Everyone who has ever lived is alive somewhere, either heaven or hell.
But if they have died in their physical bodies and are no longer on this planet, we are forbidden to contact them.
We are to pray FOR each other, not TO each other. And there is nothing in Scripture to justify the practice of conferring sainthood on people as if any of them are more special than any of us. We are not to be respecters of persons.
Okay, then, Paul is dead and is not a saint. If I am not to be a respecter of persons (James 2:1) then I tell you I do not respect him. If no one is better than anyone else, then Paul is no better than Peter, you, or a bum in the gutter.
Right?
By the way, which translation are you using? On whose authority?
That was certainly the case under Mosaic Law when the righteous who had died were held in the Bosom of Abraham.
However, ALL of that changed with Jesus Christ.
IF, contact with those who had physically died is forbidden, then Christ violated the Law at the Transfiguration. You have exactly two choices, pick one:
A. At the Transfiguration the Law was changed to reflect that the saints had eternal life.
or
B. The Transfiguration didn't actually happen.
Forbidden is such a Protestant word.