Why shouldn’t we pray to the Holy Spirit?

God/Jesus Christ

18With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints,

– Ephesians 6:18

20But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

– Jude 1:20

26Now in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

– Romans 8:26-27
(NASB® © 2020)

  • Question

It is often said that praying to the Holy Spirit is not in accordance with Scripture. Why not? Isn’t the Holy Spirit just as much God as the Father and the Son?

Answer

Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit is a person of the Godhead, is God. And when we address God as such in our prayers, without referring to a specific person in the Godhead, the Holy Spirit is included along with the Father and the Son. However, the New Testament does not speak of praying to the Holy Spirit, but rather of praying in the Holy Spirit, that is, in His power (cf. Eph 6:18; Jude 20; Rom 8:26-27).

On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came to earth as the seal of Christ’s accomplished work of redemption. Since then, all believers have been baptized into one Spirit and one body (1 Cor. 12:13), so that together they form the temple of God, in which the Spirit of God dwells (1 Cor. 3:16-27). He also dwells in the body of each individual believer (1 Cor. 6:19). These are all immeasurable privileges that also touch upon our subject. Ephesians 2 shows that through this (or: in this) one Spirit we have access to the Father (Eph. 2:18). The Spirit of God, therefore, enables us to exercise the privilege of approaching the Father in our prayers. We possess this privilege “through him,” through the Lord Jesus, who made peace through the blood of his cross and brought us to God. But we exercise this privilege “in one Spirit,” that is, in the power of the one Spirit. And if we are to live by the Spirit and walk and be led by the Spirit (Gal 5:16, 18, 25), then God also wants us to pray in the Spirit (Jude 20).

This question is not about the Holy Spirit not being worthy of all worship and prayer: He is God. But it has pleased Him to take His place in the believer during this time of grace. Thus, He is not the object of our prayers, but their power.

We find a beautiful parallel to this in the greetings of the New Testament epistles. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the apostles greet the saints, or the assemblies, in their respective places. They greet them from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But they do not greet them from the Holy Spirit. And why not? Because He, dwelling in the saints and in the assembly, brings about these greetings and sends them. It is the same principle.

If someone prays to the Holy Spirit out of ignorance but with sincerity, God will come to his aid. But the Christian’s real prayer is made in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that is a joyful privilege.

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