What happens to those who've never heard the Gospel?:

I’ve heard the question more times than I can count: “If people are only saved by believing the gospel, what about those who have never heard the gospel?”The idea that God would throw people into hell who have never heard about Jesus seems unfair, almost arbitrary. It’s like the moment they die, God appears and says, “You didn’t receive Jesus!” And when they say, “Jesus who?” God answers, “It’s too late now!”

So the question inevitably comes up: “What about the innocent native in Africa who has never heard about God? How could God hold him accountable for what he didn’t even know?”

Most Americans have developed a “functional universalism,” where they kind of assume it’s all going to work out in the end.  Just about everybody will make it to heaven, except maybe Adolf Hitler and child molesters. Others, including some prominent Christians, opt for a position called “inclusivism.” They say that even though Jesus is the only way of being saved, that if people respond rightly to the good things in their religion, it’s as if they were obeying Christ.

I understand why people want to believe in universalism or inclusivism. But the Bible, particularly Romans 1, paints a different picture of the situation:

1. All people have heard about God.

Paul says that what can be known about God has been made plain to all people (Rom 1:19). Every human being, everywhere, has been made aware of God in two ways.

First, the glory and beauty of creation teaches us that there is a Creator. There is a natural, innate sense of awe and wonder as we look at creation. We look around and instinctively we know that we don’t come from nowhere. Creation screams at us the presence of a glorious, all-powerful Creator.

Second, the presence of a conscience in each of us teaches us that there is a Lawgiver. We know, innately, that there is a right and wrong. When your conscience tells you, “That’s wrong,” that’s an indication that there is someone to whom you ultimately must answer.

2. All people have rejected God.

Since the fall, the human race has been in a posture of rebellion. Even when we reject God’s commands and set our own standards, we don’t keep them because we resist what is right and love what is wrong.

All of us have rejected the glory of God (Rom 1:21–25). We don’t seek God’s glory above all things; we seek our own glory and our own pleasure. Even people who believe in God don’t pay as much attention to him as they do their jobs or what others think of them.

So, because of this posture of rebellion and idolatry, Paul says, our foolish hearts have been darkened, which means that we distort the truth about God when it is presented to us (Rom 1:18). Scripture leaves no ambiguity about how universal this rebellion is: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:1–3).

This rejection comes in various forms: outright atheism, in which we refuse to acknowledge God; idolatry, in which we give other things in our lives God-like priority; works-righteousness, in which we keep a list of rules, so that we feel like God owes us good things. All of these have one thing in common: they are expressions of humanity rejecting the authority and goodness of God.

3. All people are guilty before God.

Our hearts naturally hate God and reject his rule, a rejection that culminated in the murder of God’s Son. We hate God so badly that we put him on a cross and say, “Go to hell, God.” Because of this, is it any surprise that we deserve his wrath?

Sometimes we underestimate the wickedness of our sin, as if sin is only really bad if we’re doing drugs or having sex with people we shouldn’t. Those things are wrong, but the core of sin is hatred of God. We’d rather murder him and have him out of the way than submit to him.

All of this means that we are guilty, not because of things we haven’t heard, but because of what we have heard and rejected. The “innocent native in Africa” doesn’t exist. We have all rejected God. Would it be unfair if God condemned us for not hearing about Jesus? Yes. But that’s not why we are condemned: we are condemned because we have rejected the rule of God.

4. Only Christ can save.

The resounding theme of the entire Bible is that salvation is found in God alone. Any mention of religion apart from the one true God is consistently disparaged, even mocked throughout the Old Testament. When Jesus comes on the scene in the New Testament, that theme is crystallized, and we see salvation is found in God alone, through the work of Christ alone.

Many in our culture today hate any mention of exclusivity, but all religious or moral viewpoints are inherently exclusive. Even those who claim to have no religious opinions whatsoever have standards by which they judge certain people “good” and others “bad.” We all have a line for who is in and who is out.

But the gospel of Jesus is a different kind of exclusivity. The gospel teaches us that our acceptance with God is not based on anything about us—not our morality, or our heritage, or our reputation with others. No one who is “in” has any ground to boast about it. God gives salvation as a gift to all who will repent and receive it. As Tim Keller has said, “All religions are exclusive, but Christianity is the most inclusive exclusivity there is.

5. We must take the Gospel to those who haven't heard:

     According to Joshua Projects there are 6,897 people groups who have no access to the     Gospel. The total number of people among the people groups are roughly 90,397,000       souls who are loved by God. Individuals within these groups could live there entire life       and never hear about Jesus. In fact, even if they wanted to hear about Jesus there             would be no one who could tell them about Christ. If points 1-4 are true than we must      do everything within our power to take the Gospel to these unreached people groups.        We must sacrifice to send missionaries to take the Gospel to the Nations. 

In conclusion, those who have never heard the Gospel will spend an eternity in Hell because they have sinned against a Holy God. God's holiness, justice and love dictates that they will be separated from Him. God in His grace, sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice for our sins. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. There are 90,397,000 people who have yet to hear of Christ's first coming, yet, we spend a lot of time focusing on His second coming. We must work hard, sacrifice hard and commit to taking the Gospel to the unreached, unengaged people groups of the world. May our generation be the generation which completes the Great Commission.

*Various points and quotes taken from JD Grear: The Doctrine of Hell