The problem with the “Sinner’s prayer”

In English, there is such a thing as a prayer that someone can pray to come to God. A prayer of conversion, so to speak.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe You died for my sins. Right now, I turn from my sins and open the door of my heart and life. I confess You as my personal Lord and Savior.

This is another version:

Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is Your Son, and that He died on the cross to save me from my sin. I believe that He rose again to life, and that He invites me to live forever with Him in heaven as part of Your family. Because of what Jesus has done, I ask You to forgive me of my sin and give me eternal life. I invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust Jesus as my Savior and follow Him as my Lord. Help me to live in a way that please and honors You. Amen.

A few things are absolutely true:

• Christ is the Son of God. (Mark 14:61-62)
• He died on the cross (Matthew 27)
• He died for our sins (Galatians 1:4)
• Everyone is sinful (Romans 3:23-24)
• He rose from the dead (Mark 16)
• He invites you to come to Him (Revelation 3:20)

Nothing wrong with that. Where things (unfortunately) too often go wrong is that these prayers are also used as a kind of “magic spell”. I came across this online online:

Saying this prayer makes you a Christian.

And then we have a problem… What do you mean? Well, John 3:16 says:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

It does NOT say:

For God has so much love for the world that if you say this prayer you will not perish but have eternal life.

The following verse may make it even clearer:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

So you are not saved by saying a prayer. There is no action of your own that can save you, (prayer is also an action in this context) but “Through your faith in Him, you have been saved and that is by His grace.” That’s what saves you.

But… it goes a little further… much further actually… notice this verse:

All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

John 6:37-39

And, once again, it does NOT say:

I will never send away all people who come to Me on their own strength. They can take that step out of their own strength and will be saved if they do so. God does not want me to lose any of these people who chose me out of their own power.

Are you starting to see the difference? Compare it with a shepherd and sheep. The Shepherd chooses which sheep will come into His flock, the sheep themselves do not choose. Because let’s be honest, sheep are not very smart creatures to begin with, and neither are we. They need a shepherd (very much) and if The Shepherd has chosen them, they can believe that The Shepherd will protect them from the wolves.

Translated to you and me: God chooses you in His flock and if He has done that (grace), then you can believe that God saves you from eternal death and NEVER lets you go.

If you look at that prayer again, you will also see something that is not correct if you understand the sheep / shepherd relationship:

I invite You to come into my heart / (I) open the door of my heart.

You cannot invite God to come into your heart and life. God chooses you (as a Shepherd) for His flock and all you can do, when He does, is believing what that Shepherd has done for you. God’s choice to come into your heart is not yours, but Him.

Why is it so important to understand that difference, and why do we make such a big deal about it?

At least once a week, I meet someone who has HUGE doubts about whether they are really saved. Is my faith big enough, have I done enough, am I a Christian? If you do some digging into why that doubt exists, too often the answer is: “I have prayed (with a kind of “sinner’s prayer”) that Christ will come into my heart, but I don’t feel it and nothing has changed and the problems I had did not go away.”

They thought that by reciting a verse/prayer they became Christians and that after reciting that prayer all their problems would be solved. And as you read above, it doesn’t work that way.

• If you understand that The Shepherd chooses you (and not the other way around), then you also understand that once He does, it is impossible to be let go. (John 6:37-39). That gives enormous peace of mind.
• If you understand that you have been saved by His grace, then you also understand that your actions (including saying some “magic” prayer) do nothing, but that you are dependent on the grace of the Shepherd. And that also gives enormous peace because it is God who determines, and His power is many times greater than yours.
• If you understand that everyone is a sinner (Romans 3:23-24) and that there are consequences for this as long as we are on earth (Genesis 3:16-19), then you also know that your earthly misery is not suddenly solved by reciting a spell. That gives you peace of mind because then you understand that life here will never be perfect, but that a perfect life awaits you in eternity.
• And if you understand that, then you really understand what John 3:16 really says:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Can we now throw that “sinners prayer” in the trashcan? Yes and no. If we think that a magic prayer will save us and all our troubles will be gone, (and unfortunately, we stumble upon one person a week who thought that would happen) then we have a huge problem. But if we modify that prayer a little and use it as a kind of checklist to see what we believe is actually true, then we have a great checklist that we can go through to see if we haven’t missed anything in the explanation of the Gospel. And then you get (approximately) something like this:

• Do you believe that God is your heavenly father?
• Do you believe that Jesus is His son?
• Do you believe He died for your sin to save you?
• Do you believe that it is God’s grace that He has done this for you?
• Do you believe that nothing you do could save you, but that you can only be saved by God’s graces and your faith?
• Do you believe that Jesus rose from the dead?
• Do you believe that God, as a shepherd, calls you to come into His flock?
• Do you believe that He will never let you go because it was His choice?
• Do you believe that if you ask for forgiveness, He will actually forgive and He will never think about it again? (Hebrews 8:12)
• Do you believe that if you give up your earthly life for God, He will give you eternal life?
• And because you really believe that, do you really want to give everything to him? (James 4:7-17)
• And because you believe that, He gives you eternal life, even though we still have to pay the price for our sins on earth? (Genesis 3)

That gives you peace of mind.

No magic prayer or saying, no baptism, no sacrament, no speaking in tongues, going to church, no mission trip, no volunteer work, none of that can save you. And that’s great news!

A brief look at that criminal who was crucified with Jesus: He did not have the opportunity for a baptism, the Lord’s Supper, a special prayer, Jesus did not take away his earthly pain, did not heal his body and did not drive away his scoffers. Something else happened:

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:39-43

That was his salvation. And how strange it may sound, if we really understand the above, that’s great news and does give rest. If we get the above, it’s great news that gives rest. But if we don’t… we keep worried. And that terrible to see every single time.