Monday, August 28, 2023

Seth Kasten (Lutheran): Supposed examples from scripture of invocation of angels and saints

  

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)