CAN SOMEONE BE SAVED WITHOUT HEARING THE GOSPEL?

One evening, at a church I once regularly attended, our pastor devoted a whole service to answering the congregation’s questions about God, Christianity and many other practical theological questions. He instructed us to anonymously write a short but concise question on a piece of paper and he would read through the questions, answering them one by one. As a life-long enthusiast of theology and philosophy, this exercise excited me thoroughly. Unfortunately, when the pastor finally reached my question, he stepped back for a moment, was silent and then proceeded to answer the inquiry with, what I felt was, an insufficient ‘gloss over’ of a really deep and troubling question for a lot of Christians. Essentially, I asked if a person could be saved without having heard the gospel. He said no, and this increased my desire to discover why.

Clearly, the issue of salvation as pertaining to an individual’s ‘knowledge’ of the gospel is immensely important. For example, why go to some remote jungle in Africa or South America, as so many missionaries have done in the past, when they needn’t be ‘given’ the gospel? After all, in Romans 1 we are told that the invisible things of God are clearly seen by all so that no one is without excuse. Does this relieve us of the burden of going into all the world and sharing the gospel since nature testifies to not only God’s existence, but His nature; including His general expectations of us, our inability to uphold His law and His grace given to us? It doesn’t seem to take into account Jesus’ words to us in the great commission, instructing us to actually go into all the world (with the gospel). It would seem that according to the scriptures, our duty is to be used by God, even if it means we are the salt and light through which those ignorant of the gospel may ‘see’ the glory and ‘taste’ the goodness of Jesus.

If one accepts this gospel, on what basis is it accepted? Does one listen to the stories of the Bible and come to an intellectual understanding of the nature of God and His purposes for His creation, or is an individual impressed by the actions and loving manner expressed through the evangelist by the Spirit of God? Although most would say it is a little bit of both, I think that on a practical level many of us generally fall into one of two camps concerning how we define the transformation process of a sinner. There are those of us who feel confident that a person is saved merely by how well they can articulate the scriptural account of God’s self revelation to a fallen people through His grace. According to this group, if you can talk the talk, evidently you can walk the walk. I think we all can relate to this. We say so and so is a Christian because he or she seems so spiritual, when what we are really saying is the person communicates the concepts and principles of the Bible in an accurate manner. His or her theology is sound, therefore, he or she is a Christian.

Of course, there is the liberal position that a person is ‘saved’ based on what they do, which is in line with the life of Jesus. For instance, a person could be a practicing Buddhist or Muslim with their lips, but if that individual’s life is reflective of Jesus as opposed to a ‘secular’ life, then this one will receive God’s gift of salvation. I have heard this argument on many occasions. Those who subscribe to this school of thought often cite passages such as the parable Jesus told of the two sons. One son ‘claims’ he will do his father’s will by working in his vineyard and does not do it, while the other son refuses the request but ends up tending to the vineyard in the long run. Ultimately, the son who actually works in his father’s vineyard is the one who does his father’s will, irrespective of what he proclaims.

Inevitably, serious problems arise for anyone trying to hold to either of these two extreme positions. In response to those that find scriptural knowledge and the eloquence of describing one’s personal relationship through Christ as the means of salvation, even Satan knows scripture. He quoted it fluently to Jesus Himself during the temptation scene in the desert. So, salvation can not be attributed to mere ‘head’ knowledge. Also, pure actions that are ‘Christ-like’ (I use the term here loosely) are not guarantees of one’s salvation. After all, King David wasn’t joking around when he said that he hid God’s Word in his heart so that he would not sin against Him. It just seems like common sense to admit that one must know what is the right thing to do before any attempt is made to actually doing the right thing.

I think that the best way to illustrate the salvation process, outside of appealing to the Biblical models that already exist, is to think of a person trapped in a burning building. If that person manages to get to the roof and rescue crews are outside waiting to catch the victim with a net, then the responsibility of being saved lies in the hands of the trapped victim. The person needs to step over to the edge of the building and look down to see where the net is, and then they need to jump. If they merely look over the edge, they will not be saved. This is sort of like the individual that has ‘head’ knowledge of God but does not put it into action. But, if the person decides to jump without looking for the net, then they might be saved, but they can not be sure because they are not aiming for the net. This is like the person that ‘acts’ in a way they think is right. Since they can not trust their own assumptions of what is appealing to God, how can they know what God wants of them?

Ultimately, the only way one can know they are saved is if they, first, hear the Word and then act on it. Some may ask (like I have in the past), “What of the ignorant tribesman that has never heard the Word?� First, we are here to spread the gospel. Secondly, no one is without excuse, as Romans 1 tells us. Everyone ‘knows’ there is a net below, but it is their responsibility to look for it. If they jump blindly, they know that they are taking a risk. If they look, I am quite certain that God will show them the invisible things of Himself. Only God knows How this is accomplished, but we all realize He can do anything He desires.

Send This To A Friend