What about those who never hear of Jesus Christ?

A while back, a co-worker of mine had asked me a question that at the time I wasn't able to give him a complete answer. These kinds of interactions can really bug me, because if I'm disappointed in my response, I'll replay over and over again in my head what I should have said. But, one thing they do prompt me to do is go back and do some studying and prepare an answer so I'll be ready if the topic ever comes up again. 

His question was this:

What happens to people throughout the world that have never had the chance to hear about Christ? Would they be saved? 

I was reading something the other day that brought our conversation to mind so I thought I would try now to answer that as best I can. There are several scripture passages I will reference in my answer. (emphasis mine)

We'll start with Psalm 53:1-3 which says:

1. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.
2. God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.
3. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

 Romans 3:23-26 says:

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶ to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

So by these two passages, we know that no one deserves God’s grace because we all have sinned against a perfect and Holy God – we all deserve to pay the penalty of our sin. Grace is something we obtain that we don’t deserve: like forgiveness of wrongdoing. Mercy is not receiving something that we do deserve: like eternal punishment and separation from God. 

Here is a very important, but difficult-to-swallow point: God would not be unjust if he were to let everyone on this Earth die in our sin and spend eternity in hell to pay for our sin. God has given us a moral free-will and He does not compel us to sin, nor is He the author or originator of evil; we ourselves choose to sin.

From the very beginning, in order for sin to be atoned for, blood had to be shed, punishment had to be carried out. Leviticus 17:11 makes this very clear:

¹¹ For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

In the Old Testament, only a perfect, spotless, unblemished animal could be used in sacrifices for atonement to redeem the sinner from his or her sin. When Jesus came to this Earth and lived a perfect, sinless life, and died on the cross, shedding His blood for the sins of those who believe in His name, He became our righteousness through an everlasting sacrifice. 

photo credit: SweetCapture via photopin cc

Now to the question of who will and will not be saved:

From Romans 10:

¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Continuing on, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. - and -²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save [only] those who believe.

So the final conclusion to answer his question is this: In order to be saved, one must first hear of Christ by the proclaiming of His Word. If the Father then draws them (John 6:44) and they subsequently believe, it produces a saving faith. It may seem unfair in our eyes for someone in a 3^rd world country who has never heard of Christ to be punished, but remember, all of us have sinned and none of us is deserving of His Grace to begin with. 

The mere fact that He chose to humble Himself by coming to this Earth to die to redeem some of us (those who believe) demonstrates his amazing love (John 3:16). This fact is something I praise God for every day of my life, that I was born at this time in history and live in a free country where there is free access and proclamation of the gospel wherever we go. What is even more sad than the 3^rd world country scenario is the people in a county like America who have had a chance to hear the gospel, but choose to deny it and turn away from it anyway.

Additional Resources:

Greg Koukl - What about those who've never heard? (4 min video)