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Christian
Perspectives on
Non-Religious Groups, Atheism, Agnosticism, Skepticism
http://www.carm.org/search/search.pl?Terms=Skeptics
Questions skeptics ask
http://www.carm.org/atheism.htm
Atheism and agnosticism
addressed
http://www.greatcom.org/resources/answers_for_atheists/ch_03/default.htm
Questions and answers for
atheists and agnostics
http://www.gotquestions.org/search.php?zoom_sort=0&zoom_query=Atheism
More questions and answers
for atheists and agnostics
www.christiananswers.net/evangelism/beliefs/atheism.html
Atheists and agnostics:
What are they thinking?
www.josh.org/apologetics/
Are you a skeptic?
Concerning Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel
by Rudolph D. Gonzalez, Ph.D.
The question concerning the fate of those who have never
heard the gospel is a perennial one. Since the day of
Pentecost, whole populations and ethnic groups have
lived and died without ever having an opportunity to
hear of Jesus Christ’s
offer of salvation.
Even at the dawn of the twenty-first century, there are
pockets of humanity who have yet to have the gospel
delivered to them. How does the Bible address the
question concerning those who, through no fault of their
own, have never heard the gospel?
It should come as no surprise that Christendom is by no
means unified on this issue. In the wake of Vatican II,
the Roman Catholic Church has moved in an inclusivist
direction—maintaining that people can be exposed to
grace that saves through the honest practice of a
non-Christian religion. The Catholic Church insists,
however, that when people become exposed to any kind of
grace, it is, nevertheless, a grace mediated in and
through the world religions because of the presence of
the Holy Roman Catholic Church in the world. Moving even
further, some liberal protestant groups go so far as to
adopt universalism—believing
that all people will eventually be saved,
despite their religious beliefs or lack thereof. On the
other hand, others who believe that hearing the gospel
is necessary to salvation have constructed ingenious
theologies with names such as
universal sending, middle knowledge, and
eschatological
evangelization to say that God spreads the
message of Jesus wherever his heralds fail to go,
through miraculous means or through non-Christian
agencies.1 In one view, a Biblical scholar
theorizes that God, in His infinite knowledge,
knew—not to
be confused with
determined or
chose—who would
eventually accept and reject the gospel. Thus, He
providentially placed those who would be receptive to
the gospel into circumstances that would allow them to
hear the gospel and embrace it. Those who would never
accept the message simply were born into times and
places where the gospel would never reach them in their
lifetime.
The above-mentioned examples do not exhaust all the
views, but do illustrate the range of opinions over the
fate of people who
have never been exposed to the life-saving message of
Christ. It should be apparent that people often hold
positions that resonate with their beliefs about
the nature of God’s mercy and justice, rather than clear
Biblical teaching. Thus, many people come to the Bible
with presuppositions about what God will or will not do
and then impose them on the Biblical evidence. In this
treatment, the aim is to offer an
evidentiary
perspective on this issue. This view simply asserts
that the Bible can and must be interpreted literally,
unless the context and the nature of the literary style
itself calls for something different. Barring the
obvious use of symbolism, metaphor, hyperbole,
anthropomorphisms, etc., this view takes the text of
Scripture at face value and affirms its common sense and
logical meaning.
A Survey of the Biblical Evidence
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The biblical evidence supports the following facts:
·
Lost humanity consistently distorts natural revelation
that demonstrates the fact that people live under the
wrath of God (see Rom. 1:18-23).
·
Thus, humanity is dead in sin and alienated from a
saving knowledge of God (see Rom. 3:9-19,23).
·
All people stand condemned and are, by nature, children
of wrath (see Rom. 1:18-20; 2:1; 3:9-24; 5:12-21; 11:32;
Gal. 3:22; Eph. 2:1-3,12; Col. 2:13-14; 1 Pet. 1:18; 2
Pet. 1:4).
·
All people without Christ are lost and without hope (see
Ps. 16:1-2; Eph. 2:12).
However:
·
Salvation is a good-faith offer to anyone who exercises
personal faith in Christ (see John 1:12; 14:6; Acts
4:12).
·
People who fail to respond positively to the Gospel
stand utterly condemned (see John 3:18; 5:23-24; 1
Thess.2:16).
If one takes the points above as honest Biblical statements
regarding the condition of humanity and God’s offer of
salvation
through His Son, they lead to a profound pessimism about the fate of
those who have never heard the gospel. About “those
who have not heard of the historic Christ,” John Newport
laments:
Clearly, such people cannot be expected to have placed their
faith in a story they have not heard. However, as Paul
asserts in Romans 1, even people who have never heard the
gospel have a revelation of the cosmic Christ in their
conscience and nature. Paul sadly states that, for the most
part, they have not accepted even this amount of light and
followed it. Therefore they, too, have rejected Christ.2
Newport’s point is that all people by virtue of living in
God’s creation have, in effect, been exposed to the aspect
of Christ that is exhibited in the realm of natural
revelation. Whether such an exposure amounts to contact with
the gospel he does not say, but his assessment is
unmistakable: a rejection of the evidence for the cosmic
Christ in nature is tantamount to the rejection of the
gospel for the person who has been exposed to it. Similarly,
Carl F. H. Henry notes,
The
world philosophies and non-biblical religions are indeed a
response to general revelation, but a response forged by
humankind in revolt rather than in obedience. A distorted
view of God that consequently lies at the heart of these
schemas has reductive and distorted results involving every
affirmation about the nature of reality and the human
condition.3
Of
direct relevance to this issue is Paul’s statement about the
condemnation of Jews and Gentiles alike in Romans 2. The
thrust of his argument is that all people will stand
condemned before the judgment seat of God (see Rom. 2:3-10).
Paul lays down the firm principle of God’s impartiality and
goes on to state unequivocally,
For
there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned
without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all
who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for
it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God,
but the doers of the Law will be justified. For when
Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things
of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to
themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in
their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their
thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the
day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets
of men through Christ Jesus (Rom. 2:11-16, NASB).
The overwhelming sense of this passage is sobering. Apart
from any access to the gospel, people are born into this
world with
a conviction of God’s high moral standards, otherwise
understood to be the law written in their hearts. This
conviction is sufficient to condemn them on the Day of
Judgment.4
It is important to understand that because people have an
instinctive awareness of
God’s demand for righteousness as proscribed in the law,
never having heard the gospel will not be an excuse for
their unrighteousness. According to Paul, to know the law
intuitively is to potentially understand how impossible it
is for humanity to fulfill every aspect of it. In an
interesting twist, God’s impartiality is mentioned. This is
not meant to point to His universal offer of grace, but to
remind the reader that God is completely just in condemning
those who have rejected Him. The question this passage
answers is: Will anyone be saved on the Day of Judgment by
the instinctive work of the law written in their heart? As
earlier noted by the apostle, he is very pessimistic that
any witness that arises from the person is sufficient to
allay the wrath of God and escape condemnation (see Rom.
6:12-13; Gal. 3:8-14).
In
light of the evidence, we must conclude that people who
never have an opportunity to hear the gospel stand
condemned. As unpalatable as this is, we must let the clear
teaching of Scripture outweigh any personal impulse to
distort the facts out of misplaced compassion. With all
soberness, there is in the Bible what some have insightfully
called “a consistent pattern of ‘fewness’ in redemption and
‘wideness’ in judgment.”5
In 2 Peter 3:9 (NASB), Peter declares, “The Lord is not slow
about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient
toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to
come to repentance” (see
also Ezek. 18:32; 33:11). This passage is both hopeful and
tragically ominous, for in spite of God’s declared
concern not all will come to repentance (see Eph. 5:5-6; 2
Thess. 1:6-10; 2 Pet. 2:9) and many will perish (see Matt.
7:13; 13:41-50).
Thus,
for the sake of the perishing, we must let the full impact
of humanity’s lostness grip the mind and heart of the
church. Uncomfortable as it must have been, the first
century church must have understood this very well.6
Christianity was born
into a world as religiously diverse as ours is today. Yet it
was against the backdrop of the religious pluralism that
Jesus Christ was lifted as the sole Savior of
humanity. Christianity was nothing more than an offspring of
Judaism, barely notable in the Roman Empire, and yet
Christians consistently elevated Christ as the only Savior
of the world without compromise.
Thus, it follows that the Bible places such emphasis on the
need to physically hear the gospel. Paul certainly believed
as much
when, speaking of the lost, he penned the following
sentiment: “How then will they call on Him in whom they have
not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have
not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher” (Rom.
10:14, NASB)?
Note that the apostle offers rhetorical questions that
suggest a three-fold impossibility—all based, ultimately, on
the availability
of a preacher of the gospel. Paul, in essence, says that
without a gospel preacher: the lost do not hear the gospel;
thus, they cannot believe; thus, they cannot call on the
Lord. The verse is heavy with implications: humanity stands
lost, but it is unable even to call out in desperation until
the lost soul is moved to repentance through the faithful
proclamation of the gospel by God’s preachers (see also Acts
8:30-39)7
In light of this critical reality, Scripture reveals at
least four motivations to share the gospel:
1.
The love of God should compel us to proclaim the gospel (see
Luke 10:27; 2 Cor. 5:14; Gal. 5:14).
2.
Our
love for sinners whose eternal destiny hangs in the balance
should compel us to proclaim the gospel (see Luke 10:27).
3.
Obedience to the Great Commission should compel us to
evangelize the world (see Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16;
Luke 24:46-49; Acts 1:8).
4.
The
prospect of being held accountable for failing to deliver
the message should compel us to proclaim the gospel (see
Ezek. 33:1-9; Acts 10:42; Rom. 10:11-15; 1 Cor. 9:16-17)
Conclusion
In
this brief study no attempt has been made to answer all the
questions related to all people who never hear the gospel.
For example, what about the many children who are aborted,
stillborn, and miscarried? And then there is the question
about children who live, yet never reach that nebulous age
of accountability, not to mention the wrenching question
about those who, because
of diminished mental capacity, are unable ever to understand
the gospel. This brief study in no way attempts to speak to
such broader issues.
When
it comes to people with full capacity to reason and
contemplate their condition in the world, however, there is
an undeniable reality
that hangs over fallen humanity—people are lost by nature
and by volitional choice. Thus, the Bible offers the
hope of redemption against the backdrop of the certainty of
Hell.8 While we know that God has not revealed
the totality of His mind,
what He has revealed is quite specific: God has chosen to
save people by allowing them to hear and respond to
the offer of salvation.9
He has not made any other way explicitly known through the
Bible. However, if the world is unaware of its
alarming condition, God holds the church responsible to
proclaim the gospel to the lost.
1Known
as wider hope positions, the proponents insist that God
makes the offer of salvation in Christ, available even if
the church never takes part in its
proclamation. John Sanders, “Evangelical Responses to
Salvation Outside the Church,”
Christian Scholar’s
Review,
XXIV:I
(September 1994): 45-58.
 2John
Newport, Life’s
Ultimate Questions, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1989),
312.
3Carl
F. H. Henry, “Is It Fair?”
Through No Fault of Their Own? The Fate of Those Who Have
Never Heard,
William V. Crockett and James G. Sigountos,
eds.,
252.
4Paul’s
statement, “For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do
instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the
Law, are a law to themselves,
in
that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts,
their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts
alternately accusing or else defending them” (Rom. 2:14-15,
NASB), should be taken as the temporal application of the
law when intuitively understood. Thus, Paul is saying that,
judged by their own earthly standards, the fact that
Gentiles both live up to and fail to live up to this law
shows they have a witness of God’s holy standards. In the
end, however, their vain attempts at fashioning
righteousness according to their standards will serve to
condemn them just as surely as if they had heard the gospel
of Christ and rejected it outright.
 5R.
Douglas Geivett and W. Gray Phillips, “A Particularist View:
An Evidentialist Approach,”
Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World,
D. L.
Okholm and T. R. Phillips, eds., (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1995), 238. The exclusivist (Particularist) position is well
articulated in this article.
6Note
Paul’s deep concern for Israel (see Rom. 9:3-4) and Gentiles
alike (see 2 Cor. 5:18-21; 6:11-18).
71
Timothy 2:4 is often cited as an example of God’s purpose to
offer salvation universally. However, it must be observed
that Paul makes this statement
in the
midst of a call to prayer for the peaceful continuation of
civil order. In its context (see 1 Tim. 2:1-7), the verse
actually is quite clear—a tranquil world will allow
believers to fulfill God’s desire to extend salvation to all
through the literal proclamation of the gospel. Thus, this
verse is in harmony with Romans 10:11-15.
8This
writer recognizes the two prominent positions among those
who hold to Hell as a true biblical teaching—Traditionalism
and Conditionalism. While
most Baptists insist that punishment is eternal—the
traditional view—there are differences of opinion as to the
severity of punishment. See Robert A. Preston, “Hell:
Annihilation or Eternal Torment?”
Christianity Today
(October 23, 2000), 29-37.
9Other
means by which the Gospel is communicated include printed
materials, radio, television, internet, etc.
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