Are the departed souls benefited by the intercession of those on earth?

Mathews Barnabas Metropolitan

Some Christians don’t pray for the departed souls, as they believe that the souls are inactive. But the Holy Bible gives clear evidences proving that the souls are active and that they can talk as the souls of Moses and Elijah talked to our Lord on the mount of transfiguration (St. Lk. 9:30,31).

Some Christians think that if it is possible that the souls may be benefited by the intercession of those on earth, people may become idle and careless in their spiritual life in this world. In fact repentance is an experience to be inspired by the love of Christ and not fear of hell. It is a change of heart. St. Paul says, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who for their sake, died and was raised” (II Cor. 5:14, 15).

1) The souls are praying

Since the souls are praying, they are not inactive. In the book of Revelation we find as follows, “These (the souls of the departed) are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve (pray) him day and night within his temple” (Rev. 7:14,15). To pray properly we need the help of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul says, “Like-wise the Spirit (Holy Spirit) helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words” (Rom 8:26). Hence we have to pray for the souls so that they may be helped in prayer by the Holy Spirit.

2) The souls can please God

St. Paul says that the souls continue to please God. “We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him” (II Cor 5:8,9). Apart from the Lord we cannot do anything. “For apart from me you can do nothing” (St. Jn. 15:5) says our Lord. Hence we have to pray for the souls so that they may be helped to please God.

At the sametime St. Paul continues to say that we will be judged according to what we do in this world. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in his body” (II Cor 5:10). This need not mean that there is no possibility of repentance in the other world.

3) The souls can repent

If the souls are completely hardened in sin and have gone beyond redemption, there will not be the possibility of repentance. But nobody knows whether there will be anyone like that. But the fact that our Lord went to sinful souls and preached the gospel, shows that there was the possibility for repentance. “He (Jesus Christ) went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is eight persons, were saved through water” (I Pet. 3:19). From this we understand that the souls can hear the word of God and repent. Hence it is our duty to pray for the repentance of souls.

Nowhere in the Holy Bible is said that the souls will not repent. This does not mean that we can postpone our repentance to the other world. St. Paul says, “Behold now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the time of salvation” (II Cor. 6:2). This is a call for immediate action. But this passage is not to be considered as saying that there will not be repentance in the other world. It is a risk to postpone repentance even for a moment. The more and more we postpone repentance and continue to sin, it becomes more and more difficult to repent.

4) The souls are in need of the work of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit fills us with God’s love. “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). Nowhere is it said that the Holy Spirit cannot fill the souls with God’s love. Hence it is our duty to pray for the souls, so that they may be filled with God’s love, through the working of the Holy Spirit.

5) Our souls have spiritual growth till the second coming of our Lord

There is spiritual growth in this world and the other world, till the second coming of our Lord. St. John says, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear, what we shall be, but we know that when he (our Lord) appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (I Jn. 3:2). Hence we have to pray for the departed souls so that they may grow spiritually.

6) Our Lord has bridged the gulf between paradise and hades

In the parable of “the Rich man and Lazarus”, Abraham says that there is a gulf between paradise and hades. But the gulf was bridged by our Lord, by going to the hades and preaching the gospel. We (including the souls in the other world) are benefited by the prayers of others. But we should remember that our final destiny depends on our response to the prompting of God, our heavenly Father.

Heaven is the result of our becoming godly through God’s grace. Our Lord says, “These things I have spoken to you that my joy maybe in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have love you” (St. Jn. 15:11,12).

Since there is the possibility that the souls in the other world will be benefited through our prayers, it is a sin of omission, not to pray for them. St. James says, “Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is a sin” (St. James 4:17). This means that we can have the joy of our Lord through having the love we find in Him.