Asking how to be saved is one of the most important questions one can ask in his or her life. The proper answer to that question can bring forgiveness, release of guilt from one’s conscience and makes one a child of God. The sins one commits before becoming a Christian are against God therefore, He has to be the one to tell the sinner how to receive forgiveness. Until God’s conditions are met, one is not forgiven, even if the one asking the question feels like he or she has been saved. A person’s feelings can deceive. “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). Speaking of the human heart Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick, who can understand it” (Jeremah 17:9). Forgiveness is not based on what anyone says, or how one feels; it solely rests on what God tells one to do to be forgiven.
Today, the most common answer when one asks how to be saved, is “Pray the sinner’s prayer.” Do you realize there is no “sinner’s prayer” found in the Bible telling one how to be saved and become a Christian? Below we will see what people in the Bible were told to do to be saved.
Samples of “The Sinner’s Prayer”
“Lord Jesus, I need you. I realize I’m a sinner and I can’t save myself. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and put my faith in You alone as my Savior. Take control of my life and help me to follow You in obedience. In Jesus’ name” (American Tract Society).
“Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be” (Bill Bright, Campus Crusade for Christ – Four Spiritual Laws). [Both of these can be found in the dissertation mentioned below].
These two serve only as examples. All others are like these and are man-made. Since God has not given a “sinner’s prayer” men and women can phrase them as they wish. Other man-made “sinner’s prayers say basically the same thing.
History of “The Sinner’s Prayer”
The best evidence this writer knows for when “The Sinner’s Prayer” began can be found in Paul Harrison Chitwood’s doctoral dissertation entitled The Sinner’s Prayer: An Historical and Theological Analysis. It was completed at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, December 2001. Paul Chitwood (born 1970) is an American Baptist minister who is the 13th and current president of the International Mission Board, serving since 2018. He was previously executive director of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (2011–2018) and president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention (2005–2006).
In his dissertation he argues that using the sinner’s prayer originated in the early 20th century. Evangelists such as Billy Graham and evangelistic organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ brought the concept to prominence in the 20th century. Graham and other evangelists made popular city-wide “Crusades for Christ” in which thousands attended each night with dozens responding to the invitation to be saved. When they responded teaching them to repeat “the sinner’s prayer” was a quick way for them to be “saved.” (Below it will be shown that this method was not the biblical pattern to teach people how to be saved).
In a telephone conversation with Chitwood, J. I. Packer told him that the Sinner’s Prayer is “the American production line mentally applied to evangelism.” (James Innell Packer was born in a village outside of Gloucester, England, on July 22, 1926, and died July 17, 2022. Over the course of his life, Packer became one of the most famous and influential evangelical leaders of his time).
The Biblical Answer
The Bible is God’s inspired word! In it He gives everything one needs to know and do to be saved and to please God (2 Peter 1:3). The very question of “What Must I Do to Be Saved” was asked three times in the New Testament. What answer was given by the apostles on those occasions?
The First Account – When the gospel was first preached in Jerusalem the first Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection, Peter’s message convinced the listener that they were lost. They said, “Brethren, what shall we do” (Acts 2:37)? Peter did not tell them to repeat the sinner’s prayer. Note what he did tell them to do. “Repent, and each of you be baptized 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). They had already come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah (vs. 36-37). Their faith alone did not save them. They were told to do something – repent and be baptized. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change in action. They could all repent at the same time, but the second part of Peter’s command was to be done individually – be baptized. Note the reason for each of them to be baptized – “for the forgiveness of your sins.” They were not told to pray. They were told to be baptized in order to receive forgiveness of sin. Acts 2 is the first case of people wanting to be saved and told by an inspired apostle how to obtain salvation. This is the way the first people in the Christian age were saved!
The Second Account – Saul, who later would be called “Paul” was a persecutor of Christians but on his way to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him (Acts 9:4-5; 22:7-8). Saul became convicted that he was a sinner and asked, “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22:10). Jesus did not tell him but said, “Get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do” (Acts 9:6). When Ananias came, he said to Saul, “Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name” (Acts 22:16). He was not told to repeat “the sinner’s prayer.” He was told to be baptized and again, the purpose of being baptized was to have his sins washed away. When Saul was baptized, he was calling on the name of Christ to save him. It was not a verbal call, but a call for God to do what He had promised when Paul manifested obedience. This was the way that the greatest evangelist who ever lived was saved.
The Third Account – When Paul and Silas where in prison in Philippi and the earthquake loosened their chains, the jailor thought the prisoners had escaped and was about to kill himself (Acts 16:27). Paul told him not to harm himself. The jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30)? They said to him, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). The jailer was a heather who knew nothing about Jesus, so how could he believe in Him? The answer – “They spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house” (Acts 16:32). They had to preach to him the Word of the Lord because “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Hearing the word of God caused him to do two things. “And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household” (Acts 16:33). By washing their wounds, he was manifesting repentance. By being baptized he was being saved – obtaining forgiveness of sins. It is significant that verse 34 says, “having believed in God with his whole household.” “Having believed” could now be said because he and his household had manifested their faith by being baptized. Now he had followed the apostle’s instruction, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Salvation is by faith, but not by faith alone (Galatians 3:26-27; James 2:26). One’s faith must be manifested by actions of repentance and baptism.
These are the biblical answers given by inspired people when they were asked “What must I do to be saved?” All three answers were the same, but none of them agree with what people are told today when one tells them to repeat the sinner’s prayer.
These accounts fulfill the great commission Jesus gave to the apostles. He said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation; He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved, but he who disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16).
How Sad
How sad today when an innocent, truth-seeking individual wants to be saved and is given the answer, “Pray the Sinner’s Prayer”! They are given false information, and they believe it. Jesus warned, “If a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14).
Wayne Burger