Sunday Sermons
Those Who Have Never Heard?
Those who have Never Heard?
Now and then someone asks the question, “What about people who have never had the opportunity to hear the gospel? Will they end up lost, even though they never had a chance?” This is a good question, and it is equally a very old question. Our generation is not the first to ponder or to even think of it. As with all generations, the right answer is frequently found in getting all the facts and laying a solid foundation of what we already know.
God’s Part
When we ponder what God has done, it becomes clear that God has done everything He can to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to be saved:
- The Evidence for His existence is world-wide: Psalm 19:1-2
- Jesus died for all men and God wants all men saved: 1 Timothy 2:4,6
- The gospel is to be sent to all nations: Mark 16:15
- The gospel was preached far and wide in the first century and since: Colossians 1:23
- God is patiently waiting for people to repent: 2 Peter 3:9
What are We Really Asking?
If we are really interested in knowing the actual numbers of people who fall into the category of “never having heard about Jesus”, or how big the problem is, I think a fair comparison would be asking questions such as:
- “How many people have never heard about the ocean?”
- “How many people have never heard about the United States?”
- “How many people have never heard about airplanes?”
- “How many people have never heard about Television?”
Because the knowledge of God, the Bible and Jesus is at least as well known as all of the above.
Man’s Obligation in This
I find many people forgetting about this aspect of the question. If we are created in the image of God (all of us), then obviously everyone at least privately does ponder the same type of questions, such as, “What happens after death? What is the meaning of life? Am I fulfilled? Does God exist? Is there an absolute truth?” Even people from other cultures and other times must have asked themselves these questions. In fact, the only type of person who no longer ponder such things, would be someone who has deliberately sealed off that part of their life (Ephesians 4:19 “having become callous”). In fact, God has given His perspective on this one:
- “That they should seek God” (Acts 17:27).
Man does have an obligation to start looking for the truth—long before the gospel arrives. May I suggest that this is one reason why Paul says that God is going to condemn not only those who have not obeyed the gospel, but equally those who did not know God (2 Thessalonians 1:8). This is not unfair, for surely one must exert much vigilance while living on this planet for seventy or so years to end up not knowing God at the end. There are just too many topics, subjects and experiences in life that all tie back to Him. Any study of history will bring one back to Jesus. Any study of biology or astronomy will bring up the nature question of a Creator. Any study of medicine will bring up the topic of ethics, what happens at death and the nature of man. Any study of man will bring up such questions as freewill, morality and does man have a soul? This is God’s world, His universe, His laws, and we should not be surprised when all roads come back to Him.
The Bible Examples
When Jesus gave the Great Commission, I do not find Him even hinting at the possibility of someone living their entire life and never hearing about Him. He naturally assumes that people will “hear”. He specifically said, “But he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16). He does not say, “He who has never heard”. It is assumed that people will hear the gospel. The parable of the Sower, there are four heart conditions, and in every case the heart hears the word of God. Jesus does not start the parable with soil that the sower never reaches—yet if there have been millions or billions of people who have never heard, that category might be the largest category of all. Why did Jesus then not address it? In addition to this, I find the gospel reaching large public audiences (Acts 2), and the lone individual, who might be either out in the middle of nowhere (Acts 8:26), away from town (16:13), or in prison (16:28).
What Really Condemns Us
While hearing the gospel is essential to being saved (Mark 16:15), it would be incorrect to say that a failure to hear the gospel is what causes the problem in the first place. What actually condemns us is the fact that we have sinned. For example, in Mark 16:16 people are lost long before the gospel arrives. Sin is a transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4), and God holds all men and women accountable to His laws (Romans 3:23). This means:
- We could have done better.
- We could have or did know better.
- We went ahead and did things that we knew were wrong—or should have known.
- We are without excuse.
- Put yourself in this situation. Did you end up lost because you did not or could not have known better?
A Second Chance?
One way that some people deal with the question of “What about those who have never heard” is to say that after this life, they will be given a chance to hear the truth and obey it, or such unevangelized peoples will simply be saved. First of all, there isn’t a single verse or example that would teach such. Secondly, we really need to think this through. If such people will be saved, then the success rate of their salvation must be 100%. For who would turn God down after death—when you can see Him? Yet, the success rate of sharing the gospel with people is far below 100%. If people who have never heard the gospel have a 100% chance of being saved, and if once we share the gospel with them their chances plummet, then sharing the gospel with people would be causing great harm to the world. In fact, by sharing the gospel with someone chances are I am now condemning someone that might otherwise have been saved. So simply letting people alone and keeping our faith to ourselves would be the most sensible thing to do. Yet this is contrary to what Jesus plainly taught about preaching the gospel (Matthew 28:19-20). Clearly, any theory that ends up at such a point has made a wrong turn somewhere. Any time we take a question, consider an answer and end up at a place in which we are in violation of Scripture, we have clearly made some wrong assumptions.
Unproven Assumptions
One assumption is that there are vast numbers of people who have never heard about Jesus. One would have to be all-knowing to affirm such a thing. I never find Jesus assuming that most of the world’s people would go through all their lives and never hear about Him or ponder such questions ask, “Is there a God?” Or, “What do I do about the things that I have done in the past that are wrong? How do I handle my guilt?” A second assumption is that man is completely passive in this whole process. If the message doesn’t arrive on my doorstep—I have an out. Yet Scripture teaches that man needs to be seeking. Another assumption is that people are different from us. Scripture denies such. James 5:17. We are all spiritual beings in a human body. We naturally will all ask the same type of questions, and God is the one who has all our answers.
Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.com
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net
