Is There Saving Power In The Sinner's Prayer?

The sinner's prayer has come in many forms, but it goes something like:

Dear God, I admit that I am a sinner. I ask Jesus to come into my life and forgive me of my sins. Amen.

Maybe you have prayed that prayer and think you are saved because you said some certain words like a magic spell. Resting upon praying a prayer makes it more like a works-based salvation than anything. Does the sinner's prayer have any saving power? In his book, From Death to Life: How Salvation Works, Allen Nelson IV answers that question and gives us four truths regarding the sinner's prayer:

Many true believers repeated this or some other prayer at the time of their conversions. I am not saying that if you came to Christ and prayed this prayer, you are not saved. I can’t count how many times I’ve prayed it. I’m saying that people cannot find assurance in Christ based merely on repeating this Sinner’s Prayer. Some may have spoken these words who were not true believers. Let me make myself crystal clear. There is no saving power in the Sinner’s Prayer.

1. The Sinner’s Prayer Is Not in the Bible Check your concordance for the term, “Sinner’s Prayer,” and you’ll come up empty. It is not found in one single verse in Scripture. In the Bible, those who come to Christ are never asked to pray a formula prayer. This should be quite a convincing case against it. Oh, but the Bible doesn’t say we can’t use a formulaic prayer, does it? First of all, that’s an argument from silence. Secondly, if the Sinner’s Prayer was so vital to someone being saved, why is it not in one place in Scripture? And thirdly, can we not at least agree that we can come into serious error when we begin to want to add things to Scripture that aren’t there?

2. The Sinner’s Prayer Is an Evangelical Hoop We rightly reject Roman Catholicism’s system of justification by faith and works. And yet, some Christian pastors use the Sinner’s Prayer as a means of obligating God to save us. It’s the hoop we require sinners to jump through in order to get to Christ. We might not articulate it that way, but when we present the gospel and then tell people to pray after us and mean it, that’s exactly what we are communicating.[409] “Go through this prayer to get to Christ.” And that’s just wrong.

3. The Sinner’s Prayer Comes from a Desire to “Close the Deal” We all want to see results. I get that. There is no greater joy besides our own salvation than seeing someone else come to Christ. What a blessing! But it’s not up to us to close the deal. We cannot play Holy Spirit. Instead, we must trust Him to work in the heart of sinners and to open their eyes to the truth. Salvation is not some kind of deal we can close if we’re sharp enough to bring it off. That mentality often leads to complicating matters even worse and, many times, produces counterfeit Christians.

4. The Sinner’s Prayer Comes from a Misunderstanding of Conversion Sinners are saved by grace through faith. No one is saved without repentance from sin and faith in Christ. A Sinner’s Prayer may be a kind of expression of that faith in Christ, but the prayer itself does not equal saving faith and repentance. In other words, you don’t conjure up faith via prayer. Instead, sinners calling on God for salvation should express what is in their hearts.