My question to you all here is: from the perspective of Reformed Christians, and especially in light of the Regulative Principle – where do we get the idea of “silent prayer” as a norm for both personal and public prayer?

When I go from beginning to the end of the Scriptures, I cannot clearly see any doctrine of praying silently. The model for prayer to me seems to be out loud, using the voice. Throughout the Psalms David cries “Lord, hear my voice” “Let me cry come unto thee”; most prayers throughout the bible are introduced by “and I said” or “and he said” said, spoke, cried, etc- I do not see any locutions such as “praying in his head”, “prayed silently” etc.

YES- personal prayer should be private, which is why Jesus, in his instructions on prayer in Matthew 6 instructs not to make your regular prayers on the street corner, to be heard of men, but to go into your closet and shut the door -Why would Jesus say " enter into thy CLOSET, and when thou hast SHUT THY DOOR, pray to thy Father which is in secret" - when we could pray to God on the streets and NOBODY would know that we're praying b/c it's all in our head? If the point is to not attract attentions, then why didn't Jesus say "rather than speaking out loud like the Pharisees, it's ok to go ahead and pray in your head?"
This is why Jesus and other saints of the bible would go off into the wilderness or someplace that they could be alone to pray out loud to God – (ex. Mat 14:23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.; or Gen 24:63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide:)

Another great example is Daniel:
Dan 6:10-11 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. (11) Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.

It is obvious that Daniel’s prayer was out loud, both before and after the decree – when at either time he could have avoided a big hassle by just praying silently in his head…

So often, when talking about this subject (I have never met anyone outside of my immediate family who agrees with me- which is why I am very curious what you all think on this board) people reply with human reasoning- not based on Scripture – for example, the argument is often simply: “God knows and hears our thoughts, therefore, we can pray silently.” Yes, that sounds logical enough- but not Biblical enough to convince me. Another human reasoning retort is “what about mute people – can they not pray to God then?” Of course God is not limited by our limitations- but how the mute person prays should be the exception, not the norm – after all, mute people can not sing to the Lord either, does that mean the rest of us should sing silently in our heads only as well? If I were mute, I highly suspect that most of my prayers I would either write down, as David did, or use sign language as being the mute equivalent of praying out loud. As a side note, I think when people pray in their heads silently, it is way too easy to lose track of one’s thoughts, get caught up in a non-relevant tangent, our thoughts wander more when we don’t utter them out loud, and hence not give God the reverence and focus on Him that he deserves from us.

In my studies on this topic, I am aware of only three or four common proof texts for “silent prayer” three alleged uses in the OT, and a misapplication of the verse “Pray without ceasing” – as to the latter, people argue that the verse must mean we are to pray 60 minutes an hour, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week- and since it’s pretty nigh impossible to do that with verbal prayer- we must have to pray silently in our heads, right? Besides the fact that the admonition to pray without ceasing simply does not have anything direct to say about whether prayer is verbal or silent, if you look at what Paul says in Colossians 1:9 “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;” –Paul did not stop praying, whether for the Colossians, or any of the other people he regularly prayed for.

The three alleged OT uses of silent prayer are tenable at best, and even if they are possibly examples of silent prayer- I am still not convinced that they are instructional examples for us to pattern our doctrine on. (You know what I mean -just b/c David danced in a linen ephod, does not mean we should too- necessarily, etc)

The three OT examples are:
Hannah’s prayer for a son in 1 Samuel 1:10-16 – her lips clearly moved- so she was at least mouthing her words,– “Eli marked her mouth” and he came to the conclusion that she was drunk- he didn’t assume she was just praying in her head, b/c this was an exceptional case of extreme emotional distress for Hannah, and although perhaps sounds didn’t come out of Hannah’s moving lips, they did move, and her exact prayer is recorded for us.

The second example is Nehemiah – in Nehemiah 2:4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said unto the king,..
Here we have an argument from silence for silence! The text does not say that Nehemiah prayed silently- people simply assume that he did. Either way, we have his long prayer in chapter 1:4-11 which none claim to be silent – as for his prayer in 2:4 Did he say it out loud? What did he pray? Did he whisper it under his breath? Is his request to the King doubling as a prayer to God? (his request to the king is “If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.”) Perhaps such a quick ejaculatory prayer in the company of a King is fine to be silent when the rest of the prayer life is regular verbal prayer? As I said- it’s an argument from silence- i.e. a weak prooftext to try to prove a doctrine on.

The Third passage sometimes used is Genesis 24 – the account of Abraham’s servant finding Rebekah- a wife for Isaac, and his prayer to God regarding how he was to find the wife – when the servant retells his story to Rebekah’s family he says “And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee.” (Gen 24:45 )
I’m not sure what to make of that verse- however it’s interesting to note that the first time the story is told it simply says:
Gen 24:15 And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.

So we have to ask- what is the purpose of the passage? It is truly an instructional passage on how to pray?

If, out of the whole Bible, these are the clearest (yet very foggy) passages pointing to silent prayer- I am not willing to bet any theology on them- yet the idea of silent prayer is so widespread- why?


Another question- for the Church History buffs – how recent is the concept of silent prayer and where did it originate? I seem to find a connection to Catholics and mystics (breath prayer, eastern meditation practices, etc)

I’m trying to finish up this post- but one more thing- in Corporate prayer I would be for a Pastor leading in prayer with the congregation –but I would not be for silent prayer, likewise I would not be for everyone in a congregation praying out loud at once- for that would lead to confusion, and disorder.

Thoughts?

~Tracy