Announcement

Collapse

JW - Watchtower Society Guidelines

Theists only.

Knock, Knock!

This forum is a debate area to discuss issues pertaining to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (the Jehovah's Witnesses). This forum is generally for theists only, and is not the area for debate between atheists and theists. Non-theist may not post here without first obtaining permission from the moderator of this forum. Granting of such permission is subject to Moderator discretion - and may be revoked if the Moderator feels that the poster is not keeping with the spirit of the World Regligions Department.


Atheists are welcome to discuss and debate these issues in the Apologetics 301 forum without such restrictions.

Forum Rules: [urlhttp://theologyweb.com/campus/help#theologywebfaq/theologywebdecorum]Here[/url]
See more
See less

Call upon the name of the Lord - Prayers to the Lord Jesus

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Call upon the name of the Lord - Prayers to the Lord Jesus

    A. The Jehovah's Witnesses believe the Lord Jesus is not God and so therefore should never be worshiped.
    1. Reverent adoration should be expressed only to God. To render worship to anyone or anything else would be a form of idolatry...True Christians do well to direct their worship only to Jehovah God, the Almighty (Awake! April 8, 2000, page 26+27). Since "every prayer is a form of worship" (The Watchtower, December 15, 1994, page 23) this would mean that praying to the Lord Jesus is not allowed.

    B. To "call upon the name of the Lord" always meant prayer/worship rendered unto God in the Old Testament.
    1. Exalt the LORD our God And worship at His footstool; Holy is He. Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called on His name; They called upon the LORD and He answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the statute that He gave them. O LORD our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, And yet an avenger of their evil deeds. Exalt the LORD our God And worship at His holy hill, For holy is the LORD our God (Psalm 99:5-9, NASB).
    2. Then I called upon the name of the LORD: "O LORD, I beseech You, save my life!" (Psalm 116:4, NASB)
    3. I called on Your name, O LORD, Out of the lowest pit. You have heard my voice, "Do not hide Your ear from my prayer for relief, From my cry for help." You drew near when I called on You; You said, "Do not fear!" (Lamentations 3:55-57, NASB)

    C. This same phrase is applied to the Lord Jesus thereby proving that He is to be prayed to/worshiped. Many of the sources I have cited where other passages are mentioned will appear in 1 Corinthians 1:2.

    In Luke:
    D. Acts 7:59
    They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"
    Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep (Acts 7:59-60, NASB).
    Although the first "Lord" does not appear in the Greek text I have included this prayer along with the others.
    1. Danker: Just as Israel was to understand her role as one of obedience to the God who saved her, so the Christian is to see the moral and ethical implications of this recognition of Christ's claim to ownership expressed so often in such a phrase as "Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus." Out of such conviction the iron of steadfast confession was smelted. As the stones came flying at Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." (Acts 7:59) (Creeds in the Bible, page 45, c. 1966).
    2. TDNT Stephen prays: kurie Iesou dezai to pneuma mou (Ac.7:59) (5:771, paradeisos, Joachim Jeremias).
    3. Mounce: Jesus is the addressee when epikalew is used in the sense of praying (Acts 7:59) (Mounce's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Call, page 93).
    4. Robertson: {They stoned} (eliqoboloun). Same verb and tense repeated, they kept on stoning, they kept it up as he was calling upon the Lord Jesus and making direct prayer to him as "Lord Jesus" (kurie iesou)
    http://www.godrules.net/library/robert/robertact7.htm
    5. Vincent: An unquestionable prayer to Christ.
    http://www.godrules.net/library/vincent/vincentact7.htm
    6. Vine: Prayer is properly addressed to God the Father, Matt. 6:6; John 16:23; Eph. 1:17; 3:14, and the Son, Acts 7:59; 2 Cor. 12:8 (Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, Prayer, page 872).
    7. Bruce: This is surely an early, if tacit, testimony to the Christian belief in our Lord's essential deity (The Book of the Acts, page 171).
    8. David Peterson: But he pointedly 'calls upon' the Lord Jesus in prayer instead of the Father, trusting him for salvation through death and beyond. Thus, he articulates his belief in the divinity of Christ. Then 'he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them". Jesus prayed to the Father that those crucified him might be forgiven (Lk. 23:34), and Stephen prays for the forgiveness of those stoning him, once again addressing Jesus as Lord (Pillar New Testament Commentary, Acts, page 269).
    9. The prayer offered by Stephen when he was being martyred is recorded at Acts 7:59, 60 (The Watchtower, February 1, 1959, page 96)

    E. Acts 9:14, 21; 22:16
    And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name (Acts 9:14, KJV).
    All those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, "Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?"(Acts 9:21, NASB).
    'Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.' (Acts 22:16, NASB).
    1. Joseph Alexander: not those who are called (or call themselves) by thy name, which would be otherwise expressed, as in ch. 15, 17 below; but those who invoke thee, call upon thee for help and protection, and recognize thee as an object of worship. This is the true sense of the phrase in Greek as well as Hebrew, and may be distinctly traced in the usage of both Testaments. (See above, on 2, 21. 7, 59, and compare the Septuagint version of Gen. 13,4. Deut. 32, 3. Ps. 98, 6. Joel 2, 32) (Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Acts 9:14, page 366).
    2. Joseph Alexander: Those invoking this name, i.e. in their prayers or worship, which had now become a distinctive mark, and therefore an expressive designation, of all believers or disciples. (See above, on 2, 21. 7, 59. 9, 14.) (Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Acts 9:21, page 372).
    3. Joseph Alexander: invoking it in worship, recognizing Christ's divinity and sovereignty, as an indispensable prerequisite of baptism. (See above, on 2, 21. 7, 59. 9, 14. 21.) (Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Acts 22:16, page 764).
    4. Paton Gloag: Evidently Christ, as being the Person mentioned directly before and after; not God (Grotius). This is one of those incidental proofs of the divinity of Christ which continually occur in the sacred narrative. He was the object of Christian worship; and hence Christians are represented as those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:2) (The Acts of the Apostles, Acts 22:16, Volume 2, page 294).
    5. Whedon: Call on thy name—A clear declaration that the very peculiarity of the Christian was praying to Jesus. (Acts 9:14)
    http://www.studylight.org/com/whe/view.cgi?bk=43&ch=9

  • #2
    In Paul:

    F. Romans 10:13
    For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13, KJV).
    1. NIDNTT: Under "The name of Jesus" (Part "a")
    Whoever calls on the name of the Lord belongs to the church (Acts 9:14, 1 Cor. 1:2) and is saved (Acts 2:17-21; Rom. 10:13; cf. Joel 2:32) (2:654, Name, H. Bietenhard).
    2. NIDNTT: Under "General prayer" (Romans 10:12ff. is listed (Marc) (2:874, Prayer, H. Schonweiss, C. Brown).
    3. There are verses in the Hebrew Scriptures about Jehovah that are quoted in the “New Testament” in a context speaking about the Son. (Isa. 40:3—Matt. 3:3—John 1:23; Joel 2:32 - Rom. 10:13; Ps. 45:6, 7—Heb. 1:8, 9) This is understandable, for Jesus was the Father’s foremost representative (The Watchtower, May 1, 1978, page 12).

    G. 1 Corinthians 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 (1 Corinthians 1:2, NASB).
    1. Danker: Citing Acts 2:21; 7:59; 9:14, 21; Romans 10:13; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Timothy 2:22: to call upon deity for any purpose to call upon, call out (A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, epikalew, page 373).
    2. NIDNTT: categorizes 1 Corinthians 1:2 epikaluew (call upon) under (#10) "General prayer" (NIDNTT 2:874, Prayer, H. Schonweiss, C. Brown).
    3. TDNT: What is said of the kurios in the OT is said of the Kurios Iesous Christos in the NT. In some verses the object of epikaleisthai is God the Father (Ac. 2:21; 1 Pt. 1:17; and 2 C. 1:23 is almost a prayer); but in other verses it is God the Son (Ac. 7:59; 9:14, 21; 22:16; R. 10:12-14; 1 C. 1:2; 2 Tm. 2:22) (3:500, epikalew, K.L. Schmidt).
    4. Robertson and Plummer: This goes back to Joel 2.32, and involves the thought of faith, the common bond of all. See Rom. 10.12, 13. Here, as there, St. Paul significantly brings in the worship of Christ under the O.T. formula for worship addressed to the LORD God of Israel. To be a believer is to worship Christ (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, page 3).
    5. Thayer: Citing 1 Corinthians 1:2: epikaloumai to onoma tou kuriou, I call upon (on my behalf) the name of the Lord, i.e. to invoke, adore, worship, the Lord, i.e. Christ (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, epikalew, page 239).
    6. Vincent: Call upon the name (epikaloumenoiv to onoma). Compare Romans x. 12; Acts ii. 21. The formula is from the Septuagint. See Zech. xiii. 9; Gen. xii. 8; xiii. 4; Psalm cxv. 17. It is used of worship, and here implies prayer to Christ. The first christian prayer recorded as heard by Saul of Tarsus, was Stephen's prayer to Christ, Acts vii. 59. The name of Christ occurs nine times in the first nine verses of this epistle.
    http://www.godrules.net/library/vinc...ncent1cor1.htm
    7. R.T. France: It is striking first to note the 'definition' of Christians in 1 Corinthians 1:2 as 'those who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ'. Not only does the phrase itself indicate that prayer to Jesus was a normal and distinguishing characteristic of Christians in the 50's, but 'to call on the name of the Lord' is a regular OT formula for worship and prayer offered to God (Gen. 4:26, 13:4; Ps. 105:1; Jer. 10:25; Joel 2:32, etc.) ("The Worship of Jesus - A Neglected Factor In Christological Debate?", Vox Evangelica 12, c.1981, pages 19-33 -> The quote here appears on page 28 under 3. "The Letters of Paul").
    8. Spicq: "Let every tongue proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord," that is, God. Such is the object of faith profession and worship: "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." Henceforth, Christians are those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, who worship his divine majesty and implore his sovereign protection (Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, Lord, 2:350).
    9. Alford: The phrase "to call upon the name of the Lord," was one adopted from the Joel 2.32; the adjunct our Lord Jesus Christ, defines that Lord (Jehovah) on whom the Christians called, to be Jesus Christ, - and is a direct testimony to the divine worship of Jesus Christ, as universal in the Church (The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, page 136).
    10. Easton Illustrated Bible Dictionary: To cry for help, hence to pray (Genesis 4:26). Thus men are said to "call upon the name of the Lord" (Acts 2:21; 7:59; 9:1 ; Romans 10:12; 1 Corinthians 1:2).
    http://www.studylight.org/dic/ebd/view.cgi?n=694
    11. For a detailed read see Alexander MacLaren
    http://www.preceptaustin.org/1_corin...n_1.htm#cotn52
    12. Stephen J. Wellum: John Stott nicely summarizes this evidence when he writes: "Nobody can call himself a Christian who does not worship Jesus. To worship him, if he is not God, is idolatry; to withhold worship from him, if he is, is apostasy." In addition to the worship and devotion Jesus receives, he is also the addressee in prayer (Acts 1:24-25; 7:59-60; 9:10, 13; 22:17-19; 1 Cor. 1:2; 16:22; 2 Cor. 12:8; Rev. 22:20) and the object of saving faith (The Deity of Christ, page 142).
    Footnote #106 for Stott: John R. W. Stott, The Authentic Jesus (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1985), 34.
    *This passage demonstrates that if a person never worships the Lord Jesus as God then they are not a Christian.

    H. 2 Timothy 2:22
    Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:22, NASB).
    1. Henry: See the character of Christians: they are such as call on the Lord Jesus Christ, out of a pure heart. Observe, Christ is to be prayed to. It is the character of all Christians that they call upon him; but our prayers to God and Christ are not acceptable nor successful except they come out of a pure heart.
    http://www.studylight.org/com/mhm/view.cgi?bk=54&ch=2
    2. Alford: those who call upon the Lord (Christ, see 1 Corinthians 1:2) out of a pure heart (Greek Testament Exegetical Critical Commentary)
    http://www.studylight.org/com/hac/view.cgi?bk=54&ch=2
    3. TDNT: Calling on the Lord from a pure heart (2 Tm. 2:22) is the same as worship with a clear conscience (2 Tm. 1:3). In the formal speech of the Pastorals the pure conscience is the total standing of the Christian. This is particularly plain when the difference between the life of the Christian and that of the heretic is formulated in compendious confessions (7:918, sunoida, Maurer).
    Two points worth noting:
    1. Calling on the Lord Jesus from a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:22) is the same as worshipping God with a clear conscience (2 Timothy 1:3). The Greek word for "serve" in 2 Timothy 1:3 is latreuo. The same kind of worship (the rendering of latreuo) that is to be given to God is to be afforded to the Son.
    2. The Christian is one who worships the Lord Jesus as God while the heretic is one who denies such actions to Him as God.

    I. The Jehovah's Witnesses belief that the Lord Jesus is not to be worshiped runs contrary to the fact that on several occasions to "call upon the name of the Lord" applies to the Lord Jesus.
    Last edited by foudroyant; 06-25-2014, 10:35 AM.

    Comment


    • #3
      My God is not the stickler that your God is.

      My God knows my heart, and does not require me to address him in a specific format.

      I really wish you'd quit trying to force God into your own mold.
      The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

      Comment


      • #4
        I'm not sure what you mean in your second sentence.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by foudroyant View Post
          I'm not sure what you mean in your second sentence.
          You're a legalist to the extreme.
          The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

          Comment


          • #6
            A) Do you think anybody really READS this stuff?
            2) Do you think anybody really CARES?

            C) How bout summing up whatever it is you're trying to say in one or two sentences?
            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
              You're a legalist to the extreme.
              You make an accusation (without supporting proof) I then ask you for your proof and you respond by this.
              Last edited by foudroyant; 05-25-2014, 01:29 AM.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by foudroyant View Post
                You make an accusation (without spporting proof) I then ask you for your proof and you respond by this.
                What the heck are you even SAYING?!?!?! Do you have a POINT? Let's start there.
                The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                Comment


                • #9
                  See Post #4.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by foudroyant View Post
                    See Post #4.
                    I'd rather you just sum up what it is you're trying to say. I'm beginning to think you don't know --- that you just drone on and on.
                    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      In Post #3
                      You asserted that God does not require you to address him in a specific format.
                      Then you told me that you wished I would stop trying to force God in my own mold.

                      You made the accusations so I am asking for the proof of your claims.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by foudroyant View Post
                        In Post #3
                        You asserted that God does not require you to address him in a specific format.
                        Then you told me that you wished I would stop trying to force God in my own mold.

                        You made the accusations so I am asking for the proof of your claims.
                        And I'm considering the possibility that I simply MISSED your actual point in your extreme verbosity, so I'm asking for clarification.

                        Do you KNOW what point you were trying to make?
                        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Then why would you accuse someone of forcing God into their own mold to begin with? Wouldn't it be wiser simply to ask for clarification before making the accusation?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by foudroyant View Post
                            Then why would you accuse someone of forcing God into their own mold to begin with? Wouldn't it be wiser simply to ask for clarification before making the accusation?
                            I'm asking NOW... why is it so hard for you just to summarize what you were trying to say into an actual premise?

                            I think you're just proving my point!
                            The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              You should apologize first for making the accusation without proof.

                              Comment

                              widgetinstance 221 (Related Threads) skipped due to lack of content & hide_module_if_empty option.
                              Working...
                              X