By M.R. Conrad on
Jargon
Church Culture
Communication
Sound Doctrine

“Ask Jesus into your heart.” You’ve heard it said. Maybe you’ve said it yourself. Often, it’s what we say to children as we encourage them to become Christians. I’ve heard it in the U.S., the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. “Ask Jesus into your heart” has become standard verbiage in leading someone to Christ.

But what does this mean? How does the Bible use this phrase? What do those who hear us say it think we mean by this? When did this phrase enter our Christian vocabulary?1

What Does “Ask Jesus into Your Heart” mean?

For someone who grew up in church, this question seems obvious. Asking Jesus into your heart is how you get saved! When you ask Him in, He saves you. But is this how the Bible describes way of salvation?

Where Does the Bible Say to “Ask Jesus into Your Heart”?

Actually, you cannot find this phrase in the Bible. However, a couple of passages use similar language. They could be assumed to provide a basis for this terminology.

Christ Dwelling in Your Heart (Ephesians 3:17)

“That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” This phrase is part of Paul’s prayer for the believers at the church in Ephesus. Just giving the context reveals that, though the wording is similar, this verse does not teach that we should invite non-Christians to ask Jesus into their hearts. Paul was praying that Christ would dwell in the hearts of those who were already Christians. Whatever that means and how it relates to a fuller understanding of Christ’s love is a topic for another article.2 What is clear is that this verse provides no basis for the phrase “ask Jesus into your heart.”

Christ Knocking at the Door of Your Heart (Revelation 3:20)

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

At first glance, this verse would seem to support the idea of asking Jesus into your life. Preachers have long employed this verse in gospel invitations. However, once again, the context of the verse shows that this invitation is for believers, not unbelievers. The original audience was the church in the city of Laodicea in ancient Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). These believers had lost their fervor for following Christ and strayed away from Him. Jesus is knocking at the door of the heart of these wayward believers so that they can once again have closer fellowship with Him. This verse provides no basis for inviting nonbelievers to ask Jesus into their hearts.

Christ in You (Union with Christ)

The Bible does stress a believer’s union with Christ. Jesus speaks of this in John 14-17. Repeatedly, the apostle Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” to describe this unity. Colossians 1:27 talks of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” However, in each case, this union with Christ is seen as a blessing of salvation, not the way to be saved. An unbeliever does not get saved by asking for this unity with Christ: a believer experiences this unity as a result of salvation.

Encouraging someone to “ask Jesus into their heart” is similar to telling them they must only ask Jesus to let them into heaven and they will be saved. Neither asking Jesus in to you nor asking Jesus to let you into heaven is the prerequisite for salvation. Like union with Christ, entering heaven is a blessed result of salvation, not the way to be saved. When the jailer at Philippi asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul did not reply, “Ask Jesus into your heart”—nor did He say “Ask God to let you into heaven?” Paul’s answer got the heart of the matter—“believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30-31).

Conclusion: Avoid “Churchese”

In the church today, we sometimes speak “churchese”—the language of a Christian subculture. Some of this we inherit from previous generations of believers. Other spiritual jargon we develop on our own (let’s unpack this—or maybe not!). This “churchese” can distract or confuse those we hope to help.

For those who did not grow up in church, becoming a Christian involves learning a new vocabulary. Some of this is unavoidable. God gave us biblical terms like justification, sanctification, and propitiation to help us understand what He did for us. But we can limit the verbal barriers to understanding by not adding unnecessary insider terms, especially ones that may obscure the truth rather than illuminate it.

The phrase “ask Jesus into your heart” is unnecessary and unclear. Those hearing it for the first time may ask themselves “How does Jesus get into your heart? Is this metaphorical? Why do I want Him there?” Let’s use the terms the Bible uses to describe the way of salvation—words like repentance, faith, and grace. Tell those you hope to lead to Jesus to admit their sin and inability to save themselves (Romans 3:23; Titus 3:5). Urge them to trust Jesus alone for salvation because of His death in their place (2 Corinthians 5:21). Speak of His grace, offering this free gift that anyone can accept simply by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Speak truth—not “churchese.”

Notes

1 I will trace the recent history of the “ask Jesus into your heart” verbiage in my next post.

2 Harold Hoehner has a helpful explanation of this passage in his Ephesians commentary.

MR Conrad Bio

Dr. Conrad serves in urban Asia. He, his wife, and their four children squeeze into a 700 square-foot apartment where he seizes rare moments of quiet to write amidst homeschooling, a cacophony of musical instruments, and the steady stream of visitors they so enjoy having in their home. He enjoys birding, board games, and basketball. He is the author of, so far, two books.

Discussion

Wed, 05/28/25

I remember when I came to Christ, there was a lot of vocabulary that I had to learn to comprehend many of my brothers and sisters, and I still am astounded when many in our circles try to use this language outside our church cloisters. "Do you not get that they have no clue what you are trying to say?" comes to mind.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Wed, 05/28/25

I've heard this before in my church.

Philippians 1:3-7 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

Clearly, Paul considered having someone else in their heart to mean loving that person.

Wed, 05/28/25

Paul’s usage is different but similar.

He is talking to humans, which we know can’t literally be in someone’s heart. He’s also saying he has them there, not that he is asking them to go there… which is something we never do with that metaphor.

But it’s still fascinating to me that he used a metaphor like that long before Romanticism made the “heart” the emotional thing we identify it with in our language today.

But the Greeks used the term kardia a bit differently than we tend to think of it today in English.

To say they were in his “heart” was to use a figure denoting not mere emotions or sentiment, but the essence of consciousness and personality. “Heart” among the Greeks and Hebrews included both mind and will, referring to a person’s innermost being (Friedrich Baumgartel and Johannes Behm, Kardia, TDNT, 3:605–614)

Kent, Homer A., Jr. “Philippians.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ephesians through Philemon. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Vol. 11. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1981. 106. Print.

But it’s apparently more complicated than that…

διὰ τὸ ἔχειν με ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμᾶς, “because you hold me in such affection.” The rightness (δίκαιον) of Paul’s feelings for the Philippians is explained in this phrase, which is usually translated “because I have you in my heart,” meaning “because you are very dear to me.” But again the Greek is so ambiguous that one cannot be certain that this interpretation is correct. (1) There is no personal pronoun modifying καρδίᾳ, “heart,”; hence, the definite article could mean “my heart” or “your heart.” (2) The word order ἔχειν με ἐν τῇ καρδία ὑμᾶς is not itself a guarantee that the flow of thought must be “I have you in my heart” and not the opposite “You have me in your heart.” First, there are no other examples of διὰ τὸ ἔχειν, “because [someone] has,” in Paul’s writings. Hence, it is not possible to determine a pattern of word order for this construction based on Pauline usage. In addition, on examining διὰ τὸ ἔχειν, “because [someone] has,” elsewhere, one notices that the so-called (accusative) subject of the infinitive stands outside the prepositional phrase as many times as it does within the phrase (cf. Matt 24:12; Luke 2:4; 6:48; 19:11; Acts 18:2; Heb 7:23; Jas 4:2; contrast Mark 5:4; Acts 27:9). Where subject and object are both clearly denoted, sometimes the subject is within the phrase and the object outside (John 2:24; Acts 27:4); sometimes the object is within the phrase and the subject outside (Heb 10:2); and sometimes both subject and object (as here) are outside the phrase with object first and then subject (Luke 18:5) or subject first and then object (Acts 4:2). (3) The context seems fairly neutral as well. V 8 may favor the interpretation “I have you in my heart,” but the content of v 7 favors the opposite: Paul says, “I am justified in thanking God for you, rejoicing over you, having confidence in you, because you have me in your heart and because you are partners with me in my imprisonment, etc.” Since the construction is ambiguous and yet it is necessary to make a choice between the two interpretations, the translation of the NEB (NRSV too) is judged best to fit the facts: “because you hold me in such affection.” Justification for the way Paul feels about the Philippians has its basis, then, in their affection for him, καρδία, “heart,” being understood as the seat of one’s emotions. (See O’Brien, 90, and Fee [1995], 68, for a discussion on the translation here. The former prefers “It is quite right for me to have you in mind … because I have you in my heart, and since you are so well-disposed to me,” appealing to Reed, NovT 33 [1991] 1–27; and now more recently idem, Discourse Analysis, 387. Also in support of the rendering “I hold you in my heart” is Bockmuehl, 63, against Witherington, 38.)

Hawthorne, Gerald F. Philippians. Vol. 43. Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2004. Print. Word Biblical Commentary.

What’s clear is that Paul was saying he and the Philippians had a special relationship.

So maybe that argues a tiny bit for ‘ask Jesus into your heart.’

Still, the author’s point is strong. There are so many clearer and more biblically normal ways to describe a saving response to the gospel.

Let’s use the terms the Bible uses to describe the way of salvation—words like repentance, faith, and grace. Tell those you hope to lead to Jesus to admit their sin and inability to save themselves (Romans 3:23; Titus 3:5). Urge them to trust Jesus alone for salvation because of His death in their place (2 Corinthians 5:21). Speak of His grace, offering this free gift that anyone can accept simply by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.