If Jesus Is God Then to Whom Did He Pray?

by Jon Rowe

The Scriptures clearly teach that Jesus is God (John 1:1, Colossians 2:9, etc). So, in an attempt to dismantle that claim, skeptics may ask, "Then to whom did Jesus pray?" While it is true that there is only one God, He exists in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We like to try to explain this as one God in simply three different forms, like liquid water, vapor, and ice. That actually makes it more difficult to understand how the Son was praying to the Father. Did Jesus keep "morphing" back into a different form (i.e., from water to ice) while He was praying to God?

Let's get a more biblically based picture. When Jesus was baptized, the Son was in the water, the Spirit descended from above, and the Father spoke from heaven. God did not switch costumes to complete this scene. All three were there simultaneously. This wasn't even a new reality, as we can see by going back to the beginning. In creating humans, God said, "Let Us make man in Our image" (Genesis 1:26). God was not talking to Himself. Instead, He was speaking with Himself, within the fellowship of the Son and Holy Spirit. Concerning the Son, from the beginning, the Word (Jesus, see John 1:14) was with God and was God (John 1:1).

So, let's look at this interaction with His Father while Jesus was on earth. Jesus modeled the frailty of human flesh (Philippians 2:6-7), submission to God (Philippians 2:8a), and obedience to the point of death (Philippians 2:8b). One reason Jesus came into our world was to show us what a healthy relationship with God looks like. That includes prayer. Jesus spent significant time in prayer — and those prayers were not God talking to Himself in an incoherent monologue. The Son (as a distinct person) was in communion with the Father. Before going to the cross, He "fell on His face and prayed, 'O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will'" (Matthew 26:39). The Son submitted His will to the Father's will through prayer. That means Jesus had a will, and so did the Father. Although there is one God, we see two wills.

While all of this may still sound a little confusing to us as finite beings, it makes more sense that the Son can pray to the Father when you realize that they are two distinctly different beings, while still being part of the one triune God. The Jews quoted Moses (who quoted God) when they recited, "Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One" (Deuteronomy 6:4). The Hebrew word for "one" is "echad," which refers to a singular entity that can encompass multiple components as a composite unity. By contrast, the Hebrew word "yachid" refers to a singular, individual entity. Is your brain still hurting? By faith, just realize that "God is in heaven and He does whatever He pleases" (Psalms 115:3).