What About Those Who've Never Heard?

What will happen to people who never hear about Jesus?

One of the big questions Christians sometimes ask is, What about people who die having never heard the gospel? What will happen to them? We understand easily enough from Scripture that 1) those who accept Christ as their Saviour receive the Holy Spirit and are given the free gift of eternal life, and that 2) those who consciously reject his gift of grace forfeit the gift of salvation and face an eternity separated from God.  

We may not like it. We may worry about friends and family who don’t have faith and think they are fine without God. We may even wonder why a good God would not give a second chance after death – but we understand deep down that there is something terribly wrong about forcing people to accept a gift they don’t want. Hebrews 9.27 says that people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment so it seems clear that we all have to make a decision about Jesus in this life.

But what about people who never hear about Jesus and are therefore not even aware that there is a decision to make? What about people in far off lands where the gospel has yet to penetrate, or countries where there is another majority religion? Or even in some western countries where the church is so lamentably unrecognisable from the Book of Acts that people never see an authentic, vibrant Christian community and therefore never take a second look? They understandably reject a sickly version of Christianity. Will God treat them as if they have rejected Christ? Universalists say that God will just save everyone in the end but there is nothing in the Bible to back that up, so it seems a bit like wishful thinking.

It’s a hot potato whose temperature is increased by the fact that the Bible doesn’t really seem to spell out in detail what will happen to people who die having never heard about Jesus. Consequently, different Christians, even ones who bow to the authority of Scripture, hold different views.

Some point to Jesus being the one and only way to God (Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, John 14.6) and they take that to mean that anyone who has not made a conscious profession of faith in Jesus cannot be saved. Acts 17.30-31 is another passage some Christians quote to support this point of view. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.

To the charge that this seems unfair, some who hold this view then point to Romans 1.18-20 which says that everyone can understand enough about God through creation and their conscience to know exactly what they are rejecting, so they cannot plead ignorance. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 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.

But others tentatively and respectfully disagree. They say that, although Jesus is always the means of salvation, maybe people can be saved by what he did on the cross - even though they don’t necessarily know or understand everything about it. They say that God’s wisdom and justice will take into account how clear their understanding was about what God was offering them in Christ. So God will judge them according to the light they had because he is absolutely fair.

They might well agree that the New Testament says that we are saved by faith, not by works. But then ask, “What about Romans 2.6-8? God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. “Doesn’t this Scripture suggest,” they ask, “that there are people whose good lives show that the Lord illuminated their hearts with some kind of simple faith even if they never actually heard the gospel as such?”

As I said above, the Bible’s authors do not go into this question in any depth. Overwhelmingly, their emphasis is on us preaching the gospel so that everyone can hear about Jesus and have a chance to respond to it personally, rather than wondering what will happen to people if we do nothing. That’s why the best answer to the “What about those who have never heard?” question is “Who do you know who hasn’t heard about Jesus - and what are you going to do about it?”

In Genesis 18.25 Abraham pleads with God to save Sodom from the judgment he had threatened because of the great and grievous evil they had committed. Abraham appeals to God to show mercy, (which he does), and Abraham asks himself, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” It’s a rhetorical question to which the implied answer is "Of course!" - but it’s a question worth reflecting on as we think about the destiny of the unevangelised. Can we trust our wise, all-powerful, all-knowing creator God, who knows every secret of every heart, to do the right thing on the Day of Judgment? Will not the Judge of all the earth do the right thing?

I hope we have seen enough of God in our own lives to be able to say, “Yes, we can trust him. He will do right.” He is righteous in all his ways (Psalm 145.17). He is good. His love endures forever (Psalm 136.1). And he will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. (Psalm 98.9).

And I also hope that we will see again the urgency to tell everyone we know about Jesus – and grasp how vital it is to respond to him in repentance and faith.