No. The sinner’s prayer isn’t in the Bible, and nobody in the New Testament is told to say a prayer in order to become a Christian. God hears a humble person who prays (). But when people in the book of Acts asked what to do about their sins, Peter told them to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins (). To repent is to turn away from sin and back to God. Baptism is immersion, being put under the water and raised up. So churches of Christ don’t lead anyone through a sinner’s prayer. The verses usually offered for it, and , read differently in their own setting.
What Do Evangelicals Mean by the Sinner’s Prayer?
The practice belongs mostly to evangelical Christianity, a wide movement of Protestant churches with no single statement of faith. Wording varies. A person admits being a sinner, asks God’s forgiveness, says he trusts that Jesus died for his sins, and asks Jesus to come into his heart. It might come at the end of a sermon or from a preacher on television. Some booklets, like the Four Spiritual Laws, print it on the last page.
Many who lead it don’t think the words save. A writer in Christianity Today, a leading evangelical magazine, called the prayer “a heartfelt expression of faith in Christ” and warned against thinking that saying it makes a person’s eternal destiny secure. In that view, faith saves. The prayer is where a new believer first puts it into words.
Where Did the Practice Start?
It grew out of evangelical revival preaching, centuries after the New Testament was written. New isn’t the same as wrong. The test is what the apostles told people to do.
Why Do People Point to Romans 10:9-10?
Paul puts confession and salvation in the same sentence. He wrote, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (). He goes on, “For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (). Read alone, they sound like the sinner’s prayer.
We take confession seriously too. In churches of Christ, a person confesses Jesus as Lord before being baptized (). But Paul wrote the letter “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called …saints” (), so he’s describing a faith his readers already held. He isn’t writing out words to repeat. Three verses later he borrows a line from the prophet Joel (), “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” ().
Who Was Told to Call on the Name of the Lord?
Peter quoted the same line on the Jewish feast day of Pentecost, in the first sermon after Jesus rose. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (). The crowd heard that promise, then heard that God had made the crucified Jesus “both Lord and Christ” (). “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” ().
So the first people to hear that promise from an apostle got two commands. Neither was a prayer. About three thousand received his word and were baptized that day (). Saul of Tarsus heard the phrase later, after three days of fasting and prayer (), and Ananias linked calling on the Lord’s name with being baptized. “And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name” ().
What Is Jesus Knocking On in Revelation 3:20?
It’s a tender verse. Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (). Many evangelicals read it as Christ at the door of a person’s heart, asking to be let in.
But Jesus is speaking to a church, the church in Laodicea (), and He calls its members lukewarm (). Right before the knock He says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” (). We read the door as theirs. These were Christians who had drifted so far that Christ stood outside it, and the meal He offers pictures the close fellowship He wanted back with anyone in that church who would open up to Him again.
Is “Asking Jesus Into Your Heart” Anywhere in Scripture?
The phrase isn’t. The nearest thing is a prayer Paul prayed on his knees for the church at Ephesus (). He asked God to strengthen them inwardly () “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (). Christ living in a believer is real. But Paul prayed it for people who were already Christians, and no one in the New Testament asks for it in order to become one.
Does God Listen When a Sinner Prays?
Yes. Jesus told of a tax collector praying in the temple () who “would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (). That man “went down to his house justified” (). Jesus aimed the story at “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous” (). Its lesson is humility. It doesn’t set out how to become a Christian.
Acts does tell one man to pray for forgiveness. Simon of Samaria “believed, and after being baptized” stayed close to Philip (), but when he sinned later, Peter told him, “Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you” (). Prayer is how a Christian comes back to God after sin ().
I Prayed It Years Ago. Where Does That Leave Me?
If you meant every word, that faith was real. Faith is where every conversion in Acts begins. Saul had it too. He was still asked why he was waiting. Baptism is where a believer is buried with Christ and raised to a new life (), and Peter wrote that “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you” (). After that comes a lifetime of walking with Him (). This is what the Church of Christ at South Bumby teaches.
Sit Down With an Open Bible
If you prayed that prayer and still sense something’s missing, we’d be glad to read the conversions in Acts with you. The Church of Christ at South Bumby meets in Orlando where Pershing Street crosses South Bumby Ave. The fulfillment you’re looking for lasts only in Christ, and we’d love to help you find it.
Plan your visit to find the building and the visitors’ parking.
For each step the apostles gave, from hearing the gospel to being baptized, start here.
When we meet:
- Sunday: Bible Class 9:30 am · Worship 10:30 am
- Wednesday: Bible Class 7pm