Some Christians object to the practice of invoking the saints’ intercession because they think it takes away from the unique mediation of Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5—“There is one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ”). But those who invoke the saints counter that just because Jesus is the one mediator who “always lives to make intercession” (Heb. 7:25), that doesn’t mean he can’t share that intercessory role with his saints.
In fact, we know that Jesus shares that intercessory role with at least some of his saints: the Christians here on earth. Saints, after all, is a common word used for all Christians in the New Testament, as seen, for example, in 2 Corinthians 1:1, Ephesians 1:1, and Philippians 1:1. St. Paul urges Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:1 that “intercessions . . . be made for all men.”
Now, some Protestants might counter the above argumentation and say, “Your response misses the mark. We’re not concerned with earthlymediation taking away from Christ’s unique mediation. We’re concerned only with the claim that there are other heavenly intercessors.”
Take, for example, Jordan Cooper, a Lutheran pastor and professor of systematic theology. In his online video “A Critique of Prayer to the Saints,” he argues that the Letter to the Hebrews’ description of what’s going on before the Father in the heavenly throne room doesn’t “leave room at all for a kind of other heavenly intercession.”
There are two ways that we can respond to this argument. One is more general, which considers Cooper’s argument itself. The other is more specific to what Cooper says elsewhere in his video.
Here’s the general response. Recall that Cooper’s argument says there can be no other heavenly intercessor because that role belongs to Jesus alone, who has ascended into the heavenly sanctuary to minister as our high priest. But isn’t the Holy Spirit a heavenly intercessor also? Paul says he is:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (Rom. 8:26-27).
Must we deny Paul’s teaching that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in heaven? Cooper’s logic would have us say yes.
Now, Cooper might counter, “Of course the Holy Spirit can intercede for us because he’s God. The heavenly intercession that I’m concerned with is creaturely intercession.”
But if creaturely intercession in heaven is the problem, then we’d have to reject the heavenly intercession of the elders in Revelation 5:8 and the angel in Revelation 8:3-4. Here’s what John sees in Revelation 5:8:
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
In Revelation 8:3-4, John describes an angel doing the same thing:
And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God.
The “prayers of the saints” in both passages refers to Christians on earth. And the elders and the angel are presenting their prayers to the Lamb, Jesus, in the heavenly throne room. That’s heavenly intercession, performed by creatures.
If the elders in Revelation 5:8 and the angel in Revelation 8:3-4 can be heavenly intercessors without taking away from Christ’s unique mediation as our heavenly high priest, then so can the saints. There is in fact enough “room” in the heavenly throne room for multiple intercessors, especially when those other intercessors intercede with Christ in virtue of their union with Christ through grace.
Now, concerning our more specific response, Cooper contradicts himself in his video. In the above argument, he restricts any and all heavenly intercession to Christ. Yet, later in the video, when commenting on the elders in Revelation 5:8, he concedes that they intercede for us in a general way, saying, “Certainly they are before God; it is likely that the saints in heaven pray for the church.” Which is it? Is it Christ alone who intercedes in the heavenly throne room, or do the elders intercede as well? That’s something for Cooper to answer.
In the end, Cooper’s objection to the appropriateness of invoking the saints in heaven fails. Jesus’ unique mediation in the heavenly sanctuary does not exclude other heavenly intercessors, like the saints. As members of his mystical body, the saints share in such heavenly mediation and thereby are made our heavenly allies.
***This article was originally published by Catholic Answers Magazine Online on March 14, 2024.