The Heathen Who Have Not Heard The Gospel

   Another problem which requires special consideration is the fate of the heathen who have never had an opportunity to hear the gospel. The claim that it would be unfair that such should go to hell is one of the strongest pleas of the universalists and especially of those who claim that there is opportunity for salvation beyond the grave.

   With regard to this problem, there are certain Scripture passages which are pertinent. Especially noteworthy are Romans 2:12, "As many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without the law: and as many as have sinned under the law shall be judged by the law;" and Romans 10:13,14, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" These passages certainly seem to imply that those who have never heard the gospel are lost.

   The Westminster Confession makes this statement on the

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subject: "Much less can men, not professing the Christian religion, be saved in any other way whatsoever, be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature, and the law of that religion they do profess."¹

   Boettner says, "The Christian Church has been practically of one mind in declaring that the heathens as a class are lost."² After quoting the above Scripture passages and several others, he adds, "The Scriptures, then, are plain in declaring that under ordinary conditions those who have not Christ and the Gospel are lost."³

   Our conclusions with regard to this question inevitably affect our missionary zeal. As one studies the lives of men like Hudson Taylor and David Brainerd it is obvious that they were driven forward by a deep conviction that the heathen who did not hear and accept the gospel message were utterly lost. If they had not had this conviction their work and the great inspiration produced by their work on each succeeding generation would have been lost. To the degree that we share their conviction we too will be zealous for missions, and to the degree that our conviction at this point is weakened, to that degree our missionary zeal will evaporate. As Boettner points out, "In fact the belief that the heathens without the Gospel are lost has been one of the strongest arguments in favor of foreign missions. If we believe that their own religions contain enough light and truth to save them, the importance of preaching the Gospel to them is greatly lessened. Our attitude toward foreign missions is determined pretty largely by the answer which we give this question."⁴

   The unwillingness of many to believe that the heathen are really lost is based largely on the crude conception of hell which we attacked in our final chapter. If we have a conception

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(as many of the opponents and some of the advocates of the doctrine have) that all men who are lost will roast for eternity in a sort of common frying pan, we might well question how it is possible that those who have never had an opportunity will yet end up in such a condition. But as we have pointed out, the modern evangelical position need not be, and is not such a conception. Hell will be the natural and penal consequence of each man's sinful life on earth (and all are sinners according to God's Word), whether he has heard the gospel or not. The man who has not heard the gospel will not have committed the sin of rejecting it, and therefore his condition will not be nearly as terrible as the man who has heard. As the Word of God says, "And that servant, who knew his lord's will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. And to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required; and to whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more" (Luke 12:47-48). But though their fate will not be as serious as the man who heard and rejected, still it will be a condition of eternal lostness. Let us then catch the missionary zeal of the pioneer missionaries who, believing the heathen were lost, dedicated themselves completely that they might proclaim to them the gospel which alone has the power to save.

Appendix III || Table of Contents

1. x, 4.

2. Boettner, Op. Cit., p. 118.

3. Ibid., p. 119.

4. Ibid., p. 119.