Do pietists consider prayer to be a means of grace?
I've been reading various comments from a Lutheran pietist on Twitter that seem to confirm this idea:
"Prayer opens us to our unlimited resources in Christ (Eph 1:17,18)."
"Prayer strengthens us by the Holy Spirit (Eph 3:16)."
"Through prayer we are filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3:19)."
"Through prayer we will fully understand and appreciate the love of Christ (Eph 3:18)."
"Through prayer our love for others will grow to overflowing (Phil 1:9)."
"Through prayer we will be able to discern right from wrong and make the right decisions in all matters (Phil 1:10)."
Through prayer we will be free of all pretence and hypocrisy and live a blameless life (Phil 1:10)."
First, let's look at Ephesians 1:15-23:
15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I
pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that
you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his
glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far
above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that
can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 3:16-19:
16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
And Philippians 1:9-10:
9And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
These passages teach that the Apostle Paul was indeed praying for the Christians at these churches. But these passages do not teach what pietists say they teach. The passages do not say, "If you pray, then these things will happen." They record St. Paul's prayers for the people under his care but they do not teach that these things are dependent on whether or not we pray.
What are all these things that St. Paul is praying for based upon? The forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. How do all these things happen? Through the Gospel. Through the promise of the forgiveness of sins in Word and Sacrament.
Through Christ – through the Gospel – are all these things true. Not through prayer. I am not knocking prayer, not at all. Prayer is a fruit of faith created through the Gospel. But to claim that prayer works in a sort of sacramental way – that it is a "means of grace" – is to change the definition of "means of grace." Prayer is not something that God does, but something that we do. If we make these gifts of God contingent on our obedience, then we put ourselves in a very bad position. Because I do not pray as I ought, and if my pietist friends are honest with themselves, neither do they.
My friend on Twitter says "Through prayer we will be free of all pretence and hypocrisy and live a blameless life." No, no, NO – it's only through Law and Gospel that this can be true. When I hear people talking about how on fire such and such a person is for God, or how great of a prayer warrior such and such a person is – and I have heard many such things in my life – I can only think about how this sort of thing actually breeds pretense and hypocrisy.
But when we realize that God hears us for the sake of Christ – and for the sake of Christ alone – things are radically different. There is no pretense, no hypocrisy. The Law leaves no one standing – not in the area of prayer, not in any other area. But the Gospel raises us to new life. And we pray – not so that God will give us His gifts, because He has already given us and continues to give us His gifts. The greatest Gift of all was the gift of His only begotten Son, dead on the Cross for our sins and raised to life for our justification – delivered onto our heads through the waters of Baptism; delivered into our mouths through the bread and wine which is His body and blood; delivered into our ears through the word of Absolution. And from this most precious gift of the Gospel all other gifts flow. The fruit of the Spirit is the fruit of the Gospel, because the Holy Spirit points us to Christ.
Hi-I’m a historian and pietism is one of my main areas of research. If you wrote this you need to make more clear that there are many forms of Pietism. Stoeffler lists six. What you are saying is not true of German Lutheran Churchly pietists.
Pietism is a movement over 300 years old. You can’t talk about it like it is one thing.
You can visit my blog and find lots of resources. I’d be glad to talk with you about anything specific. Thanks.
Eric
While pietism may have different flavors and incarnations, Dawn is right on about “if we do this, God will do that” kind of theology.
Hi Eric,
Perhaps I should have been more clear that I was not critiquing any historical viewpoint. Historical Lutheran movements officially called “Pietism” with a capital “P” are not in view here. I was critiquing/commenting upon some of your Twitter posts in light of the fact that you describe yourself as a pietist. If what you were posting is not representative of pietism in its current incarnation(s) then please feel free to correct me.
What I saw on Twitter was a self-described pietist speaking of prayer like it was a means of grace (something that I do not believe is supported by Scripture – at least not by the passages quoted). If Pietists in the past did not believe this, that really has no bearing on what prompted me to write this article in the first place because I was responding to what a self-described pietist wrote.
Before becoming a Lutheran, I spent most of my life in a tradition that was heavily influenced by pietistic ideas. The possibility that they considered prayer to be a means of grace is not all that implausible to me as I look back on it. Your posts just seemed to confirm what I suspected. Since you describe yourself as a pietist on Twitter I assumed that you are speaking as a pietist when you post there.
Wow, so you were criticizing me! Yikes.
OK, I had this discussion once with a group in LCMS.
I studied Luther for years before I studied any pietists. See if you can get your hands on this book and think about it:
“Jarislav Pelikan’s Spirit vs. Structure contains the insight that in the in the Smalcald Articles, Part III, Article VI, Luther did not confine that to pulpit and altar (see Pelikan, 1968, p.115).”
My reading of the Bible and my reading of the Formula of Concord tells me that there can be no essential conflict between Lutheranism and the Bible. The Bible tells us to pray for people.
Perhaps our conflict is merely the definition of Means of Grace. What does it mean to you, only that which happens between the beginning of the worship service and its end?
BTW, your essay was well written, we just disagree. You are pushing Orthodoxy against Pietism and that’s fine. Since it is well, written, put your name on it and a way for people to get back in touch since you are doing this electronically.
I wish you had comment notification.
Hi Eric,
Yes, the Bible tells us to pray for people. I nowhere denied that. I take issue with the way you are using the verses that you quoted, that “through prayer X will happen” when the actual verses do not teach this. My response was, “No, through the Gospel X will happen.”
Means of Grace = Word and Sacrament (Baptism, Lord’s Supper, Absolution). Means of Grace are things that God does. Prayer is not a means of grace because it is something we do – a response to the Gospel, to be sure, but still something we do.
Regarding comment notification – I’m going to see if there is a way to enable that on my blog. It is certainly annoying when one has to keep checking back.
We can’t even pray as we ought anyhow.
The Holy Spirit even has to do that for us.
I don’t think prayer is a means of grace, but it is a tool of piety.
Interesting discussion.
Was it Eugene Peterson who said prayer is “answering speech”? Not a bad definition, as it makes it clear prayer is our response to God’s Word. Especially surprising since Peterson comes from the Reformed tradition, and many Reformed dogmatics texts specifically call prayer a means of grace.
I’ve certainly run up against what you are talking about, Dawn. Obviously the stream of “Pietism” (or should that be “pietism”?) still runs strongly in much of popular Evangelicalism.
Coincidentally, I just read an essay today called “Pietism Vs Piety” by Thomas V. Aadland (if I remember rightly); it’s a good summary of the issue, it can be read on the Association of American Lutheran Churches website. They are a body with some “Pietist” roots – I think -who recently declared fellowship with the LC-MS.
Hi Steve!
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).
The Holy Spirit helps us to pray and intercedes for us. This is quite different than treating prayer as a “means of grace.” If I am struggling to pray it is a great comfort to know that Christ is for me in Word and Sacrament and that He intercedes for me. It does not help in those times to think that the blessings of God are dependent on my prayer.
Thanks, Steve!
Dawn
That was a great essay, Pr. Henderson! Thanks for sharing that info!
Here is a pertinent excerpt:
“Pietism makes a shift by placing the emphasis on experience over doctrine…. the focus shifted to the experience of regeneration and edification, distinguished from justification….
“Easily then, Pietism introduced distinctions among kinds of faith – heartfelt or living faith, as opposed to head knowledge of doctrine. Classes of humanity were identified, as though one could be ‘awakened’ but not yet ‘converted,’ or a ‘carnal Christian’ but not ‘born again.’
“Quite consistently, pietism tends to view prayer as a means of grace. A pamphlet appeared some years ago, within certain Lutheran circles, entitled, “Can A Lutheran Know for Sure?” Each of its six sections, except the last, sets forth citations both from Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. The final section, however, lacks any reference to what the Lutheran symbols see as the vital basis of personal assurance of salvation, certitude as opposed to false security. Yet this is just the point at which one would expect the quotation from the Large Catechism (LC IV.57), grounding our assurance not in our own prayer life – for prayer is not a means of grace – but in the sure and objective Word of the God who ‘cannot lie.’ It is just this – and only this – which enables Lutherans and all others to ‘know for sure.’ ”
The rest of the article is at:
http://www.taalc.org/Assets/Piety_vs_Pietism.pdf
After reading that, I guess maybe I’m not too far off track in my conclusion…