The “sinner’s prayer” is a hotly debated subject in evangelical Christian circles. It is a prayer that is taught, often with the intention of being repeated, when someone trusts Christ for the first time. It is modeled by the person sharing the gospel with someone and showing them what to pray to express their faith in Christ. It goes something like this, “Father, I recognize that I am a sinner and that I need a Savior. I believe that your Son Jesus is that Savior- who lived, died, and rose again so that I may be forgiven of my sins and reconciled to you. I confess my sins to you and I place my trust in your Son.”

Some versions of the sinner’s prayer ask Jesus to come into the heart of the one praying. This is known as “asking Jesus into your heart.” This phrase is debated, too, because it is not clearly mentioned in the Bible (see JD Greear’s Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart, for example). However, John describes believers as “receiving” Jesus (John 1:12) and subsequently receiving the Holy Spirit to dwell in them (John 14:17). So in a way, “asking Jesus in your heart” can be biblically justified, if it amounts to confessing faith in him and asking him to send the promised Holy Spirit to live within. However, to be theologically accurate, we should technically be asking the Holy Spirit to be the one to live in our hearts!

What about the rest of the sinner’s prayer? Why is it debated? As with asking Jesus into our hearts, it is argued that the sinner’s prayer is not biblical, primarily because none of the calls to repentance and faith in the New Testament include a prescribed prayer that must be repeated. Consider Peter’s call to “repent and be baptized” in Acts 2:38. No specific prayer is mentioned.

However, there are a couple examples of sinners’ prayers throughout the Bible. Consider the tax collector’s “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” as one such prayer (Luke 18:9-14). I noticed an interesting one this morning. It is a prayer that is actually prescribed! In Hosea 14, God calls wayward Israel to return to him. He tells them through Hosea to “take words of repentance with you and return to the Lord” (Hosea 14:2).

Hosea then proceeds to tell them what to pray, as if saying “repeat after me.” He tells Israel, “Say to him [God], ‘Forgive our iniquity and accept what is good, so that we may repay you with praise from our lips. Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim, ‘our gods!’ to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion from you’” (Hosea 14:2-3).

This prayer is intended to be prayed by the sinful people of Israel when they turn back to God. As such, it is a sinner’s prayer. But it could just as easily be used as a guide for any sinner who is turning to God for the first time in their life. Here are a couple elements of this sinner’s prayer that we might incorporate into our evangelism:

1. Confession of sin– “forgive all our iniquity” (v.2). Confessing sin, our rebellion against a holy and righteous God- is of prime importance. Without a knowledge and confession of sin, there can be no true repentance or trust in a Savior.
2. Intention to worship God– “so that we may praise you from our lips” (v. 2). A sinner’s prayer is not just “forgive me so I don’t have to experience the consequences of my sin.” It is, “forgive me so that I can praise you and worship you!”
3. Rejection of other gods- “Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, we will no longer proclaim ‘our gods’ to the work of our hands” (v. 3). We must confess that Christ alone is our Savior- that nothing or no one else can save or satisfy!
4. Trust in God’s character– “for the fatherless receives compassion in you” (v. 3). A sinner’s prayer centers upon the Father’s willingness to show compassion, mercy, and grace. We recognize that it is wholly undeserved, but we recognize that “when we confess our sin, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

While there may not be an exact sinner’s prayer in the Bible that everyone must repeat when they trust Christ, there are many good examples of what confessing faith in Jesus through prayer might look like. In this case, Hosea serves as our guide. When someone is ready to trust Christ, we should lead them to pray in a way that confesses their sin, prepares them to worship God rightly, rejects all other saviors and gods, and trusts in God’s good character as displayed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

That’s a biblical sinner’s prayer!