Prayers of Salvation, Part II…

I left off talking about the passage in Romans that is so frequently the center of altar calls in churches today. In that passage Paul says that if you confess with  your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. The two questions I was considering in light of that passage were 1) was Paul laying out a two-step plan of action that, if followed, would be the catalyst that would initiate grace resulting in salvation, and 2) is there anything wrong with a person praying to God expressing repentance, and faith and trust in Him and in His Son, Jesus Christ.

1. Far more learned men than me who were and are more capable at articulating this stuff have spoken and written extensively on what is commonly called the ordo salutis, or order of salvation. Here is a whole page of articles on this subject over at Monergism.com. Let me just say that I believe the whole of Scripture clearly shows that Paul is in no way setting up a two-step process (confess and believe) by which salvation is activated. Even his order in the verse is backwards for that to be the case (how can one first profess and then believe anyway?). John Gill also has an excellent commentary on the verse in question: Romans 10:9.

What I believe to be the real order of salvation is found in Romans 8:28-30, which highlights a complete monergistic work of God: foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. I know, though, why preachers use the Romans 10:9 verse in their ‘invitations’, because in isolation that verse puts all the power of one’s destiny into the hands of the one doing the professing and believing. Besides, it sounds a lot better than using Acts 13:48, which says that those who were appointed to eternal life believed, or Acts 16:14 which states that the Lord opened Lydia’s heart so that she could respond to things which Paul was talking about.

No, those last two verses don’t sound inviting and loving and caring enough to be used by preachers to get people to respond in a prayer and raise a hand while every head is bowed and every eye is closed. I bet they’ll stick to the simple two-step process invitation: the ‘confess and believe’ gospel (although, the best thing pastors could do is to stop having an invitation and altar call completely).

2. I think it is safe to say that there is probably nothing wrong with someone offering a prayer to God at the point of regeneration, in which remorse and repentance is conveyed, and faith and trust in Christ is expressed. But I would offer that this prayer would be in response to, and not the initiation of, that person’s salvation.

So…while I can’t remember if I myself prayed the prayer when I was nine, I don’t think I need to utter one just to make sure that I get it nailed down…do you? I hope not.  Finally, those who use prayers such as the one published by Rick Warren in PDL are not only doing a disservice to the body of Christ, they are quite possibly leading many into thinking they will be just fine when they stand before the Righteous Judge. And all because they repeated after the preacher and uttered a few choice words when no one was looking.