What About Those Who Have Never Heard?

Ichthys

“What About Those Who Have Never Heard?”

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
“Jesus said, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6). So the only way to have forgiveness of sin and everlasting life is through Jesus. So are those who have never heard of Jesus now condemned to hell?”

GOD IS EVERYONE’S JUDGE•     
Everyone will have to be judged by God   
“He [God] has set a day when he will judge the world with justice.” Acts 17:31   
   
•     God is a just judge   
“He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.” Psalm 96:13   
   
•     God will not make any mistakes   
Human judges are not perfect; sometimes they make mistakes. Innocent people have been given the death penalty.   
When God judges us he will never make a mistake. He will never condemn an innocent person. Nobody will be able to accuse God of being unfair. So although we may not know how God will judge a particular person, we do know that he will be fair. And when it comes to those who have never even heard about Jesus, we can be assured that God will be flawlessly and graciously just.

PEOPLE WILL BE JUDGED ACCORDING TO THE LIGHT THEY HAVE BEEN GIVEN
•     We all have to answer to our conscience   
Nobody will ever be condemned because he or she has not heard about Jesus Christ. All people will be judged in the light of their obedience to the moral standards they are aware of.   
“All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (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, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.” Romans 2:12–16   
   
•     God says nobody will have any excuse to offer on judgment day   
“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 men are without excuse.” Romans 1:19, 20

GOD CARES ABOUT THE SALVATION OF PEOPLE MORE THAN WE DO
•     God’s fervent wish is that everyone should be saved   
“He [the Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentence.” 2 Peter 3:9   
   
•     God cares so much about all people that he sent Jesus   
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
IT APPEARS THAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SAVED WHO KNEW LITTLE ABOUT GOD
•     Cornelius, before he heard about Jesus, was commended   
Peter said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” Acts 10:34–35   

•     Rahab, the prostitute, appears to have known little about God but was accepted by God because of her faith.   
Joshua 2:8–13; Hebrews 11:31

WHAT’S THE CONCLUSION?
“Christ sent me to preach the gospel and he will look after the results.” Mary Slessor
A QUOTE TO CHEW OVER
“I exhort you, press on in your course, and exhort all men that they may be saved.” Polycarp

Water, M. (2000). Hard questions about Christianity made easy. The Made Easy Series (10). Alresford, Hampshire: John Hunt Publishing.