>>‘Only those who are here on earth are to pray for one another?’<<
It is speaking to the reader. We. Again, it is very plain and straightforward. One would only assume it to mean those who are “asleep” if they have some pet belief that requires it to mean that.
Sigh.
Speaking to the English reader, not the Greek whom is the audience.
The Greek does not use the word for ‘asleep’. They use ‘repose’, which btw is why it is RIP. “Requiescat in pace”