--- title: Prayer to Jesus in the New Testament url: https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/prayer-to-jesus/ markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/prayer-to-jesus.md type: argument perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching topics: [Deity of Christ] challenges: [Jesus Is a Created Being] verses: [Acts 7:59, Revelation 22:20, 2 Corinthians 12:8, Psalms 31:5, Luke 23:46, 1 Timothy 2:5, 1 Corinthians 1:2, John 14:14, Acts 7:54] strength: Very Strong tone: Excellent attribution: James White / Robert Bowman / Greg Koukl added: '2026-04-01' last_reviewed: '2026-04-01' index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt --- # Prayer to Jesus in the New Testament *Acts 7:59, Revelation 22:20, 2 Corinthians 12:8* ## Doorstep Question > "If Jesus is not God, why do we find Christians praying to him in the New Testament? Stephen prays to Jesus as he dies. John says 'Come, Lord Jesus.' Paul pleads with Jesus about his thorn. If this is idolatry, why does the Bible record it approvingly?" ## JW Claim Prayer belongs only to Jehovah. Praying to anyone else is idolatry. Christians should pray to Jehovah through Jesus, not to Jesus himself. ## Strategy Present the pattern across multiple authors and contexts: (1) Stephen's dying prayer — your NWT of Acts 7:59 says he 'said: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."' This echoes Psalm 31:5 where David says 'Into your hand I entrust my spirit' — addressed to Jehovah. Stephen redirected a Jehovah- prayer to Jesus. (2) John's prayer — Revelation 22:20, even in the NWT, ends with 'Come, Lord Jesus' — a direct invocation. (3) Paul's prayer — 2 Corinthians 12:8 in the NWT says Paul 'three times entreated the Lord' and the response mentions 'the power of the Christ' — Paul prayed to Jesus specifically. Three different authors, three different contexts, same practice. If Jesus is a creature, this is systemic idolatry in Scripture. ## Key Insight Stephen, Paul, and John all prayed to Jesus. If Jesus is not God, the New Testament records and approves of idolatry. The only alternative is that Jesus is worthy of prayer — which means he is God. ## JW Responses & Counters ### Response 1 **JW says:** "Stephen was just making a request, not a formal prayer." **Counter:** Your NWT says Stephen 'made appeal' (Acts 7:59) — that is prayer language. He addressed Jesus directly, asked Jesus to receive his spirit, and then asked Jesus to forgive his killers (v60). Compare with Jesus' own dying words in Luke 23:46 — 'Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.' Stephen said the same thing but to Jesus. If entrusting your spirit to someone at death is not prayer, what is? ### Response 2 **JW says:** "We pray to Jehovah through Jesus — Jesus is the mediator, not the recipient." **Counter:** 1 Timothy 2:5 does call Jesus our mediator — but mediation doesn't exclude direct prayer. Paul directly entreated Jesus in 2 Corinthians 12:8, and Jesus personally answered him. Revelation 22:20 says 'Come, Lord Jesus' — that is addressed to Jesus, not through Jesus. The early Christians clearly prayed both through Jesus and to Jesus. Your own NWT preserves all of these texts. ### Response 3 **JW says:** "These are exceptions — the normal pattern is praying to Jehovah." **Counter:** Even one approved prayer to a creature would be a violation of the first commandment. But this is not one exception — it is a consistent pattern across Stephen (Acts 7:59), Paul (2 Corinthians 12:8), John (Revelation 22:20), and the entire church at Corinth described as 'those calling on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Corinthians 1:2). That is not an exception; it is standard Christian practice recorded in Scripture. ## What to Avoid Don't argue that Christians should never pray to the Father. Of course we do. The point is that prayer to Jesus also appears in Scripture without correction — and that only makes sense if Jesus is God. ## Homework Read Acts 7:54-60 until you can retell Stephen's death from memory, then set Psalm 31:5 and Luke 23:46 beside verse 59 so you can show how Stephen entrusts his spirit to Jesus with words first addressed to Jehovah. Look up the other two prayers in the NWT yourself: "Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20) and Paul's threefold entreaty in 2 Corinthians 12:8-9. Practise the doorstep question aloud, naming all three authors. Then rehearse the likely reply that Jesus is the mediator, not the one prayed to, with 1 Timothy 2:5 and 1 Corinthians 1:2 ready. ## Next Moves - [Call Upon the Name of the Lord Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/call-upon-name.md) - [Jesus Receives Worship](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/worship-of-jesus.md)