What About Those Who’ve Never Heard the Gospel? Will God Condemn Them to Hell, Too?

April 11, 2012 by

What about those who’ve never heard the gospel? Will God condemn them to hell, too?

Now usually the man or woman who asks these questions attaches a mental picture to them.

And that mental picture is oftentimes one of an unknown people group living on an uncharted island somewhere who are afforded no opportunity to hear about Christ due to their isolation.

And the conclusion often drawn by a person presenting this picture is that it would be unfair of God to damn these people since they were never given the chance to be saved in the first place.

Now I guess I could accept this conclusion except for the fact that it portrays the Lord as Someone who is unfair. And that’s a false portrayal.

The truth is God is not unfair, but fair. According to the Scriptures the Lord makes perfect judgments. (Psalm 19:9) Therefore, if God were presented with an isolated people group (like the mental picture at hand suggests), I think it’s more right to assume that He would treat them in a fair way. Because God can’t possibly be unfair. It’s not in His nature.

So what you’re saying then, Pastor, is that God will send people to hell who haven’t heard the gospel? No, I’m not saying that. What I am saying, rather, is that in such a situation God has the ability to make the right determination. And whatever His decision is mankind can trust Him to always be fair. Once again, God can’t possibly be unfair. It’s not in His nature.

Which brings me to this idea that some people won’t be given a chance to hear the gospel. I believe that the Bible tends towards saying just the opposite…

…[T]hat which is known about God is evident [among man]; for God made it evident to [him]. For since the creation of the world [the Lord’s] invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made (the creation), so that [all men (and women)] are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20)

Now according to these verses everybody has been given evidence of God through the things He has made. And this evidence of God in His creation ~ the beauty, wonder and intricacy of it ~ renders all people without excuse before Him. Therefore, there’s no person alive that can stand before God and say, “You didn’t make Your existence apparent to me,” because He has to all people. The Scriptures confirm it.

(To read the conclusion of this post, click here.)

Filed Under: hell, love of god
About Pastor Mike

Pastor Mike is making the most of web technologies to encourage disciples. A self-proclaimed “twitterholic,” one twitter follower describes him as the “jogging, blogging, tweeting Pastor.” Visits to Pastor Mike’s blog (A Heart For God) number in the hundreds of thousands. His video blogs have been viewed over a half a million times.

Comments

  1. Anonymous says
    May 15, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    That is a touchy subject to attempt.

  2. Anonymous says
    July 12, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    I was taught that our Lord gives every person the opportunity to except him as the true savour and enter the Heavenly kingdom. Even one minute prior to the physical death.
    God is love, mercy and all things good. Thank God. Jennifer

  3. theSandpiper says
    July 13, 2012 at 3:16 am

    The question presupposes several things:

    * That the hearing the gospel is a necessary process in God’s redemption of sinners;
    * That the sinner has a part in the redemption that the Three in One agreed on between themselves in eternity past;
    *That God deals differently with different sets of people in different chronological times.

    Yet the Bible states that a Book of Life containing the names of God’s people was written by Him BEFORE the foundation of the world, or roughly before Adam and Eve fell in transgression.

    That God at the Great White Throne of judgment, among other things, will look at these names and if one’s name is not there then one is not “OF GOD”. He doesn’t belong to God.

    I propose to you that God knew exactly who His people are, were, and will be on this time world, that the redemption and the blood Christ finalized and shed at the cross FOR time and IN time covered each and everyone of them, and that the gospel has the power to save NO ONE in terms of eternity, but to save ONLY those who come under its preaching and obey that preaching, but that this salvation is not the same salvation Christ authored in eternity past and in time at Calvary, but rather a salvation from false gods, false religions, and ungodly living .

  4. Anonymous says
    August 26, 2012 at 3:02 am

    I think Romans 10:18 explains this.