There is something appealing about the idea of the Sinner's Prayer. Someone hears the gospel, recognizes that he or she is a sinner, believes in Jesus, and sincerely prays for forgiveness and salvation. It is simple, personal, and seemingly uncomplicated. In a world where people can communicate with one another across great distances with a computer or telephone, it is easy to understand why this approach has become so popular.
Think about it for a moment. Someone watches a sermon online, reads a Bible lesson on a website, or has a conversation about Jesus through social media. That person becomes convinced of the need for salvation. With the Sinner's Prayer, the response can happen immediately. No need to find a congregation, locate someone to assist with baptism, or arrange a meeting. The person simply prays, and the decision is made.
I can certainly appreciate the appeal of that simplicity. In fact, I wish salvation could be communicated and received as easily as clicking a button. But that raises an important question: Is our desire to make salvation convenient ever allowed to influence how we understand what God has instructed us to do?
The Sinner's Prayer, as a prescribed means of receiving salvation, is a relatively recent development in Christian history. Although people have prayed for mercy and forgiveness throughout biblical history, the standardized practice familiar to many Christians today developed primarily during the twentieth century. Yet when we turn to the New Testament and examine the accounts of people responding to the gospel, we find something interesting. We do not find the apostles instructing unbelievers to repeat a prayer to receive salvation.
Instead, we find people being taught to believe in Jesus, repent of their sins, confess their faith, and be baptized.
Consider the people who heard Peter preach on Pentecost. When they realized they were guilty of rejecting the Messiah, they asked, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter did not give them a prayer to repeat. He told them to repent and be baptized (Acts 2:37-38).
When Philip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian official, the man's response was to be baptized (Acts 8:35-38). When Saul of Tarsus came to believe in Jesus, Ananias told him, "And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16, NIV). Even the Philippian jailer, who asked what he must do to be saved, was taught the gospel and baptized that very night (Acts 16:30-34).
There is a common thread running through these accounts. People did not simply acknowledge their need for salvation; they responded to the gospel in the way the apostles instructed.
And here is where our modern conveniences create an interesting challenge. A person can hear about Jesus through a computer, develop faith through online Bible studies, and communicate with Christians thousands of miles away. But baptism requires something more than a digital connection. Someone must physically be present to assist with the baptism. It requires a personal encounter.
Perhaps that seems inconvenient in today's world, but should it really surprise us? Christianity has always involved more than the exchange of information. Jesus calls us into a relationship with Him and into a life shared with His people. The gospel is something we hear and believe, but it is also something to which we respond.
I don't believe we should make salvation unnecessarily difficult. We should do everything we reasonably can to help people hear the gospel and respond to it. If someone comes to believe in Jesus through an online conversation, we should be just as interested in helping that person obey the gospel as we would be if that person were sitting beside us in a church building. Technology can help us take the message of Jesus almost anywhere. It simply cannot change the message itself.
There is an important lesson here. We must be careful not to confuse making the gospel accessible with changing what the gospel asks of us. A convenient response is not necessarily the response God has prescribed.
I like the thought behind the Sinner's Prayer. I appreciate the desire to make it easy for someone to turn to God. But I would rather help someone take the next step God has actually revealed than offer an easier alternative that I cannot find demonstrated in the New Testament.
After all, our goal should not be to make salvation fit conveniently into our modern world. Our goal should be to help people come to God on His terms, trusting that His wisdom is better than our own.
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