Condemnation without hearing the gospel?

Your question is one that people have long asked. Allow me to respond by sharing what one of my predecessors in this position wrote for Forward in Christ.

“The natural knowledge of God gives everyone powerful witness about his existence. All creation shouts to all with eyes and ears that one great Creator exists (Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:20). Man’s accusing conscience also testifies powerfully to his responsibility to his Creator (Romans 2:14,15). Although such natural knowledge cannot tell anyone this Creator’s exact identity, it should lead people to ‘seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us’ (Acts 17:27).

“Sadly, ‘there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God’ (Romans 3:11). Therefore, ‘the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them’ (Romans 1:18,19). Stubborn rejection of that natural knowledge leaves all without excuse. God is just in judging those in Old or New Testament times who never heard his gospel.

“Yet God has also shown himself zealous to spread that only message that saves man from his well-deserved plight. At least twice in Old Testament history everyone knew the gospel. After Adam and Eve’s fall, God revealed the promise of the woman’s offspring who would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). However, as generations passed the vast majority rejected that promise.

“Consider also God’s patient mercy at Noah’s time. God spoke to all who would listen through that ‘preacher of righteousness’ (2 Peter 2:5). Then, when judgment reduced the world’s population to eight, again all knew the true God’s promised salvation. Yet once again the vast majority threw away that knowledge.

“God has continued his persistence in New Testament times. For all the book of Acts tells us, it tells us little about any apostles other than Peter and Paul. From Paul’s letters, it’s clear that Acts doesn’t record even all of Paul’s travels. The missionary zeal of many early Christians and the pages of church history testify to a rapid spread of the gospel. Yet over the centuries, in many places where the gospel was richly abundant, man’s callousness led to a loss of the gospel.

“Human nature blames God—as if he’s somehow unjust in condemning an unbelieving world. Yet consider history’s tragic tale. God zealously hunts down sinful mankind with his gospel. Sinful people zealously refuse to be found, or once found, often run back into darkness.

“There is no other way of salvation. We cannot quiet this concern by suggesting that perhaps there’s some other way God will save those not won by the gospel. Other than Jesus there is ‘no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12). There is no other way to come to faith in that gospel. ‘Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ’ (Romans 10:17).

“Let’s not waste our energy wondering if God will judge those who die without the gospel. He will, with no apologies! Rather, let’s take the challenge God lays before every generation of his children—to spread the powerful gospel message with every ounce of our energy and with every resource at our disposal.”