to intercede for us before the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous One.
Question:
6. In what way can we become mediators for the disabled, poor and elderly (Ex. 22:21-25; Lev. 19:13-15; 25:35; Deut. 15:7-8; Jer. 22:3; Mat. 9:1-8; 25:35-36; Acts 9:36 and other passages)?
Endnotes:
1. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, op. cit.
2. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, (www.e-sword.net, 2004).
3. Modern King James Bible, op. cit. 4. Rials, Kerby, The Three Great Churches, (Lansing, Michigan, Redeemer Publishing, 2005), 101.