What about those who have never heard the gospel? Jesus said in John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me
The apostle Peter in Acts 4:12 preached, 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
But there are still many Christians who are complacent about evangelism and complacent about world mission. And for many the reason is that they think that there is a loophole for “good people” who will somehow get into heaven on their own merits. I’ve even heard preachers and theologians talk about the “good heathen”, or “the anonymous Christian” who will be alright in front of the judgment throne of God because they have lived good lives. We can call this “the false hope of the sinless pagan.”
“The false hope of the sinless pagan.”
It’s a popular idea in woolly thinking liberal circles that people who haven’t heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will saved anyway because God has a “back door into heaven” for “good pagans”. That false hope is based on these verses from Romans 2
Romans 2: 12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)
These verses give some people a false hope that if people live “according to their own lights”, guided by their own moral standards and their own cultures, and as long as such people haven’t actually explicitly rejected Christ, then such “good pagans” will be saved. Of course that would mean that telling such people about Christ would open to them the possibility of rejecting him, and so twisted logic argues that the best thing would be NOT to tell such a person about Christ. As if they would be better off without Jesus!
The problem with the false hope of the “sinless pagan” of course is that there aint no such person! There is NOT anywhere in the whole wide world even one person who is living such a good life that they don’t need Christ to save them! The point Paul is making is that even people who don’t know the Jewish Law DO know enough about what is right and wrong to be justifiably condemned by the Holy God. We do all have a conscience! But we must recognise:
The Limitations of Human Conscience
Paul is saying that our conscience is sufficient for God to be justified in condemning us, but not sufficient for any of us to be saved. The Bible teaches us that all human beings are created in the image of God.
Genesis 1: 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Over the centuries theologians have debated what it means to be created “in God’s image.” It means that uniquely within creation, human beings have a spiritual dimension so that we can relate to God who is Spirit. Human beings are unique in that we have the capacity for worship and for prayer. And part of that image of God is conscience, the ability to discern the difference between right and wrong. God has given each and every human being enough awareness of Himself and enough awareness of right and wrong to be accountable before God for our evil actions. We saw last week that Paul talked about this awareness of God in Romans 1.
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Theologians have labelled what Paul is talking about here as “General revelation”. God has revealed himself throughout the whole of Creation. People only need to look at the world around to see that there is a God of eternal power who made it all.
Psalm 19 says
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
General Revelation: God has revealed Himself to all human beings everywhere in His Creation. Then there is Special Revelation: God has revealed Himself to the Israelites in the Law and the Prophets and to the whole world in His Son Jesus Christ. We have the Scriptures as testimony to God’s Special Revelation in prophetic words and saving actions.
Psalm 19:7The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
We have Special Revelation but there is also General revelation for all human beings everywhere. Paul explains this in Acts 14
15 “We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. 16 In the past, he let all nations go their own way. 17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
“Yet he has not left himself without testimony.” The Bible makes clear in many places that every single human being has enough awareness of God to be responsible and accountable before God for our actions. Everyone has, says Paul
A law for themselves, written on their hearts
. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts,
Philosophers and theologians talk about “Natural law”, a sense of justice and right and wrong inbuilt into every human being. Some people say, “It isn’t fair for God to condemn people for sinning if they don’t know that the things they are doing are wrong.” What the Bible says here and in many other places is that people DO know when they are doing things that are wrong. Each person has a knowledge of God and of right and wrong which does not have to be learned but which is innate and intuitive. We can’t forget the difference between right and wrong, because we each have a moral compass which is part of being made in the image of God. We each have a human conscience.
14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)
We each have a conscience bearing witness, now accusing, now defending, an inner witness to what is right and what is wrong. Every human being has a sense of responsibility. Our consciences can be misguided and desensitised, and bad parenting and bad company and the influences of television and film have contributed massively to so many consciences being desensitised to all kinds of evil. But nevertheless our conscience is always there. And natural law and conscience together mean that every single person knows enough about God and about what is right and wrong for it to be entirely fair and just for God to judge us. But the limitations of Natural Law and conscience are such that they are NOT enough to save us. Not enough to save ANYONE. The “sinless pagan” is a MYTH. No such person exists. We ALL need Christ.
There is none who is righteous, no not one!
That is the whole point Paul is making in the first three chapters of Romans. We saw it from the beginning.
Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
The ONLY way anyone will be saved is by God’s gift of righteousness given through Jesus Christ and received by faith. God is angry with human beings for all the godlessness and wickedness which follows when we reject him.
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
And Paul expands on that judgment of God in chapter 2
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil:;
So will there be any sinless pagans? Will any reach God’s standard of perfection? NO!
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
Just so that there is no confusion, Paul spells out in Romans 3 that all will face condemnation.
Romans 3:10 “There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
13“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”15“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and misery mark their ways, 17and the way of peace they do not know.”
18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
In this string of quotes from Psalms, Isaiah and Ecclesiastes Paul makes his point. There is NONE who is righteous no, not one. Romans 3:23 There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
All will be judged on the basis of their actions and NONE will reach God’s standard of perfection. Not our nice neighbours, not our generous friends. Not that very nice Mrs So and So at the end of the road. Not our parents or husbands or wives or children who aren’t yet believers but we like to think there will be a back door into heaven for them at the end of the day. And certainly no “sinless pagans” on distant mission fields or living just round the corner who haven’t heard the gospel. The only hope any of us have is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the power of God for the salvation of all who believe! And the only hope for those who haven’t heard the gospel is that somebody tells them – somebody like us!
