AC XXI: Invocation of the Saints
Our churches teach that we are to remember the history of the saints so that our faith may be strengthened when we see how they experienced grace and how they were sustained by faith. Even more, their good works are to be an example for us, each of us in his own calling. Accordingly, his Imperial Majesty may follow the example of David [2 Samuel] in waging war to drive the Muslim invaders from our land. For both are kings.
However, it cannot be proved from the Scriptures that we must call on the saints or seek their help. “For there is one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus” [1 Timothy 2:5], who is the only Savior, the only high priest, advocate, and intercessor before God [Romans 8:34]. He alone is to be prayed to. He has promised that He will hear our prayer [John 14:14]. The worship that He approves above all other is this: That we call on Him in all afflictions. “If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father” [1 John 2:1].
- Why does the Lutheran Church remember the saints and celebrate saint days?
- What does this article say about calling on (or invoking or “praying,” using Roman-Catholic terminology) the saints now in eternity?
- Does this article forbid a Lutheran from doing that?
Rome’s Response:
This article of the Confession must be utterly rejected and, in harmony with the entire Catholic Church, be condemned. For in favor of the invocation of saints we have not only the authority of the Church Catholic but also the agreement of the holy fathers, Augustine, Bernard, Jerome, Cyprian, Chrysostom, Basil, and this class of other Church teachers.
. . . we know from the Holy Scriptures that the angels pray for us. Why, then, would we deny this of the saints? “O Lord of hosts,” said the angels [“angel of the Lord” in the Hebrew], “how long will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that You have been angry with these 70 years? So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me” [Zechariah 1:12-13].
Revelation 5:8 and following: “An angel stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came up with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.” . . . since the saints are members of Christ, [1 Corinthians 12:27 and Ephesians 5:30] and conform their will to that of Christ, and see that their Head, Christ, prays for us, who can doubt that the saints do the very same thing that they see Christ doing?
- What conclusion does the Roman-Catholic response make that we did not state or imply?
Commentary
Invoking of the saints in eternity can be fraught with danger. Because of practices within the Church of Rome, our Smacald Articles say, “The invocation of the saints in also one of the abuses of the Antichrist” (SA 2, 25). Here’s why we said this, for these were the practices going on within Roman Catholicism.
- That the saints who have departed this life must be invoked.
- Because we unworthy of being heard because of our sins, the saints in heaven are our advocates and patrons.
- Because we are deficient in suitable good works, we invoke the saints that they may apply and give to us their merits, which are more than sufficient.
- We invoke the saints because we see them as givers and bestowers of benefits, both spiritual and bodily, in this life as well as in the life to come. They are helpers, preservers, guardians, and deliverers in dangers and evils, both spiritual and bodily.
- How do these practices and beliefs take away from Christ and the salvation He gives us?
- Why do you think the Roman-Catholic Church did not try to justify the above practices and simply asserted that invocation of the saints was practiced by the Church since the beginning?
But after the Roman-Catholic Church condemned us, they then assumed that we did not believe in the intercession of the saints for us who are in eternity. Rome’s primary condemnation was that we did not require invocation of the saints. Our Apology [defense] says this and states that this is as far as we can take our argument: “Scriptures does not teach the invocation of the Saints or that we are ask the saints to help us” (Ap XXI, 10).
- Discuss what you may have been taught on this subject compared to what our Confessions say.
- What is the difference between the intercession of the saints and the invocation of the saints?
Our Confessions do not require us to “invoke” the saints. That was one reason the Roman-Catholic Church was (and still is) at odds with us. Yet, nowhere does the Word of God, or our Lutheran Confessions, forbid the invocation of the saints. Therefore, properly understood, the invocation of the saints is something “neither commanded nor forbidden in God’s Word.”
- What do we call that within Lutheranism?
- What does that allow in your Christian life?
Let us use this example from our Smalcald Articles to help us understand this better:
For as a Christian and saint upon the earth you can pray for me, not only in one, but in many necessities. But for this reason I am not obliged to adore and invoke you, and celebrate festivals, fast, make oblations, hold masses for your honor, and put my faith in you for my salvation. (SA 2, 27)
- If you were to go to another Christian on earth in such a way, would that be idolatrous? Explain why.
- Would that make going to another Christian, in and of itself, wrong?
- Apply this understanding to those in the Church who are now in eternity.
James 5:16: So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
- Who makes someone righteous?
John 9:31: We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. Instead, he listens to the God-fearing and the person who does his will.
- How can anyone properly “fear” God and do his will?
- Thus, what make a person’s prayer acceptable to God?
- What happens if someone isn’t righteous, are his prayers “heard” by God?
Our Confessions stress that we are to pray in a way that does not take away from Jesus Christ or God’s role in answering our prayers.
- Discuss some ways we may use “prayer chains” that take away from God?
- Does that make prayer chains bad or just how we view and use them?
- Should we forbid prayer chains because they can be abused?
AC XXI says, “Our churches teach that we are to remember the history of the saints so that our faith may be strengthened when we see how they experienced grace and how they were sustained by faith.”
- How should this understanding shape our funeral services and sermons?
Reference Hebrews 11
- How does Hebrews 11 teach what our Confessions assert about remembering the saints?
Read Hebrews 12:1
- Why is the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us an encouragement for us to run the race of faith?
- For them to be an encouragement to us, what does that imply about what they are witnessing, that is, seeing?
Luke 15:7 [After telling the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Jesus said,] “In the same way [that the shepherd rejoiced after he had found the lost sheep], there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who have no need to repent.”
- What does Luke 15:7 say about the saints in eternity knowing about what is taking place in our lives?
- Discuss the implications of this.
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