Letters to the Editor: June 2026

Regarding the Listening editorial:

Thanks Jason. I have a Muslim colleague who will always take the vegetarian option in a restaurant if she’s not sure if the meat is halal. I wonder if this is the reason that some of the Jewish Christians ate only vegetables: they were concerned about the meat being kosher?

Mike Hardy,
South Lakes Ecclesia, UK

Dear Brother Mike,

Yes, I think you’re exactly right. We’re seeing instances of them still keeping kosher, even after becoming Christians. I think this shows how Jewish the first-century believers really were. In many cases, they still practiced many of the customs of the Torah.

Jason Hensley

Question Unrelated to an Article:

Quick question for you: I’m curious on your perspective of the Hebrew in Job 2:9 on the word barak (bless) being translated as “curse.” Have you given it any thought? I’ve been trying to rationalize the various translations of this Hebrew word as “curse.”

Ben Knowles,
Cambridge Ecclesia, ON

Dear Brother Ben,

A few things:

So, this could legitimately be translated as “Bless.” One Jewish commentator (Malbim) actually did translate it that way. The thing is, though, that the context doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense out of that. Job seems to interpret what she is saying as “Curse” because he calls her “foolish” in v. 10. And, death is something that came to those who blasphemed God; so that all seems to fit.

This same thing happens throughout the Book of Job. You’ll see the same word in Job 1:5, 11; 2:5.

If you’re wondering why the word bless could also be translated as “curse,” it’s possible that it comes from the association of blessing and greeting (Genesis 47:7; 2 Samuel 19:39). It’s also used in departures (Genesis 32:1; 47:10). In this way, “blessing” could be associated with leaving, and therefore, when applied specifically to God, would signify a curse—leaving God—rather than some kind of blessing. I think we can see that that’s specifically what Job’s wife expects. She sees him as leaving God.

I hope that helps.

Jason Hensley

Regarding the article “To Whom Should We Pray?”

There are some verses that look like they refer to prayers to Jesus:

“Lord Jesus receive my spirit” and “Lord lay not this sin to their charge.” (Acts 7:59-60).

“Lord what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6).

“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me.” (1 Timothy 1:12-13).

Martin Turton,
Knowle and Dorridge Ecclesia, UK

Dear Brother Martin,

Those passages are commonly put forward to illustrate prayer to Jesus. However, none of them can be used to override the principle of prayer being addressed to God since none of them are examples of prayer. In Acts 7 and 9, Jesus appeared to both Stephen and Saul. Just as the people talking to Jesus during his ministry weren’t praying to him, these are not examples of the posture of prayer, but of addressing Jesus in their presence. The other reference in 1 Timothy 1 is a wonderful sentiment of thanks to Jesus, but it is not written as a prayer (unlike other examples in Scripture where prayers are written out, like at the end of Ephesians 3).

Richard Morgan,
Simi Hills Ecclesia, CA

Regarding the article “Praying in the Name of Jesus”

A few questions for the author:

Is your position that if we do not use the phrase, “We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ” (or any variation of the phrase) then our prayer is unacceptable?

What are your thoughts on Cornelius, whose prayers reached God, and who was a devout man but had not yet known the gospel? Were his prayers somehow circumventing Christ as the mediator?

We have the final Prayer of Stephen, who seemingly prays to God, and seemingly also addresses Jesus directly in prayer, which is strange, but he’s being stoned to death so we’ll cut him a bit of a break.

What are your thoughts on Stephen’s prayer?

My position, for the sake of perspective:

I believe that all prayer should be from the heart. Prayer should be sincere and should come from a place of understanding of scripture. (Don’t just give a prayer willy-nilly). While it is great/ respectful to address Christ in your prayer, being sure to include “the phrase” is not as important as giving a sincere, heartfelt and honest prayer to our Heavenly Father. And it’s certainly not a requirement for your prayer to be heard. I’m not sure what to make of this one, so I’d like to hear your thoughts.

John 14:13 (NKJV) reads: “And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

Which, if we take literally, as you suggest we do (i.e., literally say the words of Jesus’ name), Jesus will do it. To do this, we would be translating the word “Onoma” as literally a name; proper noun. Which would then mean, “we get whatever we want as long as we use Jesus’ name” … which is just not correct.

If we were to think of it in this way, this would contradict your thoughts on 1 John 5 which were “But for things we ask that are the will of God, we should have confidence that they will happen…”

However, if we translate or interpret the word Onoma to mean “my authority” (not proper noun, but figuratively—meaning Christ’s authority [or to be a representative of Christ’s Authority, which we are commanded to be, and his disciples were]) your thoughts on 1 John 5:14 would not be contradictory, and in fact I believe they line up with this translation better than simply reading “Onoma” as a literal name.

Because if the disciples were acting as Representatives of Christ’s Authority (as his Deputies, if you will), then if they ask something of the father, Christ will “make it happen” so that the power of God will be shown through Christ by extension of his disciples… which I think is ultimately what Christ is instructing his disciples to do.

To be clear, my position is not to “drop” the phrase from prayer, and I’m not encouraging anyone to do that at all.

But I disagree that it is doctrine, or that we are commanded to say it when praying—as some will say. I think it is unwise to promote a traditional phrase as a doctrinal commandment, even if there is very good cause to use the Lord’s name in prayer.

To promote the idea that a prayer is unworthy if it does not include this phrase is to elevate oneself to the position of Yahweh, and to care more about specific wording over the sincerity of the prayer is kind of what Jesus preached against, no? (Focusing on words/repetition rather than having a Christ-like heart?)

I mean correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that what the Pharisees were doing?

Boaz Sullivan,
Livonia Ecclesia, MI

One should never presume what the Almighty will or will not do. God heard the groans of His people in Egypt, and He delivered them. He heard David’s groaning (Psalm 38:9) He heard Nehamiah’s prayer, which was labeled by Brother Ron Abel as an “arrow prayer.” (Nehemiah 2:4) God is quite able and willing to hear prayers from the heart, and it would be incorrect and a bit legalistic to say that He will only hear prayers if they are positioned with certain words.

It should be said that the prayers of men like Cornelius and Stephen, which you have cited, are personal prayers. But that isn’t the issue the editorial is addressing. It is about “public” prayers, specifically prayers given as part of our worship services. As cited in the article, Jesus asks us to pray in his name. One may say that this is “assumed” when we pray to our Heavenly Father, and perhaps this is correct. We cannot come in prayer to the Father without the mediatorship of our Lord.

However, when we pray together publicly, we are declaring that our petitions are being made through Jesus Christ. This is a public acknowledgement and declaration of the Lord’s sovereignty in our lives. There’s a number of passages that seem to support this. See 1 Corinthians 5:4, where the very gathering of believers is “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” John 14 and 15 are filled with references to the disciples being commanded to pray in the name of Jesus after he was ascended.

What a person does in their own personal prayers is not in the purview of this article. Surely, God has always been attentive to the thoughts and intents of the heart. It always matters more what is said in faith and sincerity than specific words uttered. For most Christadelphians, praying and acknowledging the name of Jesus Christ in our prayers is honoring our Lord. It acknowledges that he is our king, the one in whom all power and authority have been given. He brings us to the Father, and publicly we are blessed to say this. It reminds all “there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) It is important that praying in the name of Jesus never become rote, or mechanical. We are greatly blessed to come to the Father in his name.

Dave Jennings,
Simi Hills Ecclesia, CA