Is Praying For Someone’s Salvation Biblical?

Q: Is praying for someone’s Salvation biblical? I have 7 brothers and 5 sisters that still are not saved yet. RC Sproul seems to think that it is not biblical. He says God predestined everything and it is not useful to pray for someone’s salvation. Hope that is not true, would be depressing--either way we have a good God and He knows what He is doing. Your thoughts? Thanks

Thanks for your question. Though I am not currently serving on the staff of B4, I wanted to have a shot at addressing your question. I always value the times we get to talk. I know this has been on your heart for a long time...and you have been praying for them for a long time. I also would say that I have valued Dr. Sproul’s insights over the years, but have found that he seems to be more strident in his Reformed (Calvinist) theology in his later years.

A: My answer to your question is "Yes" and "No". I will answer this question like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.

On the one hand, R.C. Sproul has a point. If you are a Calvinist then praying for someone’s salvation would be a wasted prayer. If God is not willing for them to be saved or has not chosen (elected) them, then it would be a futile prayer.

• On the other hand, such reasoning would render most prayer unnecessary. Since I am not a Calvinist I think that his answer (as you present it) is insufficient and misses the point.

On the one hand, if Jesus has made salvation possible for the whole world in his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the dead. Salvation is finished in his death in fact it is his loud cry from the cross “Tetelestai!” (which means “It is finished!” or, “Paid in full!”). So in that case what exactly would we be asking him to do? He has already done it all.

• On the other hand, we need to respond to the love he has offered. Will God make your brothers and sisters respond to his love in faith? I don’t think so, but there are many who do.

Perhaps the middle ground of faith is best found in the question, “Will he soften their hearts in answer to our prayers?” I think so. My reasoning might not be iron-clad, but if God—not willing that nay should perish(2 Peter 3:9)—can harden hearts like he did in cooperation with Pharaoh’s own choices to harden his heart, then he should be able to soften hearts too. That is how I pray…that God would soften their hearts to respond to:

• the conviction of the Holy Spirit (that they need to be saved) 
• the love of the Father (that he has always wanted to save them) 
• the grace of Christ (that Jesus alone is the one who makes us clean).

With both hands raised in prayer… I look to the examples of Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul,

In Jesus’ high priestly prayer (John 17) he prayed for those who would be saved through the ongoing faithful ministry of his disciples through the generations (v.20-21).

The Apostle Paul prayed for the salvation of his Jewish brothers and sisters and told the church in Rome about it. So, if Paul’s example is to be instructive for us then that may make Dr. Sproul’s extreme position (as you have presented it) un-biblical. I’ll let you decide.

“Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them

is that they may be saved.” (Romans 10:1)