Prayer in the Bible

In the Bible, people prayed using several postures, most of which we do not use today.

In the Old Testament, people often approached God the way they would an ancient Near Eastern king. Thus, they would lie prostrate before him, usually translated into English as bowing down, sometimes as worshipping. Similarly, the term kneeling referred to kneeling on both knees and bringing the forehead or face to the floor with the hands just above the head or extended overhead. In other words, in both of these the worshipper is doing obeisance before God as before an absolute sovereign who has complete authority over the worshipper. They reflect an attitude of fear, reverence, and submission.

Aside from these bowing down like this, prayer in both the Old and New Testament worlds was typically done standing, with arms extended to the sides at shoulder level or sometimes upward, elbows bent, palms upward. Eyes were open and generally raised to the heavens. Thus, we see Paul saying that he wants men to lift holy hands in prayer (1 Timothy 2:8). This posture was later associated with the position of Christ on the cross, and so was considered particularly appropriate for prayer.

In art, the position is known as orans (Latin for one who is praying). It appears frequently in early Christian art, usually as a woman even on tombs of men. In these cases, it depicts the soul (Greek psyche or Latin anima, both feminine nouns) in heaven.

Catacomb of Priscilla

From Standing to Kneeling

Orans was the typical posture for prayer in the Latin world up until the advent of feudalism in the Middle Ages. The ritual of swearing fealty (fidelity or loyalty) to a lord involved first the act of homage, in which a knight offered his submission to a lord. The knight would kneel, typically on one knee, and place his hands together, and the lord would hold the knight’s hands between his own.

Hommage_au_Moyen_Age,_miniature from the Archives Department of Perpignan

This then turned into a typical position for prayer, marking submission to God, though monks and other clergy did at times prostrate themselves as well.

c.1250, Westminster Psalter, ©British Library Board

As feudalism died out and the symbolism of the posture was lost, the prayer position adjusted to kneeling on both knees, and though the fingers often continued to be held together straight, over time they were loosened and clasped together.

Albrecht Dürer, c.1508 Public Domain

Standing or Kneeling to Sitting

In churches and assemblies after starting with the Reformation era, prayer was conducted with the congregation kneeling or standing (the modern way of showing respect) and with eyes open until the time of the Second Great Awakening and the advent of altar calls. In churches influenced by the revivals, these largely replaced the Lord’s Supper as the climax of the service.

Revivalist preachers would ask people to have “every head bowed and every eye closed” so that those under conviction of sin would not resist it because of fear of what their neighbors might think. This turned into the habit of praying with eyes closed and spread from there even to many traditions not otherwise influenced by revivalism.

The altar call began with people seated, so seated prayer became a norm in revivals, and this also spread across denominational lines. (In 2 Samuel 7, David prays sitting before the Lord, but we do not see other examples of people sitting in prayer in Scripture.) Prior to this, prayer in services was done kneeling or standing.

It is worth considering what our posture in prayer says about what we think about God. Historically, prayer postures were generally connected to those that culturally suggested respect, reverence, submission, and subservience—many types of relationships that no longer exist in our culture that values egalitarian ideals.

But we are not Gnostics: our bodies are important to God. We are to love him with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, which includes what we do with our bodies. So what does our prayer posture say about our attitude toward God, and how can we best express our respect and reverence for him with our bodies in our own cultural context? It is a question worth considering, particularly in the context of public worship.