What should we think about the millions and billions of people throughout history who have never heard the gospel? Are they rejected by God? Welcome readers. This post is so long I had to divide it. Please also see part one which contains important discussion. Part 2 is long! Feel free to scroll to subheadings if you need to.
MY THESIS. In this article I argue that while Jesus Christ is the only name by which we can find salvation, Biblical Scripture suggests a wider door of inclusion for those who are ignorant of the gospel, yet who seek and long for truth. This doesn’t make the gospel superfluous, because Christ paid the price of sin for all mankind – past present and future – and the gospel is powerful in drawing people from sin and to the living God.
SAVED BY THE GOSPEL – BEFORE CHRIST. New Testament writers spoke of a gospel, or good news, in existence before Christ. Hebrews states that those who rebelled in the time of Moses had heard that good news just as we have:
“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed” (Hebrews 4:2).
Here’s how the KJV translates this verse:
“For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
What was the “good news” ancient Israelites heard, and in what way was it similar to the good news that we have? Doesn’t only the gospel of Christ have value? Not according to Hebrews. Their downfall, we’re told, was in not applying faith to this good news. Faith, then, seems to be the common denominator and the vital ingredient.
“Good news” for the Israelites clearly included the fact that God exists, and that He is loving. It contained a chance to turn away from sin and towards being a holy or separated people. This is at the core of the Christian gospel, though the gospel we follow is more specific, focusing on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Christian gospel is the best news anyone could receive, and rejection of it is no less than a profound insult to the Father and the Son. It is the final and unforgiveable rejection of the love of God, the mercy of God, and the ways of God:
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36).
GENERAL REVELATION. God has given different levels of “good news” or “gospel” through the ages, but He has always required a response of faith and a hunger for more. It’s not as though God is or was difficult to notice, even before the time of the Patriarchs and the prophets. He has revealed Himself both directly and indirectly. “General Revelation” is a term for the ways in which God has revealed Himself in nature. His handiwork and some aspects of His character are evidenced in the things He has made, and we are an incredible part of that incredible creation. If you can look at a butterfly or a baby and insist that it evolved from nothing, you are ignoring the obvious message of God through His creation.
CONSCIENCE. General Revelation includes the testimony of our conscience. Conscience tells us when our actions are wrong or acceptable to God. We know instinctively that certain actions are bad and some are good. This is what God has built into our human nature. The “voice” of God can speak into our conscience, not in audible or detectable words but in thoughts, direction and understanding. The problem comes when people ignore their conscience, a widespread phenomenon today and throughout history. Instead they are led by their fleshly impulses and selfish desires.
Conscience tells us that there is more to life than just the physical and the fulfillment of carnal desires and needs:
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11a).
PAUL CONFIRMED THE WITNESS OF GENERAL REVELATION. Conscience speaks to us and tells us that there is something and someone greater than us. It tells us that there is a greater truth than that which we decide for ourselves or which someone else attempts to force upon us. It tells us that there is a creator who is good, who is immensely powerful, patient, kind and loving. Paul speaks of the clear message of nature and of conscience, and declares it’s enough to tell us that there is a God – a creator – and that He expects certain things of us:
“…since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:18-20).
NO EXCUSE! There is “no excuse” for the agnostic, the atheist, or the one who has never heard the gospel. General Revelation is enough to tell us that there is a God who has certain characteristics. It’s enough to tell millions of people who have never heard the gospel that there is a God in heaven, and enough to provide a pathway to greater understanding. All are expected to acknowledge some evidence of God and His character in nature, and then to seek more truth. Other passages of Scripture also demonstrate how nature is witness to a great and mighty God:
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
The skies proclaim the works of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
Night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
Their words to the ends of the world” (Psalm19:1-4).
THE FORBEARANCE OF GOD. Paul writes to the Romans about “Gentiles who do by nature things required by the Law”.
“Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them” (Romans 2:14-15).
It isn’t clear here whether Paul is speaking of Gentiles apart from the gospel of Christ or within Christ, but it does tell us that they are led by their consciences to do what ‘s right and to live in a godly way. A stronger hint is given in Paul’s next chapter:
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished” (Romans 3:25).
Before the gospel, says Paul, God’s forbearance or mercy applied to the ignorant. Again, this doesn’t speak of anyone’s freedom to live in a lawless way and get away with it – it tells us that the sacrifice of Christ paid for past sin (before Christ) as well as future sin. Paul stretches this thought of sins being unpunished to the limit in chapter 5, when he states:
“…sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law” (Romans 5:13).
Here is another reference to the principle that the less revelation you are given, the less is expected of you. This speaks to our concern for those who’ve never heard the gospel.
FAITH IN GOD. It was not only Abraham who was credited with righteousness because of his faith:
“…but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:24).
Notice that Paul is not speaking directly of faith in Jesus but faith “in him who raised Jesus our Lord”. He’s telling us here that faith in the Father – in God – enables us to receive the justification provided by Christ’s sacrifice (verse 25). You can’t find justification by believing in God while rejecting the Son (1 John 2:23) unless, perhaps, you have never even heard of the Son.
NATURE AND MORALITY. Nature also speaks to us on matters of morality and lifestyle. Our culture today works to destroy God-given morality, but anyone seeking truth and logic will recognize that nature – including human nature – was designed to be treated a certain way. God made His standards of morality “obvious”. In other words, God-given conscience helps us to know right from wrong:
“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies and the like” (Galatians 5:19-21).
GOD SEARCHES OUT THOSE SEEKING TRUTH AND GIVES IT TO THEM. The Reformed view of the spreading of the gospel is that believers take part in God’s plan to send the gospel to those He has elected but haven’t yet come to faith. The Biblical view is very close to this, but without the claim that God selects who will go to heaven and who will not:
“…he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
God knows those who are seeking and who will believe, and extends more truth to them. The New Testament provides us with some great examples. Philip was sent by the Holy Spirit to speak to an Ethiopian eunuch who had some knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures, and a desire to understand them (Acts 8:26-39). Peter was sent to Cornelius and his household who knew something about God but didn’t know the gospel of Christ (Acts 10). Paul came across a group of disciples of John the Baptist and baptized them into Christ.
We should optimistically assume that many among the apparently lost and wandering multitudes have genuinely longed for and searched for truth and reality and would have responded positively had they been blessed with the good news about Jesus Christ. God knew them: would He really let them drift into hell with no witness? Does He cringe when those seeking Him remain lost? We should hopefully assume that God doesn’t lose a single one of His own:
“God looks down from heaven
on all mankind
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God” (Psalm 53:2).
David goes on in this Psalm to say that all have gone astray, but this is not the Reformed insistence that no-one in all of time has ever sought God. David writes in verse 3 that they have “turned”, not that they haven’t yet seen the truth. The principle remains that God searches the hearts of humanity and He knows all things: how would He miss someone seeking Him, no matter how far across the world they are, and how apparently insignificant? He “foreknows” us all (Romans 8:29), It’s my conviction that in heaven we will meet people by the million whom God has sought out and brought to Himself. The gospel of Christ brings light and hope where there was none or little, and Christ sent his disciples “into all the world” (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19).
WHAT ABOUT FALSE RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY AND IDOLATRY? The skeptic insists that God can’t fairly judge those who have found their own form of worship or created and imagined their own gods. Hinduism, for example, proudly accommodates a multitude of conflicting and contradictory beliefs and paths under its umbrella. “How could God possibly judge millions who are sincerely seeking their own path?” asks the skeptic. However, in Biblical Scripture God comes down hard on those who misrepresent Him or who knowingly contrive alternative gods and isms. He leaves no room for altering or failing to identify His nature beyond the witness of the created order. Neither is there any room for compromise: “You shall have no other gods before me”.
IDOLATRY IS NEVER ACCEPTABLE. Recognizing the work of God’s mercy in past and far-flung cultures as this article attempts to do is not a way of excusing sin or idolatry, or the worship of animals, stars or people. Many of God’s characteristics are accessible to anyone who is genuinely seeking. For example, it’s obvious that God is One. Any multitude or pantheon of deities could not rule the universe coherently, and His character is stamped on every facet of creation. God is One just as the universe is one. It should also be clear to anyone recognizing God’s character in the stars and in the elements that nothing on earth can adequately represent Him. No creation is greater than its creator and therefore cannot replace it. The motivation of any past worship, as insufficient and questionable as it may have been, is highly important and significant to God. If you’re really seeking truth, you can find it to the extent that it’s available.
CONCLUSIONS. Ultimately, God is the judge of all men and women. He is called in Scripture “the righteous Judge”. His knowledge and wisdom are without limit, and no-one will slip through HIs fingers. Neither is He fooled by anyone how doesn’t have a genuine faith. Therefore, what we humans are unable to make sense of will be dealt with by Him in perfect righteousness and truth. We can be sure that no-one will enter His heaven who should not be there, and no-one will be left out who had or has a heart for Truth. Thank God that He is the judge, and we are not.
I have no wish to create heretical doctrine or to misrepresent the character or the gospel of Christ. However, while Scripture doesn’t answer our question directly with pinpoint clarity, it seems logical, fair and to an extent Scriptural that many people over the millennia who had never heard the gospel or the writings of the Hebrew prophets, although probably a small percentage of all who have lived, will be there in heaven with us. Although they knew little compared to what we know now, they searched for and longed for truth and wisdom and wanted, in the best way they knew, to understand, to worship and know the One who had originated all that they saw around them.
ONE WAY ONLY. Here’s the last but not least point to consider- there is no other person able to save us from our sin besides Jesus Christ. Christ paid the price of our sin, therefore he is the saviour of all who believe. God requires that we accept His son, and for many people the only impetus to get out of their lost state and into a life of faith is the message of the cross and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This is the message of the apostles of Jesus:
“…then know this…It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead”…”Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
The gospel of Jesus gives the world one last opportunity to turn from our godless life to God. It is the “good news” which changes the hearts of men and women, many or most of which would not otherwise be seeking God. Ignorance of the gospel, according to our study, is not an insurmountable obstacle to God, but there is no viable excuse for those who reject it, or who use excuses to try to silence it:
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).
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Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 