Who should we pray to: the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit?

PrayerIn theological review

The short answer

Pray normally to the Father, in the name of the Son, with the help of the Holy Spirit, because that is the pattern Jesus himself taught. Praying to Jesus is also biblical, as Stephen did while he was dying. The New Testament gives no example of prayer addressed to the Spirit, whose own work is to help us pray to God.

The fuller answer

The normal pattern of Christian prayer is simple to state. Jesus taught his disciples to address God as Father, and the Lord's Prayer begins that way. Most prayers in the New Testament follow that pattern: thanks and requests carried to the Father. That is not a cold rule about protocol. It is the privilege Jesus won for his people, that they may come to God the way he came to God, as children to a Father who already knows and loves them. That pattern also shapes the church's gathered prayers, its hymns, its table graces and the words said at gravesides and bedsides.

So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

Matthew 6:9 (BSB)

Praying to Jesus himself is also found in Scripture, and no one should be scolded for it. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, prayed directly to the risen Lord as the stones fell, asking him to receive his spirit and to forgive his killers. Jesus also told his disciples that whatever they asked in his name, he would do it. A child of God who cries out to Jesus in trouble, in worship or in gratitude is doing what believers have done since the first generation of the church.

While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Acts 7:59 (BSB)

The Holy Spirit's place in prayer is different, and it is worth seeing clearly. Paul says the Spirit helps us in our weakness and intercedes for us when we do not know what to pray. The New Testament shows the Spirit guiding, speaking and being worshipped as God, but it gives no prayer addressed to him. His glad work in prayer is the opposite direction: he brings our faltering words to the Father and makes them more than we could make them ourselves.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.

Romans 8:26 (BSB)

So do not tie yourself in knots over the address on the envelope. Pray to the Father as Jesus taught, in Jesus' name and by the Spirit's help. Thank Jesus, sing to Jesus, cry to Jesus when you need him near, as Stephen did. And trust that the Spirit is already at work inside your weakest prayer. God is one, and Father, Son and Spirit are not rivals for your attention. The pattern is a gift for clarity, not a test you can fail.

Sources

Berean Standard Bible (BSB)

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What is the Trinity?The Trinity is the Christian confession that there is one God, and that this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons, each fully God, equal in power and glory. The word itself is not in the Bible. The reality is taught everywhere in it, and the church forged the word to protect what the Bible says from being flattened in either direction.Who is the Holy Spirit?The Holy Spirit is God himself, the third person of the Trinity, not a force, a feeling, or God's power in the abstract. He is there at creation, hovering over the waters. He speaks, teaches, and can be lied to, and when Peter confronts Ananias he says the lie told to the Holy Spirit was a lie told to God.How should I pray?Simply, honestly, and to the Father, in the pattern Jesus gave. His own prayer starts with God's name, kingdom, and will, and only then asks for daily bread, forgiveness, and protection. Prayer is not a performance or a formula. It is talking to a Father who sees in secret, at whatever length the moment actually needs.Should we pray to the Holy Spirit?The Bible's own pattern is prayer directed mainly to the Father, through the Son, by the help of the Spirit, and no New Testament prayer is addressed directly to the Holy Spirit. Jesus taught his disciples to ask the Father in his name, and Paul describes the Spirit helping believers pray rather than receiving their prayers. Addressing the Spirit is therefore not the biblical pattern, though he is fully God and Christians have sometimes spoken to him in historic hymns and liturgy.What does praying in Jesus' name mean?Praying in Jesus' name means coming to the Father on Jesus' authority and in line with his character and purposes, not adding a magic phrase to the end of a request. It is praying as someone who belongs to him, asking for what he could put his name to. The words matter less than the standing and the direction they describe.Bible Character: StephenThe first martyr of the church: one of the Seven chosen to serve the widows, full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, who traced Israel's history to the council's face, saw heaven opened, and died praying for his killers.Bible Character: JesusThe Son of God, born of Mary in Bethlehem, who preached the kingdom of God, was crucified for our sins according to the Scriptures, and was raised on the third day.Answer the question20 flashcards on the questions these answers raise.Can you answer?15 questions, each with its reason and its source.