Praying for the Dead: An Error That’s Creeping into the Lord’s Church
by James P. Needham
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 21 No. 3, September 1995
More and more, we are hearing brethren at funerals pray for the dead. I recently heard a young preacher pray that God would receive the soul of a dead brother into paradise. Later, a sister who attended the funeral asked me about this. I said, "Well, maybe some young uninformed preachers are doing it, but surely nobody else." To which she replied, "Oh, I’ve heard older preachers of considerable influence do it of late." This is shocking, and I think it is a straw in the wind that ought to arrest our attention. As brother J. D. Tant was wont to say, "Brethren, we are drifting." Maybe it would be more accurate to say, "Brethren, we have drifted." There are many uncertain sounds going out from many of our pulpits from both old and young preachers. Somewhere back down the line, we have gotten off course, and it is high time we make a positive, forthright correction. Unless more sound preaching begins to issue from our pulpits and a clear line is drawn between the truth, denominational error, human wisdom, and "pop" psychology, I have serious misgivings about the future of the Lord’s church. America may yet become a "mission field" for the religion of our Lord.
Satan is so clever, and sleeps never. He knows human weaknesses and how to appeal to them. He has devices and seeks the advantage over us (II Corinthians 2:11). He is a liar and the father of it (John 8:44).
A common characteristic of false teachers is to offer man an easy way out, or an alternative to God’s divine plan. The concept of praying for the dead is not new.
The Catholic Doctrine of Purgatory
Purgatory is a figment of the Catholic imagination, invented as a money-raising scheme. It is highly profitable, and they admit that they cannot prove that a single soul has ever been "prayed" out of purgatory, but they keep on deceiving people into paying for prayers, masses, and purchasing indulgences for its supposed occupants, and hoping that such are efficacious without a single tidbit of proof. You see, if they said they knew just what it would take to move one from purgatory to heaven, relatives would stop paying for prayers, masses, and indulgences once that point had been reached. So the wise thing for them to do, monetarily, is to say they don’t know. The doctrine of purgatory was not fully developed until the 6th century. That makes it about 500 years too young to be biblical. They say they "presume" that all Catholics go to purgatory, so that further enhances their financial intake, for then, all Catholics become potential customers.
Purgatory, for the benefit of those who may not know, is the supposed abode of the spirits of those who have committed venial sins, as opposed to mortal sins, and from which one can be released through masses, prayers, and the purchase of indulgences through the priesthood. It was the sale of indulgences by John Tetzel in Germany that sparked the 16th-century Reformation. His absurd claims infuriated Martin Luther and set him on the course of the 16th-century Reformation. Tetzel said that when your money drops into the coffers of the Vatican, souls will rise out of purgatory and go to heaven. He said he had saved more souls by the sale of indulgences than St. Peter had saved by his preaching!
There is not a shred of scriptural authority for praying for the dead. In fact, the very concept is contrary to everything the Bible teaches about death and the final judgment. So, from where did the Catholics derive this notion of praying for the dead, if it is not found in the Bible? Let us see.
The only semblance of authority for it is found in the Apocrypha. The word means "of doubtful origin." These books were not part of the "textus receptus," that is, the books which the Jews accepted as from God. They were never attached to the Palestinian Septuagint, proving that the Jews did not consider them inspired. These books are filled with fantastic folklore. Jewish traditions and incredible stories with no historical foundation. These books did not meet the canon of scripture and were therefore rejected and judged as not from God. Jerome, a 4th-century scholar, translated the Bible into Latin. Catholic theologians claim that Jerome was inspired in making that translation, yet he rejected the apocryphal books as being uninspired. The Catholics, however, when they needed some semblance of authority for some of their false doctrines and practices, added the apocrypha to their Bible and claim they are inspired!
One of the apocryphal books, II Maccabees. mentions praying for the dead. This, and Catholic tradition, is their so-called authority for the erroneous practice. Notice the following quotation from II Maccabees:
"...But the most valiant Judas (Maccabees, the high priest -- jpn) exhorted the people to keep themselves from sin, forasmuch as they saw before their eyes what had happened, because of the sins of those that were slain. And making a gathering, he sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection. (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead.) And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them, it is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins" (II Maccabees 12:42-46).
A Catholic footnote on these verses says, "3. Ver. 46. ’It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead:’ A clear proof of the practice of praying for the dead under the old law, which was then strictly observed by the Jews, and consequently could not be introduced at that time by Judas, their chief and high priest, if it had not been always their custom."
These are, indeed, mushy grounds upon which to base such a far-reaching doctrine. They must assume that this was a practice under the law (of Moses jpn), for there is absolutely no hint of it anywhere in the 66 books of the "textus receptus". It is, therefore, absurd to claim that the Jews "then strictly observed the old law." Any person who can read the gospels and say that the Jews were strictly observing the old law has to have blinders on. We should also observe that he says he thinks it had "been their custom." Even if he is correct, Jewish "custom" is not divine authority for anything.
The Mormons' Baptism for the Dead
The Mormons approach the matter of helping the dead from a different standpoint. They claim that living persons can be baptized for the unbaptized dead, and it will afford them salvation. They base this upon their so-called revelations and upon a misapplication of I Corinthians 15:29.
What Is Wrong with the Concept of Praying for the Dead?
It is unscriptural and anti-scriptural. It is unscriptural because there is no scriptural authority for it. One will search the Bible in vain to find even a hint of such a thing. It is taught neither by direct command, apostolic example, nor necessary inference. There is neither a generic nor a specific authority for it. It rests solely upon human wisdom and imagination.
It is anti-scriptural because it is contrary to everything the Bible teaches about death and the final judgment. Let us note:
Death seals one's eternal destiny.
"...man goeth to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets" (Ecclesiastes 12:5). If, when one dies, he goes to his "everlasting home," then one’s condition at death will be his condition throughout eternity; the dead do not "go to their everlasting home." His home is not "everlasting" if it can be changed by prayers. If it is "everlasting," then what possible good can accrue to him from the prayers of the living?
"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The spirit returns to God in the sense that it returns to His jurisdiction. We have our spirits on a "lease" program. We are made stewards of our spirits on earth to see if we can prepare them for eternal glory; if not, whatever their condition is at death will be their condition through the ceaseless ages of eternity. There is no indication that their state can be improved or made worse by any means.
"...it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). There is no room or place in this passage between death and the judgment for a period of probation where one can alter his eternal destiny. It is death, then the judgment. Life is a period of probation, and it ends forever at death.
Judgment will be according to every man's work done during his life on earth
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Revelation 20:12).
"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works" (Revelation 20:13).
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad" (II Corinthians 5:10).
"And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning [here] in fear" (I Peter 1:17).
One's eternal destiny is determined by one's life on earth, not by prayers offered for him after he is dead
If, by means of prayer, a dead person’s situation can be improved, then he won’t be judged according to his works on earth, because some or all of those works may be altered (forgiven) by prayers for him after he is dead.
The story of the rich man and Lazarus forever settles the matter of the state of the dead (Luke 16). The rich man’s condition beyond death’s door was determined by the life he had lived on earth. He prayed that Abraham would send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool his tongue, but even that was not allowed. If the wicked dead in torment are denied one drop of water, it is absurd to think their spiritual condition can be improved.
But someone says, "I don’t pray for improvement of the state of the dead, I just pray that God will receive the soul of the dead into paradise." In the first place, to ask God to receive the soul of the dead person into paradise requires a judgment upon our part that paradise is where he belongs. How can we know this? We might hope for it, or have reason to believe it, but we are not the judge. We cannot know a man’s heart or his secret sins. This is God’s area of concern, and not ours. We should not seek to usurp God’s judgment seat, or "whittle on His end of the stick."
Secondly, I ask, "Why pray for God to do what will be done in the natural sequence of the working of His divine law? It is in the very course of the divine plan that the righteous dead go to the department of Hades reserved for them called Paradise, or Abraham’s bosom, where they are comforted. Since this is the unalterable function of the divine plan, why pray for God to do it? This would be parallel to praying for Satan to receive the wicked dead into hell, or praying that the body of the dead will return to dust. Why pray for something we can’t affect for good or bad? What if, when someone is baptized, we have a prayer in which we ask God to forgive the candidate’s sins? We would all agree that such would be pure nonsense. If one is a scriptural subject of baptism, God will forgive his sins when he is baptized, whether we pray for it or not, because it is the natural and ordinary function of His divine plan. It is absurd to pray for God to do what He planned to do from all eternity.
Conclusion
The source of all religious error is either a lack of Bible knowledge or a willingness to ignore it. Christians have always lived in a world filled with religious error. It is most difficult to keep these errors out of the church and out of our thinking. Religious error creeps into the church by baptizing people without teaching them. Thus, they often bring with them various denominational dogmas and concepts. If they never learn better, they may in time become teachers, preachers, elders, etc. In time, these errors take root and bear fruit right in the church itself.
Another source of error in the church is an unwillingness to expose and oppose religious error. This sometimes springs from the source discussed above, or from being ashamed of the gospel. Some want to be like the denominations, so they promote a compromising stance that will accommodate religious error. This has been a very fruitful source of error in the church through the centuries. When the church became the state religion of the Roman Empire for political and social reasons, thousands of rich and influential pagans rushed to join it without being converted. In order to placate these unconverted pagans, the church accommodated them by "Christianizing" their pagan festivals. This is the source of Easter, Christmas, etc. They have their origin in Paganism.
Praying for the dead for any reason rests solely upon Catholic theology. It has not a speck of scriptural authority, and any Christian who practices it needs to be taught the way of God more perfectly.
