Objection 1:
Supposed examples from scripture of invocation of angels and saints:
The most common scriptural citations support
invocation are Psalms 103, 148, and the Greek version of Daniel 3. Psalm
103:20-22 reads, “Bless the LORD, you His angels, Who excel in strength, who do
His word, Heeding the voice of His word. Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, You
ministers of His, who do His pleasure. Bless the LORD, all His works, In all
places of His dominion Bless the LORD, O my soul!” And Psalm 148;1-3 reads, “Praise
the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! Praise Him,
all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him,
all your stars of light! Praise Him, you heavens of heavens. And you waters
above the heavens!” And Theodotion’s Greek Daniel 3:58, 61, and 86 reads, “Bless
the Lord, you angels of the Lord; sing hymns, and highly exalt him forever. . .
. Bless the Lord, you ever power; sing hymns, and highly exalt him for ever. .
. . Bless the Lord, spirits and righteous souls; sing hymns, and highly exalt
him forever.”
While these verses seem to show those
on earth asking the hosts and the saints to praise God, which would be a form
of invocation, if this interpretation is followed, then those on earth are also
invoking waters above the heavens (v. 60), the sun and moon (v. 62), fire and
heat (v. 66), dew and snow (v. 68), etc. But this would most obviously be
improper. These verses profess that the entirety of creation praises and glorifies
God, not demonstrating invocation of saints. Rather than invocation, the
literary device of apostrophe is being used as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 15:55
(O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?). (Seth Kasten, Against
the Invocation of Saints: An Apology for the Protestant Doctrine of Prayer Over
and Against the Doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox Church [Royal Oak, Mich.:
Scholastic Lutherans, 2023], 88-89)
In a different context, some cite Job
5:1: “Call out now, Is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the
holy ones will you turn?” In this verse, “holy ones” likely refers to angels,
as the LXX renders it, or to saints. I reply twofold. First, this is Eliphaz
speaking, who is not holy or pious. God says to him in Job 62:7, “My wrath is
aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is
right, as My servant Job has.” How can doctrine be gathered from pagan suggestions?
Second, Eliphaz’s question is rhetorical; none will answer Job, neither the angels
nor the saints.
Some turn to 4 Maccabees 7:5-15: For
in setting his mind firm like a jutting cliff, our father Eleazar broke the
madly raging waves of the passions. O priest, worthy of the priesthood, you
neither defiled your sacred teeth nor profaned your stomach, which had room
only for godliness and purity, by eating defiling foods. O man in harmony with
the law, philosopher of divine life! Such should be those whose office is to
serve the law, shielding it with their own blood and noble sweat in sufferings
even unto death. You, father, confirmed our loyalty to the law through the
endurance that brought you glory; the sacred service that you solemnly avowed
you did not subvert, and by your deeds you corroborated your words of divine
philosophy. O aged man, more powerful than tortures, O elder, fiercer than
fire, O supreme king over passions, Eleazar! For just as our father Aaron,
armed with the censer, ran through the throng of his people and conquered the
fiery angel, so he descendant of Aaron, Eleazar, though being consumed by the
fire, remained unswaying in his reason. Indeed, what as most amazing was that,
though he was an old man, the sinews of his body already loosed, his muscles
relaxed, his nerves exhausted, he became young again in spirit through reason,
and by reason like that of Isaak he rendered the many-headed rack ineffective.
O man of blessed age, venerable gray hair and law-observant life, whom the faithful
seal of death has perfected.
Or 15:16-20: O mother, tried by pains
more bitter than even the birth pangs you suffered for them! O woman, who along
gave birth to such piety! Your firstborn breathing his last did not alter your resolution
or your second born looking at your piteously in his tortures or your third
expiring. Nor did you weep when you looked at the eyes of each one as they
gazed boldly in their tortures at the same abusive treatment or saw in their
nostrils the signs of their approaching death. When you saw the burning flesh of
children laying upon the children, severed hands upon hands, scalped heads upon
heads, corpses fallen upon corpses, and when you saw the place full of people
on account of the tortures of your children, you did not shed tears.
Or 17:2-6: O mother, who with your
seven boys subverted the strength of the tyrant, frustrated his evil designs
and showed the nobility your faith! Like a roof nobly set upon the pillars of
your boys, you endured, unmoved, the earthquake of the tortures. Take courage,
then-holy minded mother, as you keep firm your enduring hope in God. The moon in
heaven with the stars is not so awesome as you. After lighting the path to
piety for your seven star-like boys, you stand honored before God, firmly set
in heaven with them. For your childbearing was from Abraham our father.
4 Maccabees should not be considered solid
grounds for establishing novel doctrine for Lutherans or the EO, but if this is
all that is considered invocation, then we will not oppose it, for here again
we see nothing but apostrophe, which we approve. The author of 4 Maccabees does
not appear to be speaking to the mother in a real sense for in 17:2-6, h speaks
of the mother as “firmly set in heaven” yet also encourages her to “take
courage . . . as you keep firm your enduring hope n God,” but enduring hope in
God does not require courage when in heaven. The author appears to be
addressing the mother in one spot as if she were still watching the martyrdom
of her children (“take courage . . .as you keep firm your enduring hope in God”)
and later as she is now, in heaven, but the disconnect indicates that this is
not the same as speaking directly to the mother as an invocation and is instead
another use of apostrophe. This is further made obvious as the author’s
mimicking the style of Greek eulogies of his time, which frequently employed
apostrophe in the same manner. (Ibid., 90-92)
