Are the Unreached Hopelessly Lost?

BY Mike Andrus

Romans 1:18-21
When I witness to unbelievers, I am frequently asked: "What about those who have never heard about Christ? Are all the unreached in the remote parts of the world on their way to hell hopelessly lost?"

It's not difficult to see why such questions arise. If no man can come to the Father except through Jesus Christ, how then can God hold those who have no opportunity to even hear the name of Jesus responsible?

This query is especially nagging to those who mistakenly assume that at least some of the unreached are unsullied by the corruption of modern civilization; that they worship God the best way they know how; that they genuinely seek truth; and that they are not culpable for their moral practices because they are unaware of God's commandments.

Nevertheless, God's wrath does hang over all such people. In fact, Paul addresses this very subject in the first three chapters of Romans. Beginning in verse 18 of Chapter 1, he declares that all people are lost, whether they are civilized or not.

In Chapter 2, he says that even those whom we consider to be good people are lost, and that includes the devout, orthodox Jews. And then, quoting from the Old Testament, he states flatly in Romans 3 that "there is none righteous, no, not one," and that every man and woman on earth, having sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, stands condemned.

Using verses 18 to 21 of Romans 1 as our text, let me now answer some
of the questions about the people living in faraway lands and are yet unreached.

I. The Wrath of God Is a Reality.

Verse 18 reads, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." The words that immediately jump out at us here are "the wrath of God". Before we can go any further, therefore, let's first consider the fact, the meaning, and the revelation of God's wrath.

The fact. The modern church has generally avoided the topic of God's wrath. We much prefer to speak of His love, His mercy, His grace, His forgiveness, His patience. But the fact is, there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury and wrath of God than there are to His love and mercy. Just as God is good to those who trust Him, so He is horrible to those who do not. We read, for instance, in Nahum 1:

God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet...Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him (vv. 2,3,6).
We find similar language in the New Testament. Speaking of the Lord's return, Paul writes in II Thessalonians 1:8,9:
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.
Besides such explicit promises of wrath to come, God makes His wrath known to man also by means of judgments that He has already brought upon the earth. Examples: the flood of Noah's day, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the captivity of Israel and Judah.

The meaning. Perhaps the reason many have challenged God's wrath is that they don't understand it's meaning. You see, God's wrath and man's wrath are entirely different in nature. Human anger is almost always capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, and morally inexcusable. Nevertheless, we occasionally do demonstrate a more noble kind of wratha righteous indignationat the injustice some people have to endure.

This righteous indignation in man gives us at least a hint about the meaning of God's wrath. It is God's resolute action to punish sin; it is a holy and just reaction to evil. God is angry when it would be wrong not to be angry. His wrath always fits the crime. He will render to every man according to his deeds.

In Luke 12 Jesus expands upon this concept with a parable:

That servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not him
self, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more (vv. 47,48).
This suggests that the pagan who has never seen a Bible or heard the name of Jesus will experience God's wrath to a lesser extent than one who has heard the gospel but has still refused to surrender his life to Christ.

The revelation. Our verse says that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven." The present tense here implies that the disclosure is a constant one; it goes on all the time. And the fact that it is revealed from heaven means that the disclosure is universalthat is, it can be observed by everyone, including the unreached.

II. The Wrath of God Is Deserved by All sinners.

The Biblical view of the unreached is that they are not ignorant, but knowledgeable about the one true God. The knowledge they have comes not from the Scriptures, but from their consciences and from nature. And that knowledge is sufficiently extensive as to render them without excuse.

Innate knowledge. John Locke, a 17th century philosopher, set forth the concept that man is at birth a "tabula rasa", a blank tablet or a white paper devoid of all characters. All human ideas and beliefs, supposedly, come from experience, culture, and environment. Hence, a pagan growing up is a revelation of God's glory and creative power.

Of what specifically does this innate knowledge consist? Again verse 20: "his eternal power and Godhead." At the very least this tells us that to every human being is available the knowledge that there is an all-powerful Supreme Being whom he should seek with his whole heart. However, the vast majority of the unreached, whether civilized or uncivilized, do not do so.

Without excuse. Verse 20 concludes, "so that they are without excuse."

You can rationalize their predicament all you want. You can dream up hypothetical cases that impugn the justice and fairness of God. You can appeal to the authority of dozens of so-called Christian theologians who offer contrary opinions, but God's simple, straightforward answer is that they are without excuse and they stand under sentence of eternal judgment.

Now the reason for this terrible state of affairs is not that truth is so difficult to discover but that men hold the truth in unrighteousness (v. 18)that is, they suppress truth by their wickedness. The problem is not an unfortunate lack of information, but a deliberate rejection of the information given. This God will not tolerate.

III. The Mercy of God Provides the Escape.

So far, we have shown that the unreached deserve God's wrath, which is not just an empty threat. But I should also comment briefly upon a question many people have in response to this passage. It goes like this: "If the knowledge which the unreached have of God through con
science and nature is sufficient to condemn them, then is it not also sufficient to save them?"

I would answer in the words of Jesus Himself, "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." And Peter says in Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

So, if all an unreached pagan knows of God is what he sees in nature and conscience, he is not automatically saved from the wrath of God. However, if an unreached person responds positively to it, God will give him sufficient further knowledge of Christ so that he can be saved.

In fact, we have at least two examples of God doing just that in Acts.

Two examples. One is the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. An unreached person, he responded to his knowledge of God by seeking further knowledge. Returning from a trip to Jerusalem, he picked up the Bible and read the book of Isaiah. God knew that the man was seeking the truth, so He miraculously sent Philip to preach Jesus to him. The man was saved and then baptized.

Another example occurs in Acts 10, and it concerns a noncommissioned officer in the Italian army, named Cornelius. He wasn't a typical pagan, but neither was he a Christian. At some point in his life, he seems to have responded positively to the God of nature, for the Scripture describes him as "a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always (v. 2)." But he wasn't saved. He hadn't been introduced to the risen Christ.

Once again, God miraculously sent a messengerthis time Peterto preach to him about Jesus, and then Cornelius was saved. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and was baptized.

Now my contention is this: If God can miraculously bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to an Ethiopian eunuch and an Italian army officer, then he can also see to it that an aborigine in Australia, a Hottentot in Africa, or a Hindu in India hears the Gospel. If, on the other hand, should we get to heaven and find that none of the pagans who have never heard about Christ are there, I shall be forced to say, "Is God unrighteous for exercising His wrath toward sinners? God forbid!" o

Rev. Michael P. Andrus is pastor of First Evangelical Free Church of St. Louis County, Missouri, 1375 Carman Road, Manchester, MO 63021.

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