What About Those Who Never Heard The Gospel?

One of the common questions that people ask is this: what happens to people who never heard the gospel? There is a common belief that God only holds people responsible for their sins if they have heard the gospel and understood it. If someone has never heard the gospel then God would never judge them. But is that actually what the Bible says?

First of all, it’s important to realize that there is only one way to be saved. No one can be saved apart from Jesus Christ:

John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

John 10:9: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

Jesus is the only way to be saved. There are not multiple paths to God; there is only one, and His name is Jesus. All other paths and all other religions lead straight to Hell. You cannot be saved apart from Jesus Christ.

The reason for this is because Jesus is the only acceptable payment for our sins. You see, God cannot forgive us until our sins have been paid. Since God is just, He cannot simply brush our sins under the rug and pretend that they never happened. Our sins must be paid for; someone must pay the debt that we owe. That is why Jesus came to Earth, became a man, and died on the cross. Since He was sinless, He had no sins of His own to pay for and therefore He could die in our place. His death – and His death alone – is sufficient payment for our sins. Our good works can never pay for them. The only payment for our sins is the blood of Jesus Christ.

In order to be made right with God, our sins must be paid for. In order to enter Heaven our sins must be paid for. In order to escape Hell our sins must be paid for. No other religion can pay for our sins; only the blood of Jesus can do that. Jesus is the only way to God and the only way to forgiveness. There simply is no other way.

So what about those who never heard the gospel? Does God just overlook their sins just because they don’t know the truth? The Bible says that the answer is no:

Romans 2:12: “For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;”

As you can see, God does not say “Well, I’m only going to judge those who knew the truth. Everyone else is off the hook.” Instead God says something very different: all those who sinned will be judged. If they never knew the truth then they will perish without it; if they did know the truth then they will be judged by it.

You see, the reason God has something against us is because we have sinned against Him. When you are in a court of law, you cannot tell the judge “You should let me go because I didn’t know what I was doing was illegal”. Ignorance is no defense! In fact, in the Old Testament there was actually a special sacrifice that people had to offer if they sinned in ignorance:

Leviticus 5:15: “If a soul commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the Lord; then he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish out of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering.”

Notice that God did not say “Well, you sinned in ignorance so that doesn’t count.” Even though the person sinned in ignorance, God still required a sacrifice as payment. Our sins are no different! God still requires a payment for our sins, regardless of how much we know about the truth. If we knew about God’s law then we will be judged by it, and if we didn’t then we will perish without it. But either way we will still be held accountable.

That is why Jesus commanded His disciples to spread the gospel to every creature:

Mark 16:15: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

If God ignores the sins of those who don’t know any better, then the best thing we could ever do for mankind would be to burn every copy of the gospel and make sure that no one ever heard it. That way everyone in the world would be ignorant, so God would let all of mankind off the hook! Instead of sending out missionaries we should track down and burn all Bibles, we should silence all preachers, and we should close all of our Bible collages. After all, those things are putting men’s souls in eternal peril by telling them the truth of God’s Word.

Do you see how utterly ridiculous that is? It means that God could have saved all of mankind if He had just never told anyone the gospel. That is madness! No, the reason God told us the gospel is because we cannot be saved without it. The reason God commanded His people to preach the gospel to every creature is because if they never hear the gospel then they cannot be saved at all.

You may say “But it’s not fair for God to judge those who didn’t know any better!” Tell me: is that line of reasoning going to persuade a federal judge to let you go? Is there any court that will say “Well, as long as you didn’t know that what you did was wrong then it doesn’t really matter. You’re free to go.” Of course not!

This is why it is so important to send out missionaries. We should all feel a burden for reaching the lost with the gospel, and we should all be doing whatever we can to spread the Word far and wide. There is simply no other way to be saved.