What is the sinner's prayer?
The prayer people call "the sinner's prayer" comes from a story Jesus told about two men who went up to the temple to pray, and only one of them went home right with God. The tax collector's few words — spoken from a distance, with his eyes down — raise the questions every anxious person asks: what should I say to God, and does saying it save me?
Where the Prayer Begins
Everything in the tax collector's behaviour says he has stopped comparing himself with other people. One writer takes the verse apart piece by piece:
F. B. HoleWith the Pharisee it was himself, his character, his deeds. With the tax collector, the confession of sin, and of his need of propitiation... His position: "afar off," showing he knew he had no right to draw near. His attitude: not lifting "his eyes to heaven" — heaven was no place for a man like him. His action: "beat his breast," confessing that he was the one who deserved to be struck. His words: "me, the sinner." The Pharisee had said, "I am not like other men," striking at other men rather than himself. The tax collector hit the right man, and humbling himself he was blessed.
"The Sinner", Not "A Sinner"
Several commentators point out that the Greek carries a definite article, so the man says the sinner. That small word measures how completely his own case fills his view:
William KellyThere was the poor tax collector, to whose soul God had spoken, and who, instead of looking to find other people as bad or worse, can only say, "God be merciful to me the sinner!" It is not merely "to me a sinner." For many, many years I have been struck with the great beauty of that expression — "God be merciful to me the sinner, if ever there was one. I know my sins and they are so overwhelming that I do not think about others. God be merciful to me the sinner; me only."
What "Be Merciful" Asks For
The word behind "be merciful" is the word for propitiation — writers note it can be rendered "be propitious." And since he prayed in the temple, an answer was already burning on the altar in front of him:
W. W. Fereday"Be merciful" means "be propitious." The lamb then being burnt on the altar in the temple court shows how God can be propitious to the guilty. The altar and the sacrifice speak of Christ and His cross. "The redemption that is in Christ Jesus" allows God to grant pardon and justification to every broken, believing soul.
The Four Parts of the Cry
Short as it is, the prayer has a shape, and one writer traces it word by word:
H. H. SnellNotice the character of this prayer: first, his request is to "God." Second, he admits his guilt as "a sinner." Third, his only ground of hope is divine mercy — "be merciful." Fourth, his deep, heartfelt personal need — "be merciful to me." He brings nothing but a load of sin to be removed, a conscience weighed down with guilt to be cleansed, an aching heart to be comforted, a needy soul to be filled. He offers God no merit of his own, and he expects everything from God.
The Verdict
Jesus does not leave the outcome open. He announces it, and the announcement is the point of the whole story:
H. H. SnellOur blessed Lord then tells us that the tax collector "went down to his house JUSTIFIED." ... It is not that the Pharisee was justified to any degree; but comparing the two men, the tax collector could be spoken of as JUSTIFIED. How wonderful! What a glorious unfolding of the riches of the grace of God! A self-condemned sinner, casting himself on the free, sovereign mercy of God — JUSTIFIED!
Not a Formula to Repeat
The words are a real cry, but the commentators are firm that no prayer is the ground of anyone's peace. One writer warns the anxious reader directly:
C. H. MackintoshTake care that you are not mixing your poor prayers in with the glorious work of redemption, completed by the Lamb of God on the cross. Prayer is most precious; but remember, "without faith it is impossible to please God"... If you say you are crying for mercy, the word of God points you to mercy's flowing stream coming from the finished sacrifice.
That is why the prayer is not something to keep saying once it has been answered — though the place it puts you in never changes:
The Bible TreasuryI do not ask whether we are still saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. The tax collector would not say that, once he had gone down to his house justified. But he would still be on the same ground he took when, not daring to lift his eyes to heaven, he stood and beat his breast.
Summary
- Position. He stands far off and will not look up — the prayer begins where a man measures himself by God rather than by other people.
- Confession. He says "the sinner," not "a sinner": his own guilt fills the whole view, and no one else's is being weighed.
- Plea. "Be merciful" is "be propitious" — he asks God to deal with him on the ground of a sacrifice, which commentators connect to Christ and His cross.
- Verdict. Jesus declares him justified; a self-condemned man is cleared by free mercy, not by anything he brought.
- Ground. The cry is real, but the peace rests on the finished work, not on the words — the prayer need not be repeated, though the place it takes is never left.