For every prayer, and supplication,and intercession, and thanksgiving, is to be sent up to the Supreme God through the High Priest, who is above all the angels, the living Word and God. And to the Word Himself shall we also pray and make intercessions,and offer thanksgivings and supplications to Him, if we have the capacity of distinguishing between the proper use and abuse of prayer.
Origen, Contra Cel. Lib. 5, Chap. 4, Scaff ANF Vol. 4, p. 1257
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.vi.ix.v.iv.html
But if we accept prayer in its full meaning,we may not ever pray to any begotten being, not even to Christ himself, but only to the God and Father of All to whom our Savior both prayed himself, as we have already instanced, and teaches us to pray.Origen, Prayer, Chap. 9, CCEL Origen on Prayer
Origen on Our Object of Prayer by Mark Xu, ed. Drake Wednesday, Feb 6 2013
Theology Proper and Triadology 6:33 am
Forgive me if all this old news to you but here are some reasons why I think the Bible teaches we can pray to Jesus.
The NT seems to allow prayers to be offered to Jesus. For example, 1 Cor. 1:1-2 says, “..together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.” The phrase “calling on the name of” was a Semitic phrase used to designate an act of worship and prayer to a deity (cf. Acts 22:16). Paul petitioned the Lord Jesus three times to remove his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:8, Paul “besought the Lord”). Jesus then responded to Paul’s prayer and said that his (i.e. Jesus’) strength was sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9). In a benediction in 2 Thess. 2:16-17 Paul makes a requests of Jesus (and of the Father) (see also 1 Thess. 3:11-14). Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59) as Jesus did to the Father (Luke 23:46), and as David did to God (Ps. 31:5). Ananias says, “Here I am, Lord” (Acts 9:10) when Jesus calls his name similar to how Samuel did (1 Sam. 3:10). Ananias procedes to pray to Jesus (Acts 9:13-14) and reminds Jesus that Paul was persecuting “all who call on your name [i.e. Jesus’ name]” (Acts 9:14). The writer of Revelation prays the very last prayer in the NT when he prays, “Even so come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20). It’s interesting that it doesn’t say, “Father, may your Son come.” Paul uses the Aramaic expression “Maranatha” in 1 Cor. 16:22 which is interpreted in various ways. One way is to interpret it as a petition to Jesus meaning “Come, O Lord [Jesus].” In John 14:12-14 Jesus seems to clearly teach that we can pray to Him. Verse 14 says, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (ESV). The Greek manuscripts used to translate the KJV doesn’t have the word “me” in it, but the better manuscripts include the word “me”. If we include the word “me” in the verse, it clearly teaches that we can pray to Jesus with petitions. Alluding to Joel 2:32 (which uses the divine name YHWH), the NT encourages us to “call on the name of the Lord” who is, in this case, Jesus (Rom. 10:13). Calling on someone in this way for spiritual deliverance is understood to be invoking and praying to a deity. Since Joel 2:32 is originally in reference to the one true God YHWH, isn’t Paul indentifying Jesus as YHWH? In Eph. 5:19 it says Christians should be “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart…” The “Lord” there is seem to be Jesus. In Jewish context, the singing of psalms and hymns is an act of worship and prayer to the supreme deity, therefore it implies that Jesus is the true God. I say that even though the next verse (admittedly) says this should be done with thanksgiving to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Col. 3:16). A song is sung to the Lamb apparently as an act of prayerful worship in Rev. 5:9-10 and many scholars argue that Phil. 2:6-11 is a quotation of an early hymn written to and sung about Jesus. James teaches that if anyone is sick the elders of the church should anoint the sick person with oil “in the name of the *Lord* ” and if the prayer of faith is offered up then “the *Lord* will raise him up”. The context seems to be that of prayer to Jesus similar to how Peter said, “…Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” (Acts 9:34). Finally, a case could be made that in Acts 1:24-25 Jesus is the “Lord” being prayed to for determining Judas’ replacement (see Robert Bowman’s book Putting Jesus in His Place for the argument).
“…an early hymn written to and sung about Jesus.” should be:
“…an early hymn written ABOUT and sung TO Jesus.”
“The NT seems to allow prayers to be offered to Jesus. For example, 1 Cor. 1:1-2 says, “..together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.”
>>>An invocation is not a prayer. https://eternalpropositions.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/how-then-should-we-pray-case-studies-in-nicene-triadology-vs-thomistic-and-van-tillian-sabellianism/
“The phrase “calling on the name of” was a Semitic phrase used to designate an act of worship and prayer to a deity (cf. Acts 22:16).”
>>>That is not the way it is used in the Bible or in historic Reformed Theology. That phrase pertains to covenanting with the Lord.
Rutherford says in Covenant of Life 298-299,
“Hence, Arg. 9. from the suite he bids his Son aske, which he will grant, Psal. 2.8. Aske of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession Psal. 89.26. He shall cry unto me, thou art my Father, my God and the Rock of my salvation. 27. Also I will make him my firstborn, higher then the Kings of the earth. 28. My mercy will I keep for him for ever,&c. If God say to us, call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will hear thee: This argues a Covenant that God shall hear, if we pray; Then it sayes, if Christ the Mediatour shall pray, he shall be heard and prospered with successe in his work.”
The passage that the Westminster Confession uses to prove that profession enters one into the visible Church is 1 Cor 1:2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. It has also been used by the Scottish Churches to show that this profession is indicative of becoming a member of the Covenant Of Grace as we are given Old Testament precedence.
“Paul petitioned the Lord Jesus three times to remove his thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:8, Paul “besought the Lord”).”
>>>The word kyrios is used numerous times for the Father in the NT. Mat 4:10 et al.
“Jesus then responded to Paul’s prayer and said that his (i.e. Jesus’) strength was sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9).”
>>>It doesn’t say that. It says that the Lord responded to him and then he says that the power of Christ dwells in him. You know very well that the works and energies of the divine persons are connected. Just because they are connected does not mean they are to be conflated into a single Sabellian subject.
“In a benediction in 2 Thess. 2:16-17 Paul makes a requests of Jesus (and of the Father) (see also 1 Thess. 3:11-14).”
>>>That is your imposition on the text. First, it doesn’t say that. A prayer is not the same thing as a benediction. Oh the rapacious tendency of the Sabellian for conflation.
“Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59)”
>>>I already answered this in the link above.
“Ananias says, “Here I am, Lord” (Acts 9:10) when Jesus calls his name similar to how Samuel did (1 Sam. 3:10).”
>>>You are getting desperate are you not? There in nothing of prayer in this entire context.
“Ananias procedes to pray to Jesus (Acts 9:13-14) and reminds Jesus that Paul was persecuting “all who call on your name [i.e. Jesus’ name]” (Acts 9:14).”
>>>Notice there is no mention of prayer and he is making a statement to Jesus. This is conversation not a prayer.
“The writer of Revelation prays the very last prayer in the NT when he prays, “Even so come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).”
>>>A resolution is not a prayer.
“It’s interesting that it doesn’t say, “Father, may your Son come.”
>>>Isn’t it interesting that Jesus, when asked how we ought to pray explicitly commands us to pray to the Father and commands nothing else? Mat 6. This would have been a perfect opportunity for him to make the Bible as impossible as you are trying to make it.
“In John 14:12-14 Jesus seems to clearly teach that we can pray to Him. Verse 14 says, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (ESV). The Greek manuscripts used to translate the KJV doesn’t have the word “me” in it, but the better manuscripts include the word “me”.”
>>>Desperate indeed. The statement you want to be the real one has a fundamental contradiction in it. You don’t come to a person in the name of that same person.
“If we include the word “me” in the verse, it clearly teaches that we can pray to Jesus with petitions.”
>>>Sure and that would mean that the Son is the same person as the Father as mediation has now been transformed into a relation within a single subject instead of a go between. A go mediator requires at least three different subjects. The two parties who need to be reconciled and a third subject who comes or acts in the name of another subject. You make the Covenant of Grace to have no mediator.
“invoking and praying.”
>>>See. You even make the conflation in exact words. Covenanting is not the same thing as praying.
“Since Joel 2:32 is originally in reference to the one true God YHWH, isn’t Paul indentifying Jesus as YHWH?”
>>>I have already exposed your Sabellian use of YHWH.
“In Eph. 5:19 it says Christians should be “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart…” The “Lord” there is seem to be Jesus. In Jewish context, the singing of psalms and hymns is an act of worship and prayer to the supreme deity, therefore it implies that Jesus is the true God. I say that even though the next verse (admittedly) says this should be done with thanksgiving to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Col. 3:16). A song is sung to the Lamb apparently as an act of prayerful worship in Rev. 5:9-10 and many scholars argue that Phil. 2:6-11 is a quotation of an early hymn written to and sung about Jesus.”
>>>There is no such thing as a hymn singing scholar. Chapter 26 of my Systematic Theology deals with this issue. The hymns mentioned in Col 3 and Eph 5 are psalms. Greg Price and Brian Schwertly have ripped these ideas to shreds. Schwertly deals with this in his A Brief Examination of Exclusive Psalmody, in the Sections “The Hymns of the Apocalypse” and “What About the Alleged Hymnic Fragments in the New Testament?”.
“James teaches that if anyone is sick the elders of the church should anoint the sick person with oil “in the name of the *Lord* ” and if the prayer of faith is offered up then “the *Lord* will raise him up”. The context seems to be that of prayer to Jesus similar to how Peter said, “…Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” (Acts 9:34). Finally, a case could be made that in Acts 1:24-25 Jesus is the “Lord” being prayed to for determining Judas’ replacement (see Robert Bowman’s book Putting Jesus in His Place for the argument).”
>>>You have the whole structure of salvation upside down even though you admit that the structure of our approach to God is to the Father through the Son.
You have still not answered how this practice does not support the belief in three gods.