Will God Condemn Someone Who Has Never Heard The Gospel?

One of the objections to the exclusivity of Jesus Christ is often expressed as, “How could a loving God condemn those who have had no opportunity to respond to Christ?” How would you answer that objection? Robertson McQuilken has taken up this objection in his book The Great Omission.[1] In it, he replies with Scripture, writing, “I am not the judge.  ‘Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?’ (Gen. 18:25).”

McQuilken is right in his answer. God will do right and we are not to judge the destiny of our fellow humanity. But McQuilken’s answer feels like more of a dodge than an actual response to the difficult question. It is far more helpful for us to examine a couple of the problematic presuppositions that undergird the objection to the exclusivity of Christ. First, there is the inherent presupposition that those who have had no opportunity to hear the Gospel are morally good and upright people who would otherwise deserve to go to Heaven.  What is the basis for this presupposition? When someone dies, people gather to eulogize the deceased. This certainly helps ease the pain of loss. But let us not forget that all men “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Furthermore, Romans 3:11 tells us that “no one seeks God.”  So, before we begin to build a theology of supposedly innocent goodness around a hypothetical person or people group who have never heard the gospel, we ought to stop and consider that mankind’s true condition is fallen and separated from God. The Letter to the Romans reminds us that all men are without excuse because God’s eternal power and divine nature are plainly seen (Romans 2:20). It would also stand to reason then that a person who has spent his whole life rejecting and denying his Creator would not be happy about spending eternity with Him. So, we must reject the first problematic presupposition that mankind is inherently good and deserves to go to Heaven.

There is a second presupposition that is closely related to the first: the idea that someone would be condemned because they have not heard about Jesus Christ. The Bible is clear that we are already condemned, whether we have heard of Christ or not. It is not the hearing or the not-hearing that condemns someone, it is a person’s sin that condemns him (cf. John 3:17-18; Romans 5:12-18). Whether you have heard of Christ or not is irrelevant to a person’s self-condemnation. Salvation only comes through Jesus Christ and it comes by grace through faith in him (cf. Acts 4:12; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 8:1). There are many who have heard of Christ who do not have faith in him—those people are doubly-condemned because they have rejected God’s only offer of salvation. But it is not the rejection of salvation that condemns a person, every person is already condemned because of their own sin. 

There is a third presupposition that must also be exposed. Undergirding this objection is the belief that God would act wrongly by condemning someone who has never heard of Christ but who may have wanted to accept the Gospel if that person only had a chance. To this we must answer like McQuilken and declare that “the Judge of all the earth will do right.” God is not constrained; if someone should actually seek God, the Lord is more than able to act towards someone’s advantage. Since we know that no person seeks God this becomes a hypothetical argument (cf. Romans 3:11; Psalm 36:1). However, let’s say that if a person should perceive the greatness and majesty of the Lord of the universe and that God’s light begins to pierce ever so slightly into the darkness of that person’s heart, God is ready, willing, and able to move heaven and earth so that someone obedient to the Gospel message intersects with him or her, then witnesses Jesus’ saving power to that person, and leads them to salvation.  It’s not too hard for God to orchestrate that. Actually, that happens all the time and it illustrates that God is concerned for men and women who have not heard.

So, whether it is your next-door neighbor or someone living on the other side of the world from you, God wants every person to come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. Every person stands condemned already and needs to repent and turn to God. That is where you and I come in—He uses us to take the Good News to all the world. So, let’s stop making excuses, let’s stop bickering about God’s plan, and let’s start telling everyone the Good News!   

[1] Robertson McQuilken, The Great Omission: A Biblical Basis for World Evangelism (Waynesboro, GA: Authentic Media, 2002).