•8:00 AM
By: Tom Smith, Wooddale Church of Christ
Recently I received an e-mail asking me "Would you please explain John 9:31 and Acts 10:31 ? Does God hear the sinner's prayer or not?"
To answer this question, let us first notice the two passages, which some claim contradict each other.
"We know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and do his will, him he heareth" (John 9:31). "Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God" (Acts 10:31), In the passage in John 9:31, the blind man who had been healed by Jesus was speaking of the Lord. The Jews had accused Jesus of being a sinner, and the blind man simply stated what they already knew: "God will not hear sinners." In the other passage, Cornelius, a Gentile, was not a Christian, yet the record says his prayer was heard.
But how is the term, "sinner," used in the Scriptures?
"Sinner" sometimes is used to mean one who is not a Christian: "If a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name. For the time (is come) for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" (1 Pet. 4:16-18).
Note that "Christian " and "sinner" are set as opposites.
The Christian is one who is in a saved state and in fellowship with God. In this sense then, the sinner is one who is not a child of God, an alien to God's Kingdom (Eph. 2:11-12).
However, the more common use of "sinner" in the Scriptures is that of one who rebels against the will of God, refusing to do the Lord's will. This is the way the term "sinner" is used in John 9:31.
God told the people of Israel, "Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that he will not hear" (lsa. 59:1-2). This was simply another way of saying that when folk rebel against the will of God and will not listen to Him, then He will not listen to them.
This principle is firmly based in all of God's dealing with mankind.
Note this passage: "Because I have called, and ye have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man hath regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, And would none of my reproof. ..Then will they call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me" (Prov. 1:24-28).
No matter what a man may claim, until he submits to the will of God for his life, his prayer will not avail: "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination" (Prov. 28:9).
It was to this principle that the blind man referred in John 9:31. If Jesus had been a sinner (a rebel against God), then God would not have heard his prayer and granted Him the power to heal the blindness. But Jesus was a Jew, a citizen of God's kingdom, according to the law. So were those in Isa. 59:1-2, Prov. 1 and Prov. 28. This use of "sinner" does not mean an alien sinner, but one who is a citizen in God's kingdom, but who is in rebellion against God by refusing to obey Him.
Now to answer the question.
"The prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16), and "If any man be a worshiper of God, and do his will, him he heareth" (John 9:31). In other words, when one is willing to listen to God, then God will listen to him. That is the point with Cornelius. Even though he was not a Christian, Cornelius was willing to hear God. Therefore, God was willing to hear him. It is important, however, to recognize that prayer is not a substitute for obedience.
Some contend that all a person must do to be saved is believe and ask God to save him. But, no matter what a person may do, the principle is still true: "To obey is better than sacrifice" (1 Sam. 15:22). Jesus had said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). So, even though the prayer of Cornelius was heard, his prayer did not save him. He still had to "believe and be baptized" (Mark 16:16), and he was: "Then answered Peter, can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized. ..And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 10:46-48).
When one will listen to God, God will hear his prayer.
But He will not violate His own will in order to answer that prayer.
Obeying God is the basis for His hearing our prayer.
"And whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight" (1 John 3:22). Saul's prayer was heard (Acts 9) before he became a Christian, but that prayer did not save him (Acts 22:16). The same was true with Cornelius, and the same is true with all today.
Prayer is not a substitute for doing what God said to do to become a Christian.
No matter how much one may pray, it is clear that such a person still must "believe and be baptized" in order to be saved and become a Christian.
