It doesn’t take long before this question comes up in a Bible study somewhere. What about those who have never heard the Gospel? What about those who have never heard of Jesus Christ? What happens to them when they die? Surely God cannot send people to hell for things they do not know?

Sadly, there is a false teaching spreading through the church that really goes against what the Bible teaches. What’s worse, men of stature, men who have earned the respect of the church, are suggesting what they call ‘an openness or a wideness in God’s mercy’ where God will save anyone who vaguely relates to God – regardless of their knowledge or reception of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If this is true, it invalidates the entire call to missions. Why did Jesus say, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19) if people would be saved apart from hearing the Gospel? Why the endeavour, the risk of global evangelism, if God plans to save everyone who looks at the sky and nods to the existence of a god? Romans 10 states the facts:

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!’
Romans 10:13-15

The Bible’s logic is simple. Whoever calls upon the name of Jesus will be saved. But to call upon Jesus, you must have heard of Him in the first place. And to hear of him, someone must preach the Gospel to you. And for someone to preach the Gospel to you, they must have come from somewhere else – they must have been sent, so you could hear.

Scripture is very clear on the exclusiveness of salvation in Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12 says: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” That makes it undeniably obvious – no other name but the name of Jesus saves. You might disagree with that, but that is what the Bible says.

If you think that this was simply the extremism of some of Jesus’ followers, listen to the words of Jesus Himself: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). Well, this sounds pretty exclusive – without exception – no one comes to God except through Jesus. He is not a way, a truth, a life – He boldly declares Himself to be the way, the truth, the life.

Some skeptics claim that that kind of talk is only found in the Gospel of John. So to flatten that criticism, let’s quote from Matthew 11:27: “All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.”

Jesus says that any kind of relationship with the Father comes as a result of the Son. In John 10:9, Jesus says: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” A door is about as clear an illustration of unique entry as you can get. There is only one legitimate entrance into God’s kingdom – the door Jesus. To try and get in through the window or the ceiling makes you a spiritual trespasser.

In fact, Jesus illustrated this very point in a parable of a man inviting people to a wedding feast. When the invited guests did not come, illustrating the Israelites, God turned to all the Gentiles as invited. But He points out that you must still come through Christ:

So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.’
Matthew 22:10-14

No one will pop up in Heaven having found some other way in – it must, and only will be, through Jesus Christ. While that does not suit the pluralism of our day, while it offends those who believe in relativistic truth, while it angers those who believe that we are all just taking different routes up the same mountain, it is nevertheless Biblical truth. The reason Christians are called to evangelise is because we believe in absolute truth; we believe there is only one way – Jesus Christ.

Now with that as our foundation, we face the disturbing question – what about those who never hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ? If there is no way around the fact that salvation is only through Jesus Christ, we are then presented with a terrifying reality – millions are marching closer to a lake of fire, because they have never heard the Gospel.

It is this thought that causes people to invent theology and read it back into the Bible. To our sensibilities, that sounds unfair, unjust, cruel. It sounds maddeningly extreme – that so many are going to a Christless eternity. Our sense of compassion starts to scramble for other options, and pretty soon, you have a new theology – people who never hear will not be judged for rejecting Christ, since they never heard of Him. They may well go to Heaven for their good lives.

But we have to begin with a Biblical framework, and then examine the relevant Scriptures so we can understand the situation. Firstly, the whole issue here is one of justice. When we begin to say it is unfair for people who have never heard the Gospel to perish, it reveals that we are not seeing the situation from God’s perspective.

Imagine for a moment a wise and just king rules a group of people on an island. His rule is good and fair, all the people have to do is obey him. However, one day, a rebellion breaks out. Thousands of people decide to leave the island in protest over the king’s rule and go and rule themselves elsewhere. They get into hundreds of ships and sail away.

However, as they go, they strike a huge reef that stretches for miles, and their boats begin to sink. Picture the king now, graciously sending out his own ships to save them. He sends his own people, at his own cost, to offer them a chance of mercy, if they will get on his boats and return to live under his rule. As his rescue boats arrive, some repent of their rebellion and jump aboard. Others refuse, and choose to stay aboard their sinking ships.

Now, do you think as we examine this scene, we would comment to each other – how unfair of that king to not send thousands of boats so as to rescue every boat! How unjust and cruel of him to not have a boat for everyone! No, we would not say that. We would not think it unfair of the king, we would think it incredibly merciful that he sends boats to rescue those who rebelled against him at all. The fact that he offers an escape for those who spurned him is incredibly gracious.

This illustrates our situation. We rebelled against God and were heading for the reef of hell itself. God sent His own Son to rescue the very ones that had rebelled against Him. And unlike the situation, there is no lack of sufficiency or power in the cross of Christ to save anyone on earth. Just like those boats, we would conclude that anyone sinking, ultimately sank because of their own rebellion. We would not accuse the king of injustice, we would worship Him for loving even His enemies.

The fact of the matter is this: we all chose to rebel against God in Adam. Romans 5:19 says: “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Adam represented all of us – he acted in a way which all of us would have acted had we been in that situation. If fair was fair, we would all go to hell. God, however, managed to keep justice and show mercy in the cross of Christ.

Being saved is not a human right, or something man deserves. It is God being unfairly good to us, by giving what we did deserve to His Son, and giving us what we don’t deserve – eternal life. This is not giving us what is right – it is grace, it is mercy. That any humans go to Heaven is not an obligation on the part of God.

If God had sent the entire human race to hell, He would have remained perfectly just, because such is the glory of God, that for choosing a fruit over God, eternal torment is justified. Understanding the glory of God and holiness of God will help us to understand the justice of God in sending mankind to hell. If God is of infinite value, and sin is therefore an infinite offence, then justice for an infinite offence can only be an infinite punishment. With that as our framework, the book of Romans deals directly with the issue of those who have never heard:

For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness… Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Romans 1:18, 21

Romans tells us that all people are without excuse before God. It shows us how just God is for declaring the whole world guilty before Him, and gives a number of reasons for this:

• The suppression of truth

The Apostle Paul says that man ‘holds’ or ‘suppresses’ the truth. How do you suppress the truth if you don’t know it? The Bible suggests that humans do know the truth in their hearts, but they suppress it. They refuse to allow the truth to surface into their mind in common conversation, forcing them to deal with its implications. They gag the truth, put it in a dark cellar somewhere, lock the door, and leave.

Don Richardson has written an excellent book called Eternity in their Hearts, where he records how cultures with no exposure to God almost all have some oral tradition that contains some reference to the God of the Bible. But even without that, the Bible says people suppress the truth they do have about God. But that raises the question – where do people get this truth? The next verse tells us:

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse…
Romans 1:19-20

• Snubbing the Creator

The Bible says that people can clearly see the truths about God in the creation. Humans must just look around themselves to agree with Psalm 19:1-3: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.”

The creations communicate one message to man – ‘God is.’ God made this. God designed this. He is real. That is why the most destructive philosophies are those that deny God is Creator, because it gives humankind an excuse to avoid facing the accountability that creation is supposed to bring. People can see that God is real and a person, and this alone leaves us without excuse. But we snub the Creator if we pretend that all that is around was not made, it just happened.

• Substitution

Humans are further condemned because we are also guilty of substitution:

…because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 1:19-25

Humans knew, and know, that the ultimate reality is God. But we substitute God’s creation for God. We turn to the gifts of God and prefer them over the Giver. We can clearly see these gifts were made by Someone else, but we block our spiritual ears to that thought, and press ahead to enjoy life apart from God.

From the idol-worshipping pagan in the jungle to the sophisticated materialist atheist in the city, it amounts to the same thing: taking what God has made, and enjoying it apart from God. This further indicts man as an unthankful rebel. Indeed, each person’s own unthankfulness will indict them. John Piper puts it this way:

When every human being stands before God on the day of judgment, God would not have to use one sentence of Scripture to show us our guilt and the appropriateness of our condemnation. He would need only to ask three questions:
1. Was it not plain in nature that everything you had was a gift, and that you were dependent on your Maker for life, and breath, and everything?
2. Did not the judicial sentiment in your own heart always hold other people guilty when they lacked the gratitude they should have had in response to a kindness you performed?
3. Has your life been filled with gratitude and trust toward me in proportion to my generosity and authority?
Case closed.

• Satisfaction in sin

From the suppression of truth, to a snubbing of creation, to a substitution, the list grows to include satisfaction in sin. As Romans 1:32 describes, “who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

Paul says that humankind, deep in their heart, knows what sin is, and that it will bring judgment. But instead though of repenting, we press forward, and take pleasure in those that sin. Humans enjoy their rebellion. And now we come to the final clincher.

• Sound of the conscience

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another…
Romans 2:14-15

How is it that cultures that have never heard the Bible still know it is wrong to murder? How do they know it wrong to deceive, to lie, to steal? The answer is a God-given conscience. An innate sense of right and wrong.

Yes, the Bible tells us that this conscience is seared and somewhat broken because of sin. But its very presence alerts us to a sense that ‘the God who made those stars must have made me. He made me with a sense of right and wrong. It must mean He is right – He is holy. I know I am not – I wish I could be right with Him.’ This sense of requiring reconciliation with a holy Creator is written into the God-given conscience of every human.

Therefore, we can see that everyone stands without excuse. Not only are we the children of Adam, which would be enough to condemn us, but we are found to be suppressing the truth, snubbing the Creator, substituting things in His place, finding satisfaction in sin, and ignoring the sound of our consciences.

This presence of creation and conscience is what we call general revelation. It is God sounding a general call to all humankind to acknowledge His existence and turn to Him. Because all humans are in creation and can experience it, because all humans have a conscience, all humans stand without excuse. General revelation is enough to condemn any man who has never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

But – and this we must say clearly – general revelation is not enough to save any man. No man can be saved by looking at the stars, or the sky, or the mountains, or by examining his own conscience. No, as we saw, man is only saved through Jesus Christ.

The knowledge of the Gospel through the preaching of the Bible is what we call special revelation. There is enough information in general revelation to condemn a man, but not enough to save him. There is enough information in special revelation, the preaching of the Gospel, to save a man. So, if someone never hears the special revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – God is not unjust for condemning them, because their reaction to general revelation confirms them as a rebel.

However, this is my speculation: I believe that when a man or woman is honest and humble with general revelation, God will send them more. A missionary once told me of another missionary who had gone deep into a jungle and traveled for hours to reach a tribe that had never heard the Gospel. He spent years with them and many were saved.

Years later, the chief told him that before he had come to preach to them, he had once looked up at the stars, and said, “Whoever you are that made these, I would like to know you.” See, I believe that was God drawing that man, and he responded. He responded to God’s call in general revelation, and God loved him so much as to send one man thousand of miles to tell him what he needed to know to be saved.

Consider the wise men that came to see Jesus. All they had was the general revelation of a star. That was not enough to save them. It was probably enough to condemn them if they had ignored it. But they followed the general revelation, which led them to Jerusalem. There, God opened the Scriptures to them – the special revelation – which took them to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. By responding to general revelation humbly and diligently, God gave them the special revelation needed to save them.

Remember that our desire for people to be saved and our compassion pales in comparison to God’s. God truly loves people, and has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God’s fairness and justice far exceeds any frail, one-dimensional concept of justice that we have.

Once any human in any place has come to the age of accountability, they are able from creation and conscience to know enough to make them stand without excuse. At the same time, it is their need to hear special revelation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that must drive us to take the Gospel to every nation.