Question:  Dear Greg,

            When we pray, to whom do we direct our prayers?  Jesus Christ?  The Father?  Christ taught his disciples to pray to the Father.  Was Christ (the Word) actually the God of the Old Testament?  I guess what I am looking for is, how does Jesus Christ fit into prayer?  Is it acceptable to pray to Christ?  Praying in Jesus’ name—is that also a way of praying to him or around him?  Through Christ or “around” Christ to reach the Father?

            I hope you understand my many questions and would give me a little insight.

            Anthony

Answer:  Dear Anthony,

            God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19—one God, three divine Persons, one name, not three).  However, as you say, Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father.”

            Jesus Christ--before the manger—was the Eternal Word of God, who always existed as the Eternal Son of God.  So the God of the Old Testament was God, the triune Godhead, even though the Hebrews did not understand God to be one but yet three in Person.  He had not revealed that yet.  He did in the Person of Jesus, when Jesus became a human, and later (after Jesus was resurrected) when the Holy Spirit was sent to found the church (see Acts 2).

            It is not unbiblical to address Jesus or the Holy Spirit in prayer.  We pray in Jesus’ name because his work on the cross gives us access to God the Father (Matthew 27:51—an act which is fully explained in the book of Hebrews).

            Some humans have grave difficulties praying “Our Father” because of the horrible relationship they have had with their physical father.  The word “father” is a barrier to them.  It has not been the intimate relationship our loving God offers to us.  Such people often pray either to God or to Jesus, but must avoid the word “father”.

            God is one.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are co-eternal, co-essential yet separate and distinct.  They have a unity that we humans cannot understand.  It is impossible to pray around Jesus—praying to the Father without the Son (or the Holy Spirit—knowing about it).  We are told, however, to pray through Christ.  It is because of him that we know God in the way that we do and it is because of him that God, the Godhead, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit listen to us.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht