I am writing this series of biblical questions because the ancient doctrine of "the Communion of Saints", although being professed in the most ancient of Christian creeds, seems to be the biggest stumbling block and point of contention to Protestants. Frequently Protestants will bring this doctrine up and attack it, even though it may not be as significant as the Eucharist or soteriology or ecclesiology, simply because it is the most offensive to them and many see it as THE major error of Catholicism.
So how does the Bible answer the question: Do the saints in heaven offer prayers for us?
"The Lord said to me: 'Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my heart would not turn toward these people. Send them away from me." - Jer 15:1
Question 1: Does this verse imply that Moses and Samuel, dead saints, have greater than average intercessory power before God?
A. Yes
B. No
"When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones." - Rev 5:8
Question 2: Are the twenty four elders in heaven, dead saints, offering the prayers of the holy ones to God?
A. Yes
B. No
"When he broke open the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the witness they bore to the word of God. They cried out in a loud voice, 'How long will it be, holy and true master, before you sit in judgment and avenge our blood on the inhabitants on earth?" - Rev 6:9-10
Question 3: Are the martyrs under the altar dead saints?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 4: Are they praying an imprecatory prayer (asking for vengeance) to God about those yet living on earth?
A. Yes
B. No
"Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a gold censer. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne. The smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the holy ones went up before God from the hand of the angel." - Rev 8:3-4
Question 5: Are there angels in heaven offering the prayers of the holy ones to God?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 6: How many prayers does the angel offer?
A. One person's
B. A few of the holy ones'
C. All of the holy ones'
"Now when you, Tobit, and Sarah prayed, it was I who presented and read the record of your prayers before the Glory of the Lord…I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who enter and serve before the Glory of the Lord." - Tobit 12:12,15
Question 7: Did Raphael, an angel, present and read the prayers of those on earth to God?
A. Yes
B. No
"Onias then said of him, 'This is God's prophet Jeremiah, who loves his brethren and fervently prays for his people and their holy city." - 2 Macc 15:14
Question 8: Was Jeremiah, long since dead in the time of the Maccabees, still fervently praying for Israel and Jerusalem after his death?
A. Yes
B. No
To the first question, the Bible teaches explicitly that the angels and saints in heaven pray for and offer the prayers of the Church on earth to God. We call this action "intercession".
The second question is: Are the angels and saints in heaven still part of the Church?
"He is the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent." - Col 1:18
Question 9: is the Church the body of Christ?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 10: Does the Church include the holy dead, of whom Christ is the firstborn?
A. Yes
B. No
"No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect." - Heb 12:22-23
Question 11: Does the Church described here include both us, the living, and the "assembly…enrollled in heaven"?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 12: Have we approached the spirits of the just made perfect?
A. Yes
B. No
"As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly mistaken." - Mark 12:26-27
Question 13: Is God the God of the dead or of the living?
A. The dead
B. The living
Question 14: Are we living?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 15: Are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob living, since God is their God?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 16: Does death then separate us from our union with the body of Christ, the Church, the family of God?
A. Yes
B. No
"For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels…shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Rom 8:38-39
Question 17: Can death separate us from the love of God and the Body of Christ?
A. Yes
B. No
To the second question we see that the Bible explicitly teaches that the dead are part of the Church, the body of Christ. The holy dead are in fact living, and are made perfect, and they join in liturgy, prayer, and worship to God with the Church on earth (see Revelations).
The third question is: What is the nature of the union within the body of Christ?
"And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." - Matt 25:40
Question 18: Is blessing the members of the Church the same as blessing Jesus Himself?
A. Yes
B. No
"Now Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest…He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' He said, 'Who are you, sir?' The reply came, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." - Acts 9:1-5
Question 19: Is persecuting the members of the Church the same as persecuting Jesus Himself?
A. Yes
B. No
"But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without honor, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another…Now you are Christ's body, and individually parts of it." - 1 Cor 12:24-27
Question 20: Is there any division in the body of Christ?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 21: Ought we, the individual parts of Christ's body, to have concern for each other?
A. Yes
B. No
"So we, being many, are one body in Christ; and every one members one of another." - Rom 12:5
Question 22: Are we in Christ's body all members of each other?
A. Yes
B. No
"If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy." - 1 Cor 12:26
Question 23: Do we all share in common both suffering and blessing?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 24: If someone were to honor a saint, who is a part of the body of Christ, what would the effect be for the whole body?
A. It would detract from the majesty of the Christ, the head of the body
B. All the parts would share that part's joy, i.e. it would bless the whole body
The answer to the third question the Bible says is that the union in the body of Christ, the Church, is so total that we are individual yet indistinguishable; we share all things in common, both suffering and blessing, and doing anything for one is doing it for all and for Christ Himself.
The fourth question is: How does the prayer of the members of the body effect the whole body?
"With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit. To that end, be watchful with all perseverance and prayer for all the saints." - Eph 6:18
Question 25: Ought we to pray for all the saints, at every opportunity?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 26: According to Revelations, are the dead in heaven praying for all the saints at every opportunity (see question 2-6)?
A. Yes
B. No
"First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone." - 1 Tim 2:1
Question 27: For whom ought we to offer prayers?
A. Myself only
B. Those who ask for it
C. Everyone
"If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and He will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly." - 1 Jn 5:16-17
Question 28: Should we pray for forgiveness for the sins of others, if they are not deadly sins?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 29: Will this cause them to receive life from God?
A. Yes
B. No
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful." - Jm 5:16
Question 30: Does our prayer for each other bring about God's grace and healing?
A. Yes
B. No
Question 31: The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.
A. True
B. False
Thus, the answer to the fourth question is that prayer is a source of grace, healing, forgiveness, and blessing for the Church, and it should be constant. It is also very powerful when it is the prayer of a righteous person.
From the explicit teaching of Scripture in answering those four questions, we see that the following are true:
1. We are all united in the Body of Christ, both the living and the "dead".
2. We share all things in common, both suffering and blessing.
3. We all pray for each other.
4. The angels and saints in heaven pray for us and offer our prayers to God.
5. The prayers of the righteous are very powerful.
6.The souls in heaven are the most righteous members of the body, having been made perfect.
Therefore, it is clearly biblical and beneficial to pray for one another and especially to ask those in heaven to pray for us and offer our prayers to God. Besides being directly attested to in Scripture, this practice dates back to the first centuries of the Church in the writings of the Church fathers, the catacomb epigraphy, and ancient prayers and liturgies, such as the Sub Tuum Praesidium prayer to the Virgin Mary, which was already part of the liturgy in the 3rd century.
"In this way is he [the Christian] always pure for prayer. He also prays in the society of angels, as being already of angelic rank, and he is never out of their holy keeping; and though he pray alone, he has the choir of the saints standing with him in prayer." - Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies, AD 208
"But not the high priest [Christ] alone prays for those who pray sincerely, but also the angels…as also the souls of the saints who have already fallen asleep." - Origen, Prayer, AD 233
"A Christian people celebrates together in religious solemnity the memorials of the martyrs, both to encourage their being imitated and so that it can share in their merits and be aided by their prayers." - Augustine, Against Faustus the Manichean, AD 400
