In prayer must we use thee and thou? Or can more modern language be used?

Full Question

Answer

Scripture does not specify what language we must use, so we must find some general principles, and be guided by them.

Nadab and Abihu were struck down by God for inappropriate worship, and God said on that occasion that He would be ‘sanctified’ or ‘set apart’ in those who approached Him (Leviticus) 10:3). So prayer, like all worship, has to be on His terms, sanctifying Him.

God calls for ‘honour’ and ‘fear’ (Malachi 1:6), and in a time when Israel’s worship revealed that they secretly despised ‘the table of the Lord’, He reminded them that He was ‘a great king’ (verse 14), and would not tolerate disrespectful worship. So when praying we should use the most respectful language possible — in English, ‘thee’ and ‘thou’.¹

1. Not all would agree with this conclusion. This question was discussed over several months in “The Christadelphian” in 1991/92 (see June, 1991 to February, 1992). We must recognise that of itself no English pronoun is more or less acceptable. “In prayer, attitude of mind is the crucial thing.” An interesting article on the distinction between the pronouns ‘thee’, ‘thou’, ‘your’ and ‘you’ see “The Christadelphian”, Vol. 112, pp529-530 (December, 1975).