Calling on His Name

What was the Great Awakening? It’s not Monday morning; it was a revival movement 200 years after the Reformation Movement. The first and second Great awakening was primarily focused in America and England - (The Restoration Movement came out of this movement.) In 1801 the Cane Ridge Revival was labeled “the most important religious gathering in all of American history.”

It was said that 20,000 people attended the tent meeting; and that meeting helped to usher in a new way of looking at a biblical concept of salvation. With a lot of heightened emotional experiences and the sheer popularity of the event, it seemed there need to be a better way to handle all of the responses to the gospel message. The answer: the “anxious seat,” which was another form of the “Mourner’s bench.” This was a place up front (or off to the side) where you could go to get more
information about how to respond to the message. Some have suggested it was designed to make this process more efficient, but it was through this event that gave birth to the idea of the “sinner’s prayer.”

Today, many people have asked where that is found in Scripture. The main problem is… it’s not in there! But how could such a major religious concept that many practice in order to be saved, not even be in the Bible?

Throughout the teachings of the Second Great Awakening, the sinner’s prayer was gaining popularity; and Romans 10 was the passage often used for support – “They [those who trust in Christ] have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

The previous verses are used to explain what that means: “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)

But is that really describing a “sinner’s prayer”? Is this what Paul had in mind when he wrote Romans? Did Paul imagine that two millennia after he wrote this letter that people all over the globe would be told that if they sincerely asked Jesus in their hearts, they can be assured of being saved because of the promise in Romans 10:13?

The word “call” is Epikaleomai in koine Greek, and it means to "appeal to." The Israelites appealed to God in Egypt, but that pleading didn’t save them, but God heard it. God heard the prayers of Cornelius, but those prayers didn’t save him, Peter was sent to show him what he needed to do.  As believers we should do what Paul instructed the Ephesians to do in Ephesians 5:17, “Don’t be foolish but understand the will of the Lord.”