What Is the Sinner’s Prayer?
The sinner’s prayer is a popular prayer of repentance among non-Catholic Christians, including Southern Baptists. The sinner’s prayer, also called the prayer of salvation, is viewed as the moment a person accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. This short prayer expresses sorrow for sin, and also acknowledges that Christ died on the cross, was raised from the dead, and that we can have eternal life by entrusting our lives to him. The late Billy Graham, a popular Evangelical minister who led revivals across the United States and the world, composed a very popular sinner’s prayer that endures:
Dear God, I know I’m a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe Jesus Christ is your Son. I believe that he died for my sin and that you raised him to life. I want to trust him as my Savior and follow him as Lord, from this day forward. Guide my life and help me to do your will. I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
What else do proponents of the sinner’s prayer believe? And, more importantly, what does the Catholic Church teach about it?
Is the Sinner’s Prayer in the Bible?
The Bible contains many passages of repentance, but a specific sinner’s prayer, such as the one Billy Graham wrote, does not appear in Scripture. One of the closest biblical parallel is found in Romans 10:9-10:
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. (see Rom. 10:38-39).
In addition, there is Psalm 51, often called the Misrere because of David’s cry for God’s mercy.
While many Christians ground their belief in the sinner’s prayer in such passages, the simple recitation of this type of prayer—contrary to popular belief—does not guarantee a person’s salvation, as if Jesus instituted a “believer’s baptism” and that the sacrament of water baptism were a mere ordinance. Scripture teaches that salvation is a indeed gift from God, first received at baptism (John 3:3-5; Acts 22:16), and then nourished and protected by living out the Faith in obedience to Christ and his Church (see Matt. 10:32). In addition, contrary to what some Christians maintain, St. Paul did not teach eternal security (Rom. 2:6-8; 11:22)
Does God Hear a Sinner’s Prayer?
Many people wonder, can God hear a sinner’s prayer? Yes, of course. God hears and responds the prayer of every contrite heart. While God’s mercy is greater than our sin, the Lord’s Catholic Church reminds us that true conversion requires more than words; it requires change of heart.
The Holy Spirit helps us in turning away from sin and toward God, yet he will not impose himself upon us; rather, he waits at the door of our hearts, knocking (see Matt. 7:7-8) .
What Does the Catholic Church Teach About the Sinner’s Prayer?
The Catholic Church recognizes the desire to seek forgiveness and follow Christ as objectively good and necessary for living out the Faith, and we are able to do so by God’s grace. However, the Church does not teach that by saying a single prayer, one is saved and therefore can never lose his salvation. This is the error of “eternal security,” or “once saved, always saved.” Praying the sinner’s prayer sincerely is a great start in coming into relationship with the Lord Jesus. However, it must be followed by receiving the sacrament of baptism, the “gateway to life in the Spirit,” because that is how Jesus directed his apostles “to make disciples of all nations” and, they, in turn, did so on the first Pentecost Sunday in the New Covenant (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:37-42). In addition, to absolve the sins we commit after baptism, Jesus instituted the sacrament of reconciliation (John 20:21-23). So one must also have an ongoing participation in the sacramental life—through an examination of conscience, and frequent confession and participation in the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist. The Eucharist is a sacrament which Jesus also instituted so that we could grow in holiness and attain eternal life in him (Luke 22:19-20; see John 6:51-58; 1 Cor. 10:14-22).
In walking with the Lord, one can speak of five fundamental features of a Christian’s life:
- A life marked by the sacraments, which Jesus instituted.
- Personal prayer, including meditating on Scripture.
- Study, including reading Scripture.
- Service and evangelization.
- Community/fellowship.
Through these five practices, Christians are spiritually nourished and strengthened.
What Is Repentance?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines repentance as:
a radical reorientation of our whole life, a return to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed. At the same time it entails the desire and resolution to change one’s life, with hope in God’s mercy and trust in the help of his grace. (CCC 1431)
Repentance fuels a desire to change one’s life, with the help of and hope in God’s grace. This conversion, or metanoia—a Greek word (μετάνοια) that means to “change one’s mind”—is accompanied by an affliction of spirit and repentance of heart (CCC 1431).
Though repentance begins internally, outward penance needs to follow. Penance is the outward denouncing of one’s sin and can be expressed in several different ways—including through asking someone’s forgiveness and going to confession, as well as in fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. These forms of penance “express conversion in relation to oneself, to God, and to others” (CCC 1434).
Repentance is not a one-and-done deal, but an everyday denial of self. Christ commands us that we must take up our cross and follow him daily (Matt. 16:24-26).
What Is Salvation
Salvation is God’s free and perfect gift, made available to us through grace—and normatively through the sacraments Jesus established. We receive this gift of salvation at baptism and maintain it through a sacramental life, namely, confession and Holy Eucharist, and also through our daily life in Christ in general. Baptism cleanses us from original sin, gives us an indelible mark on our soul, and fills us with the Holy Spirit—making us God’s children (CCC 1262-1264). However, faith is not merely an intellectual agreement or feeling of being “saved.” True faith is lived—expressed through love and obedience to the Lord Jesus and his Church (Gal. 5:6, Jas. 2:17).
The Catholic Church teaches that every human being is in need of salvation, including because all have inherited original sin from Adam and Eve (Rom. 5:12), or, in the case of the Blessed Mother, preserved from it at her Immaculate Conception. We cannot merit salvation on our own, because we are powerless to repair the separation that original and our personal sins cause between us and God. However, out of God’s great love for us, he sent his Son Jesus Christ to redeem us (John 3:16-17). Through his life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven, Jesus has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life. As Scripture says, “there is salvation in no one else” (Acts 4:12), for he alone is “the one mediator between God and men” (1 Tim. 2: 5-6).
Is Psalm 51 the Sinner’s Prayer?
Psalm 51 is King David’s prayer of repentance. It is often viewed as a biblical model for any sinner’s prayer. “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love,” David pleads (51:1). This psalm captures contrition well: true sorrow for sin, confidence in God’s mercy, and amendment of life. Many priests even prescribe the recitation of this psalm as a penance following one’s confession.
The act of contrition is recited right before absolution in the sacrament of confession, but the faithful can recite this prayer at any time outside of reconciliation.
O my God,
I am heartily sorry for having offended you,
and I detest all my sins because of your just punishments,
but most of all because they offend you, my God,
who are all good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace,
to sin no more
and to avoid the near occasions of sin.
Amen.
Can Children Say the Sinner’s Prayer?
Children can pray a sinner’s prayer, provided they understand what it means. Many children have the capacity to understand that they are sinners in need of God’s mercy, but parents and catechists still ought to help children understand that praying a sinner’s prayer is not one that will save them instantaneously and irrevocably.
Children can also recite the act of contrition outside of the sacrament of reconciliation. Here is an act of contrition for kids!
My God,
I am sorry for my sins with all my heart.
In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good,
I have sinned against you whom I should love above all
things.
I firmly intend, with your help,
to do penance,
to sin no more,
And to avoid whatever leads me to sin.
Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered and died for us.
In his name, my God, have mercy.
Amen.
We Are All Sinners in Need of Salvation
A sinner’s prayer can be a sincere plead for God’s mercy and a wonderful expression of penance, but it is not a one-time fix for sin or guarantee of eternal security. The Catholic Church does not teach the erroneous doctrine of “once saved, always saved.” Instead, salvation is a lifelong process of conversion (Matt. 24:13). Jesus Christ is the author of salvation, but we must continually respond to his invitation and live in accordance with his will.
Repentance is central to this response. Through repentance, partaking in the sacraments, and a daily life marked by faith, hope, and charity, we cooperate with the grace that Christ freely bestows on us. This gift of salvation is received at baptism, and it is retained as we remain faithful and allow God’s grace to transform our hearts and grow in holiness over time.
As St. Paul reminds us, we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). As noted above, this does not mean we earn our salvation, but it does mean we must take seriously this gift of eternal life that we have received through Christ’s one paschal sacrifice. Ultimately, the sinner’s prayer helps open the door, but salvation is a lifelong odyssey, not the unlosable fruit of a mere, momentary encounter with the Lord.
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