Praying to the “Saints”
The awful corruption exhibited in the worship of the Church of Rome extends to the adoration of images (which was noted in a previous comment) and also to praying to the “saints” and to venerating their relics. It is important that Protestants have an intelligent understanding of the biblical reasons why such practices are idolatrous and why, consequently, any participation in Romish worship is sinful.
The English theologian Edward Stillingfleet (1635-1699) responded to the popish argument that Revelation 5:8 is a reference to the saints making on-going intercession in heaven. He maintained that the prayers of the saints mentioned there refers to their prayers on earth, not to any ongoing intercession in heaven.1
Stillingfleet also dealt with the suggestion that praying to the saints in heaven is no different from requesting a believer on earth to pray on one’s behalf. He noted that requesting prayer from a Christian on earth involves no danger of believing that they are in a position to grant the blessing we desire, whereas invoking the “saints” in heaven may very readily lead to the false idea that they actually have the power to bestow such blessings as might be requested. This is to attribute divine powers to mere creatures and, when introduced into services of worship, makes such worship idolatrous. While Rome professes not to hold such a view, in practice it encourages that very thing. Rome teaches that departed believers are “mediators of intercession”
1Stillingfleet, The Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome Truly Represented, Edinburgh 1845, pp. 81-91.
but not “mediators of redemption”. It is this subtle and unbiblical distinction which Roman Catholics use to justify including the names of “saints” in their prayers while they are professing to call upon God.
In his notes on Stillingfleet’s work, William Cunningham refers to the Romanist dogma that God grants spiritual blessings through the merits and grace of the saints. This deadly teaching not only leads to idolatrous worship; it entirely subverts the scheme of salvation through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. The Word of God unambiguously asserts that there is “one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5) and that “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” but that of Christ (Acts 4:12). (AWM)