GET THE RIGHT MESSAGE OUT
Last week I talked about the necessity for us to go and make disciples. Jesus told us to go in the great commission. Paul said we have been given the message and the ministry of reconciliation as ambassadors of Christ. But what message are we sharing with people? More precisely, what are we asking them to do once we present the message of salvation? We share our faith, we spread the gospel but it's important to understand what the proper method of salvation is. Today, I want to talk about presenting the right gospel message.
1) The "Romans Road".
Have you ever heard people refer to the "The Romans Road" path to salvation. It's a series of verses from Romans that lay out the gospel message. However, I see some problems with it. [show slide] First of all, as author Andrew Perriman stated, "To start with, you can hardly call it a road. Someone has dug up half-a-dozen paving stones from Paul’s argument and laid them in a line. That’s not a road. It’s not even much of a path."
To explain, you don't have Paul laying out the whole gospel formula in one concise passage; you have verses here and there put together to form the 'road'. You do, however have passages where the answer to "what must I do to be saved" is given; one of which is by Paul himself. I'll deal with those later.
For the most part I have no problem with the verses used in the Romans Road because they do illustrate a clear path of understanding. 3:23-all have sinned. That explains our problem and our need. 5:8-God demonstrated his love for us in sending Christ to die for us sinners. Shows us what God and Jesus did to take care of our dilemma. 6:23-the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. This illustrates the consequence for us having sinned and fallen short along with God's remedy.
It's all good but it's when we get to 10:9-10 that I see a problem; not with the verses but the way they are handled. Believe and confess-that's it. There's no mention of repentance or baptism. How can Peter say repent and be baptized in Acts 2:38 and Paul say believe and confess in Romans 10? That sounds like two different paths to salvation.
There is not two different methods of salvation. Jesus said go and make disciples of all nations. He didn't say, 'teach the Jews to repent and be baptized and teach the gentiles to believe and confess'. But that is some people's view of the the differences between what Peter said in Acts 2 and what Paul said here in Rom. 10. But Paul said in Eph. 4:5 that there is one faith, one Lord, one baptism.
In Rom. 10, Paul is making the point about salvation coming by way of faith not by observing the law as the preceding verses of chapter 10 support. Paul wasn't laying out the whole plan of salvation; he was arguing that salvation is by faith not by works. He expressed that sentiment earlier in Rom. 3:28, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." Paul reiterated this principle in Eph. 2:8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."
So does this mean that the repentance and baptism Peter talked about in Acts 2 is contradictory to what Paul mentions? No. Paul wrote in Gal. 3:26-28, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Paul talks about being saved through faith but then connects baptism to being saved as well as the connecting word, for signifies.
In, The Faith Once for All, by Jack Cottrell, he poses the argument that if it is by faith then how can repentance and baptism be listed as conditions for salvation? He answers that by differentiating between the means and the conditions. He states that faith is the means (the instrument, vehicle, channel) by which salvation takes place but it is not the sole condition for receiving it.
He goes on to say that the texts that mention just faith doesn't mean faith is the only condition, any more than the texts that mention repentance means that is the only condition (2nd Pet. 3:9, '[The Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance'.) Since faith is mentioned in some texts and repentance in others, good hermeneutics [interpreting the bible] requires us to put all the texts together to get the total picture. Thus we can assume that where only one condition is mentioned the rest are implied."
Therefore, in context, Rom. 10:9-10 is not meant to be taken as a standalone method of salvation but as an argument for salvation by faith not by observing the law. If we just take the statements of believe and confess as the end all then we're mistaken; it's not as simple as that. James 2:19, "You believe there is one God? Good; even the demons believe that and shudder." In the passage James was talking about the importance of deeds to prove their faith was genuine.
Jesus said in Matt. 7:21, "Not everyone who calls me Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." We have to take in all the verses that talk about the gospel in order to get a complete understanding of its requirements. Faith is the means but not the only condition.
Like with Paul and the jailer. In the middle of the night, after the singing and praying and the earthquake; after the prison doors flew open and no one left the jailer was convicted and wanted to be saved. Acts 16:29-31, "The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
He asked Paul what he needed to do to be saved and Paul said believe. That's the end of it, right? No. Vs. 32, "Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house." What need would there be to speak the word of the Lord to them? Didn't Paul already explain what they needed to do? Not entirely. Paul went on to explain the rest of the gospel message. He explained the means-believe ie. faith. Then he went on to explain the conditions.
Vs. 33, "At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized." "Immediately". Why? If they were already saved because they believed then surely their baptism could've waited for a more convenient time than the middle of the night. It was immediate because Paul explained that it was a necessary component of salvation.
Philip and the Ethiopian. You have the same thing happening with Philip and the Ethiopian. After the Ethiopian asked Philip who Isaiah was referring to in the passage he was reading, Philip explained the prophecy and told him about salvation through Christ. Acts 8:35-39, "Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing."
If you have the NIV you'll notice that verse 37 isn't there, but it is in the footnotes. Some manuscripts have it; some don't. But it's an interesting verse. After the Ethiopian asked about being baptized Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may. The eunuch answered, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God'. So Philip lays down a condition for baptism. It needs to be preceded by faith.
Baptism by itself means nothing, if it is not accompanied by faith. When Peter was talking about how Noah and his family were saved in the flood he uses the idea of salvation through water to explain something about baptism. 1st Pet. 3:21, "and this water now symbolizes baptism that now saves you also-not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
Francis Chan-YouTube video explaining 1st Pet. 3:21. The water itself is only water. However, when there is faith and repentance (the pledge of a good conscience) the act of baptism saves because it is done through the conqueror of death-Jesus. Therefore we are buried with him in baptism and raised to walk a new life.
Rom. 6:1-4, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
We see Paul highlighting the importance of baptism just a few chapters before talking about believing and confessing. So in light of this, and other verses from Paul regarding the significance of baptism, we can conclude that Paul didn't imply that simply confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead are the only requirements for salvation. The Romans road is incomplete.
2) The "Sinner's Prayer".
The sinner's prayer mainly stems from Romans 10:12-13, "For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
I wonder how call on the name of the Lord got translated to mean, 'pray'? There are plenty of occurrences of the word pray or prayer in the NT so I would think if Paul meant pray he would've said pray. There are a few occurrences of the phrase, call on the name of the Lord in the OT. But there is only one occurrence of the phrase, calls on the name of the Lord'. That is found in Joel 2:32 where it says, 'And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved'. And Paul uses it here in Rom. 10:13.
Yet in looking up the Hebrew word where these phrases are used it means to call upon, to summon, to announce, to proclaim, to cry out, to invite. In the NT the Greek word used had similar definitions with the addition of to appeal to. Although there is a minor inference made to prayer, we see that the meaning behind the phrase is not pray.
But Paul wasn't the only one to quote Joel 2:32. Peter used it in the first sermon preached after Pentecost. After the disciples spoke in tongues the Jews thought they were drunk. Peter stood up to clarify that wasn't the case and then he explained that this was the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. Then he recites Joel 2:28-32, finishing with, "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Peter goes on to preach the rest of his sermon; after which we have the response.
Acts 2:36-38, "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit"
So we see Peter using the same verse Paul did about calling on the name of the Lord but when asked what they needed to do to be saved you don't see Peter say, 'I already told you what you needed to do-call on the name of the Lord'. You don't see Peter tell them, 'just say this prayer', or, 'ask Jesus into your heart'. Instead, he says, 'repent and be baptized'.
In Acts 22, when Paul was speaking to the crowd in Jerusalem, he recounted his conversion. He talked about being blinded on the road to Damascus and how he was instructed to go find Ananias. After he restored Paul's sight, Ananias said this to Paul: Acts 22:14-16, "Then he said: ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name."
Why didn't Ananias simply say, 'what are you waiting for? Get up, call upon his name and be saved'? Why include baptism along with that? Clearly Ananias connected baptism to having one's sins washed away. So, if this is what was taught to Paul and since he is recalling these words to his audience, obviously Rom. 10:9-13 is not meant to communicate the whole gospel; thus excluding repentance and baptism. Just as Peter used these words in Acts 2:21 and followed them up with Acts 2:38.
Nowhere in scripture will you see someone praying to receive salvation. You won't see phrases like, 'pray Jesus into your heart'. The sinner's prayer is not biblical; it's man-made. Here is some history on how the sinner's prayer came to be. Bible Study Guide.org, "The sinner's prayer, as we know it today, was invented by 20th century preachers as a quick and easy way to save people.
Around the 2nd century, Gnostics taught that baptism was not essential to salvation. Christians, on the other hand, vehemently refuted the Gnostic doctrine and taught that baptism was absolutely necessary to be saved. Later, during the Reformation, Protestant Theology, in opposition to Catholicism, led to the invention of Protestant denominations. Reformation theologians opposed some Catholic doctrines of salvation (e.g., indulgences) while embracing others (e.g., infant baptism).
Trying to "reform" the Catholic church, Reformation theologians formulated their own doctrines of salvation from which denominations were created in breaking away from Catholicism. In the process, Gnostic doctrines of salvation (e.g., salvation before baptism, and salvation without baptism) were again popularized in Reformation doctrine.
But, the doctrines of Reformed Theology did not develop into the "sinner's prayer" for hundreds of years after the Reformation. As the Protestant Reformation developed, some churches taught that salvation was a gift from God and that baptism was not necessary for salvation. Later, Anabaptists broke away from churches adhering to the doctrine of infant baptism under the leadership of such men as Menno Simons and John Smyth, only baptizing adults.
As these Protestant issues were hashed out, man-made religious doctrines increasingly rejected God's word which requires men to be baptized to be saved. Since the Anabaptists rejected God's word concerning baptism while also rejecting the Catholic and Reformed doctrine of infant baptism, they were forced to invent a human doctrine prescribing the point of one's salvation. Praying to be saved became their substitute for God's command to be baptized.
In the end, baptism was relegated to merely being a symbolic act, not having anything to do with salvation. And in time, the phrase "baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace" was invented and adopted into Protestant doctrine. As man-made doctrines of praying for salvation developed, "mourner's bench salvation" was invented by men in the eighteenth century, becoming popular in the nineteenth century and dying out in the early twentieth century.
This doctrine of salvation asserts that a sinner might be saved if he prays long and hard, at the mourner's bench. Stories of people spending many long, arduous hours at the mourner's bench were common. During this time, such phrases as "alter call" and "pray through" were popularized. In the early twentieth century, revivalist preachers began simplifying their doctrines of salvation. Mourner's bench salvation was too time consuming and arduous a process making it unappealing.
Also, large crusades became popular resulting in denominational preachers desiring a simple way for hundreds of people to be simultaneously saved within just a few minutes. So, preachers began asking people to come to the front and pray a prayer to be saved. By praying the prayer, people were led to believe they were forgiven of their sins and saved. This prayer soon developed into what is called the sinner's prayer today.
As radio and television evangelism became popular in the twentieth century, preachers again simplified their doctrines of salvation. It was not possible for people listening to the radio or watching television to come to the front of an assembly, have contact with a preacher, and pray with him. Sometimes, people listening to the radio were asked to touch the radio and pray. Other times, people watching television were asked to touch the television and pray. And sometimes, they were not asked to do anything but pray.
Since then, many preachers in churches do not ask people to come to the front and pray a sinner's prayer but simply to pray while sitting in the audience. Today, people are led to believe they can pray a sinner's pray anywhere and under any condition to be saved. Many preachers and teachers "suggest" prayers for sinners to pray -- some are several sentences long and some are only one or two sentences. But more and more, these preachers let people "receive Jesus" any way they want. People who believe they have been saved by praying a sinner's prayer have believed a false doctrine originating from men. If you're interested on researching this further, Wikipedia provides some good info on the "sinner's prayer".
The doctrine of Christ and His church is the same today as it was in the first century: faith, repentance, baptism and confessing Jesus as Lord. We need to spread the gospel but we need to make sure it's the right gospel. The 'Romans Road' is incomplete and the 'sinner's prayer' is not the right response. The right message is telling people they are sinners and in need of salvation. We tell them about God's love and Jesus' sacrifice. Then we explain to them the way to properly respond to this truth in order to be saved. We teach them the necessity of at faith, repentance and baptism.
