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THE “SINNER’S
PRAYER”
The so-called sinner’s prayer
is the prayer of an alien sinner [one who is not yet a citizen in the
kingdom of God] for the forgiveness of sins. It has had many
incarnations over the years but it usually goes something like this,
“Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a lost sinner deserving nothing
better than eternal hell. I believe You died on the cross in my place,
paying my sin debt, so I could be saved. Right now I put my faith and
trust in You to forgive my sins, come into my heart, and save me, giving
me eternal life and a home in heaven."
“Thank You, Jesus, for Your free gift of eternal life, and for
forgiving my sins. Amen.”
While the above prayer is, indeed, indicative of humility and
contrition, the idea that one who is an alien sinner can pray for
forgiveness—with an inherent right to expect his sins to be forgiven—is
foreign to the New Testament. Neither Jesus nor the apostles nor any New
Testament prophet or evangelist ever said or implied that an alien
sinner need only pray for forgiveness of sins in order to be saved.
One who was encouraged to pray such a prayer might will be asking,
“How, then, are alien
sinners to be saved?”
And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved;
but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16).
Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).
“And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash
away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16).
The “sinner’s prayer” is mistakenly based on a misunderstanding of
the prayer of the tax
collector in Luke 18:10-14. The fact that the tax collector was
already a child of God under the Law of Moses is implied by the fact
that he was praying in the temple. Gentiles, being “aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:11-12), were
not allowed in the temple.
Another passage sometimes appealed to, in support of the “sinner’s
prayer,” is Acts 8:22. But this man was already a baptized
believer (Acts 8:13).
The once-blind man had it right.
“Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a
worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him” (John 9:31).
And Solomon wrote:
One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer
is an abomination (Prov. 28:9).
----Bob Myhan
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