Keep hold of instruction, do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. Proverbs 4:13, ESV

I have applied all these things to myself and to Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written... I Corinthians 4"6, ESV

Study to shew thyself approved unto God... II Timothy 2:15, KJV

 

Let me start off by saying that I am aware this is a somewhat controversial subject. I want you to know that I have entered into this particular study with an absolute sincerity in my desire to find the truth, and I am certain that you are no less sincere in your quest for the truth. If we differ in our conclusions, I hope we can keep from hurt feelings or suspicions of false motives on behalf of or towards each other. The one thing we cannot differ on is the facts, and it is important for people on both sides of this study to keep in mind that while we can draw different conclusions from those facts and therefore have a right to our own opinions, we do not have a right to our own facts. Nor do we have a right to take God's place in the Judgment as to how we have handled our understanding of His Word. I have found that if I can keep my opinions separate from the facts, that I am then able to draw more sound conclusions from any study that I undertake. So, please know that I am not seeking to condemn anyone, what I am seeking is a better understanding of God's will as has been revealed in His inspired Word,

 

If you recall from the last article, there was a homework assignment attached. It was to learn everything you could, on your own, about the popularly phrased "Sinner's Prayer", first from a search of the Bible, and second from a search through other sources such as an internet search engine. If you haven't done this yet, I would highly recommend that you do so prior to reading about my findings which are set forth in this article. The reasoning behind this is that what we learn on our own is much more powerful and convincing than that which we obtain from others. Further, this study has implications concerning your eternal salvation and is therefore much too important to trust to someone else's efforts.

 

I would definitely avoid leaning on AI. While there is no question as to its artificial nature, when it comes to drawing reasonable conclusions as pertaining to God's Word, I have found the "intelligent" side to be somewhat questionable. Still. it's your eternity and you want to use the resources that you have the most confidence in. So, if your confidence is in artificial intelligence, then by all means use it. 

 

Having issued that encouragement, here, then, are the things I have found. To be fully clear, I have studied this particular subject for about forty years now, so it is not a new study to me (as I suspect it is not to so many of you who are reading this). Still, I have found a number of sources, both in full support of the sinner's prayer, and in opposition to the notion of such a prayer, that have added to my previous knowledge. Some of the websites I used were disciplestoday.org , patheos.com . thegospelcoalition.org, biblestudyguide.org, and wikipedia.org. Other than the Wikipedia site, I do not believe that I had ever visited any of these sites prior to my research of the past few days. As previously mentioned, some are in full support of the idea of a believer's or sinner's prayers, while some are skeptical of such an idea.

 

Let me start with my personal findings from a search of the Bible on this topic. I used blueletterbible.org because you can type in the phrase you are interested in searching, and it gives you the complete results for all of the major translations that are in common use today. When I searched all of the variants for sinner's prayer, believer's prayer, etc., I found that such a phrase is not used within Scripture. I confess that I was already aware of this, having researched this topic from Scripture numerous times over a number of years, but I wanted to make sure that there were no gaps in that research. 

 

While the results of the search of the Bible did not come as a surprise, the results of my other research did. Since there is such a large percentage of believers who teach and adhere to the sinner's prayer, I did expect to find some claim that such a prayer was contained within the Bible. What I discovered instead was an honest admission that no such phrase, (be it "Sinner's Prayer", "Believer's Prayer" or even any variant thereof), was contained anywhere within Scripture. Further, if discussed at all, there was no example that any of the proponents of the sinner's prayer were able to find within the pages of the Bible. 

 

So, where did this belief come from?

 

The most common explanation from those who hold to the sinner's prayer was that it came from a combination of the following passages of Scripture:

 

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... For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:9;13, ESV

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. Revelation 3:20, ESV

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." Acts 2:38, ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And it is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10, ESV

 

Now, I believe that everyone will agree that these are excellent verses. After all, they are the word of God and are therefore infallible. The question that must be asked, however, is how does one go from these verses, to a prayer that is suggested by men that goes somethings along the line of "Father, I confess my sins to you and my belief in Jesus, and I invite Him into my heart in order that I might be saved"? 

 

I'm not disputing the need to confess our belief in Christ - this is plainly stated! Nor am I denying the need for repentance and baptism (though most who adhere to the so-called sinner's prayer claim the baptism part to be a work, and therefore deem it to be unnecessary), but again, I think everyone will agree that repentance and baptism are clearly and unambiguously commanded. I also believe with all of my heart that we are saved by grace, through faith, and not as a result of our works. Having said that, I cannot help but point out that the Scriptures reveal a minimum of six other elements of salvation that are in no way excluded by the passage in Ephesians chapter 2.  

 

But we still keep coming back to the origins of the sinner's prayer: Where did it come from? Since it is not directly stated as a requirement for salvation, is it logical to believe that it is necessarily inferred from the four verse we read above to the extent that everyone who reads them will come to the same conclusion that we must utter a prayer inviting Jesus into our hearts to be saved? What do you think? Is this reasonable?

 

So, where did this sinner's prayer originate from? 

 

Some trace its origins back to Eleazer Wheelock, the founder of Dartmouth College. In the mid 1700's, he came up with something called "The Mourner's Bench" and about 100 years later an American by the name of Charles Finney modified it to "The Anxious Bench". Both were a mode for people to think about their sins and their need for their own repentance as well as Christ's forgiveness. After Finney, Dwight L. Moody refined their theologies, and shortly thereafter a traveling evangelist by the name of Billy Sunday would encourage Gospel meeting goers to come forward and pray a prayer of salvation. A few years later, men such as Billy Graham and Bill Bright of Campus Ministries used the sinner's prayer as a convenient mode of salvation, and its popularity spread to the point we see it today.

 

One more thing that I found interesting: While the seeds for this belief may have been sown during the Reformation Movement, I could find no such reference to a sinner's or believer's prayer, nor could I find any hints of such a prayer in the history of the church prior to that time.

 

Well, that's a lot of information to digest, and I will leave you to it. 

 

I do want to ask you what you found? Was it anything significantly different to the things I have discussed in this article? If so, I would be most appreciative of your sharing that information in the comments below.

 

Thanks for reading today! I hope this study will prompt each one of us to make certain of the things that we have accepted as the Gospel, and will encourage us all to further study!