Can they who have never heard the gospel,

and so know not Jesus Christ, nor believe in him, be saved by their living according to the light of nature?

They who, having never heard the gospel,[1] know not Jesus Christ,[2] and believe not in him, cannot be saved,[3] be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature,[4] or the laws of that religion which they profess;[5] neither is there salvation in any other, but in Christ alone,[6] who is the Savior only of his body the church.[7]

1. Rom. 10:14
   

   How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

2. II Thess. 1:8-9

   … in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might…

   Eph. 2:12

   remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

3. John 8:24

   I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.

   Mark 16:16

   Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

4. I Cor. 1:20-24

   Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God

5. John 4:22

   You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

   Rom. 9:31-32

   … but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone … .

   Phil 3:4-9

   … though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith … .
   

6. Acts 4:12

   And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

7. Eph. 5:23

   For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

Question 60, Westminster Larger Catechism

Comments

[Even So...]

Indeed...

[drew]

What silliness. Of course those who have not heard will be saved. If God really does not understand that, then he is not God and you need not worry.

[rebecca]

If God really does not understand that, then he is not God and you need not worry.

It sounds an awful lot like you are saying that you are the arbitrator of what God is required to do if he is going to be God. That you are the one who sets the standards to which God must conform in order to be God.

BTW, just in case you misunderstand: Scripture (and the WCF, which is the historic document this post comes from) does not say that those who have never heard the gospel are held accountable for not knowing the gospel. They are held accountable only for not responding rightly to what they do know about God from nature and for not living up to what their own consciences tell them they ought to be doing.

[Diane]

Rebecca, this was so timely, I wish I had read it earlier. I heard someone today who was asked that question say that she believed God sends angels to minister to that person. Never mind the fact she had no Scripture to back it up with. Excellent post.

[Housewife]

"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

Does this mean you cannot have a friend from another religion? Would you have a Muslim or Jew in your home? Would you ever want to talk to one of us without quoting scripture?

Is part of your mission in life to convert people to your religion?

I would love to see a post about this. I like your writing and I am genuinely curious where someone like you stands.

Do you really think that G-d is angry with people who don't pray the same way you do?

Again, not a challenge to you, not a comment/question in anger, just a question.

[rebecca]

Hello Housewife,

(Something seems just wrong about that greeting! :) )

Good questions, exactly the sort I like--ones that challenge me in a good way! I think I will post answers, but it might be tomorrow before I get to them. We had a power outage this morning and I'm just starting my day now, which means I'm way, way, way behind.