“Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God'” (John 3:5).

People constantly misattribute statements to the Bible. When the Chicago Bears fired Mike Ditka as head coach, he said, “Scripture tells us, ‘This too shall pass.'” That sounds good, but Scripture doesn’t say those words! Tevye, the main character in Fiddler on the Roof, says, “As the Good Book says, ‘When a poor man eats a chicken, one of them is sick’.” Someone asks where it says that, and he concedes, “Well, it doesn’t say that exactly, but somewhere there is something about a chicken.” People claim the Bible says, “God helps those who help themselves” when it actually says he helps the helpless (Ps. 10:14).

Some false statements aren’t all that consequential. No, the Bible doesn’t specify that Adam and Eve ate an apple (Gen. 2:16-17, 3:3), or that there were three wise men (Matt. 2:1-12), or that a whale swallowed Jonah (Jonah 1:17-2:1). I’m not going to spend time arguing about those details. But when the stakes are high, the instructions matter. If you’re next to a bomb and someone tells you how to defuse it, you listen carefully. Wrong ideas about eternal life and death need correcting.

I want to address three prevalent beliefs. You may have tried to find salvation through these beliefs; if not, you almost certainly know people who have. Consider what the Bible says about these popular ideas: 1) “We’re justified by faith alone.” 2) “We’re born again by the sinner’s prayer.” 3) “We just need to come to Jesus.”

The Bible Doesn’t Say, “We’re justified by faith alone.”

To be justified is to be made righteous or declared innocent. It’s a court term for being judged to be right. God declares us right because of Jesus’ saving work, and we’re justified by faith. The problem with this statement is the word “alone.” The only time the words “faith alone” are used together, Scripture specifies that we’re NOT justified by “faith alone” (James 2:24).

Martin Luther said he considered the doctrine of salvation by “faith alone” the centerpiece of the Reformation. If we think of faith as belief alone — as many do — that’s a lousy centerpiece. You can tell “belief alone” is what James condemns because he says, “demons believe,” yet they’re not saved (James 2:19). Demons don’t have trust and loyalty in God – two critical parts of Biblical faith. They believe and fear him but don’t submit to him. That’s a dead faith; only living faith will save us (James 2:26).

Many will hold extra tight to this false view, teaching that the doctrine itself is necessary for salvation. It’s quite a twisted pretzel of logic to untangle. They don’t just believe in justification by belief alone. They believe in justification by the belief in justification by belief alone! (Did you follow that!) They can’t let go for fear of losing their salvation because the core of their faith isn’t in Christ but in this doctrine of justification by faith alone. But the Bible doesn’t teach that way to salvation!

The Bible Doesn’t Say, “We’re born again by the sinner’s prayer.”

Billy Graham and other televangelists popularized a prayer that goes like this: “Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name. Amen.”

There’s a lot that’s good there. But if we tell someone they’ll be born again by reciting this prayer, we have offered a different path to salvation than any convert in the Bible. The Bible never says to “receive Jesus into your heart.” Throughout Acts, we read of conversion cases, and none come by just saying a prayer.

Instead of repeating a prayer, we repeat Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

Jesus tells us how to be born again: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). How can we be born of “water” and “the Spirit“? After Peter preached on Christ’s death, resurrection, and reign, people asked him what they should do. He told them to “repent and be baptized” for forgiveness and to “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Water and the Spirit.

People in the Bible call on the name of the Lord for salvation not by saying a prayer but in baptism (Acts 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21). Instead of repeating a prayer, we repeat Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:1-4). Only after we’re born again can we receive forgiveness through prayer, as Simon the sorcerer did (Acts 8:22) for sin committed after his baptism (Acts 8:13; cf. Gal. 3:27).

The Bible Doesn’t Say, “We just need to come to Jesus.”

A branch doesn’t have an on-again/off-again relationship with a vine. If it separates from the vine, it dies.

The only problem with this statement is the word “just.” It’s not enough to come. We also need to stay. Jesus said, “Come to me” (Matt. 11:28), but he also said, “abide in me,” calling himself the vine and us the branches (John 15:4-6). To “abide” means to stay, to remain. A branch doesn’t have an on-again/off-again relationship with a vine. If it separates from the vine, it dies. So will we if we don’t abide in him and let his words abide in us (John 15:7). We have life through him, and he calls us to keep his commandments and abide in his love (John 15:10). Come to Jesus and continue in him.

If I could eliminate three popular false doctrines in Evangelical Christianity, I would eliminate these. Put the sinner’s prayer together with the idea that you only need to believe without ongoing obedient faith, and you’re left with countless souls who think they’re saved because they said a prayer once. The Bible doesn’t say that, and we must turn to God’s word to find the answers to these critical questions!