Saving Sinners from Hell

Growing up attending a conservative evangelical church, I was taught that I should invite the “unsaved” to church so they could hear the Gospel preached and have a chance to “get saved.” If they didn’t respond, at least they’d had a chance. It would be their fault if they ended up in hell. I had done “my part.”

After my wife and I married and began attending another conservative evangelical church, we were surprised to learn that “personal evangelism” was the new fad. Somehow the responsibility for getting people saved had landed squarely in our laps. We were told a few people were occasionally getting saved at the end of a sermon at church, but that plan wasn’t working well. Therefore, it was now our personal responsibility to “lead our unsaved friends, family members and neighbors to the Lord.”

Most of us Are Failures at Personal Evangelism

Some churches may still emphasize personal evangelism, but I have rarely heard the term mentioned in the past twenty years. Most of us have never “led anyone to the Lord.” So we’d prefer not to be told we should. If our church tries to pressure us in this way, we can always find another church.

What About Proverbs 11:30?

However, doesn’t Proverbs 11:30 tell us “He that winneth souls is wise”? Should we understand this to mean it is our responsibility to win souls, our responsibility to lead people to the Lord?

Not everyone understands the verse to mean that. Matthew Henry commented “The righteous are as trees of life; and their influence upon earth, like the fruits of that tree, support and nourish the spiritual life in many.”

Providence Baptist’s online Bible study course teaches “Some build a whole system of theology on this verse, believing that they can win men to Christ by their own powers of persuasion. But nowhere else in the Bible is this taught…. ‘Winneth’ is nowhere else so rendered. The Hebrew word appears over 1050 times and is most commonly rendered ‘taketh’ or ‘taketh away’…. Truly God’s people are to witness of Him to others, but the Spirit alone can win them to Christ.”

Some would frame the discussion in terms of Calvinism (only the Spirit can win people to Christ) versus Arminianism (we must lead or win people to Christ), but I think of those two viewpoints as “the two horns of a dilemma” (in this case an either/or proposition). Must it be “either/or?” Is there another way?

Love – An Alternative

Rather than look at “soul winning” in terms of a theological argument, I look at it in terms of what I have observed as a follower of Jesus. Those I know who also follow Jesus, regardless of whether or not they grew up in church, believe that Jesus, through his Spirit, drew them to him. Sermons, Bible studies, perhaps even a theological argument may have been a part of the process. However, the love of Jesus, often shown to them by his followers, was often an even more important part of the process.

I don’t need to be able to argue the Bible or theology. I don’t need to be able to present the “plan of salvation.” I don’t need to know the four or forty, or however many there are, spiritual laws. I don’t need to be a “good closer.” I don’t need to be able to preach a fantastic sermon that will convince people.

As a follower of Jesus, however, I do need to heed his words to love the people in my world, my “neighbors” – Not just the people on my block, but everyone I come in contact with – with his love. He will draw people to himself, not I. Perhaps he can use the love he has shown them through me, along with other things, as part of the process. However, it is he, not I, who draws people to himself.

I am able to love people. That I can do. As he has loved me, I am able to love others. Maybe I’m not great at it, but I can love others with the love he has shown me. That’s pretty much what my life as his follower is all about.

How about you?