What About Those Who Have Never Heard?
I’d like to spend one more day in Romans 1:20-21 to attempt to answer (in a brief blog post) the question regarding those who have never heard of Jesus. If salvation is possible only for those who have received Jesus as Savior, then what about those who, to the best of our knowledge, have never heard the name of Jesus? This is a great question and one where people disagree. I think that Romans 1:20-21 helps us more than any other passage to think about this. Here is the text: ”20 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, 21 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.” Let’s keep a few things in mind. The New Testament is abundantly clear that only those who believe in Jesus can be saved, can experience salvation. The whole teaching of Jesus leads to this conclusion as well as the theology of the other New Testament writers. Numerous individual verses such as John 3:16, John 14:6, and Acts 4:12 just to name a few, are quite clear. But what about those who have never heard of Jesus? Can you believe in Jesus without every hearing or knowing about Him? If you’ve never heard about Jesus, do you get a “free pass”? The obvious answer to the last question is “No”. You don’t get a free pass because you still are stained by sin. If Jesus Christ is the only answer for sin, then it’s not possible to have that sin removed apart from Christ. Plus, if simply not hearing about Jesus meant one was able to escape judgment from sin, then it sort of makes sense not to tell anyone about Jesus. If you tell someone about Jesus, now they are responsible to believe in Him. That idea goes against the entire missionary mandate of the New Testament. Note that verse 20 says that all men are “without excuse”. Each person knows that God exists; whether that person lives in Alabama (where the gospel seems very prevalent) or Albania (where there is little gospel witness). I believe that if a person responds positively to the natural revelation of God that God will get that person a revelation of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. God can do that through a missionary, through a radio or internet broadcast or through a dream/vision. But if that person suppresses the truth about God, he/she is not likely to respond to any revelation of Jesus Christ, no matter how many opportunities there are to hear about Jesus. This brings up other issues such as “are there degrees of punishment in hell” (of which I think there are) that I’m willing to talk with you about if you desire but Romans 1 and other places in the scripture teach us that no man is without excuse. Each man is accountable to God for his sin and God will reveal the remedy for that sin to each man, no matter where he lives. I don’t have to understand how God does that but I sure believe that He will and I believe I have the backing of God’s word on that.