Can People Be Saved Without Hearing the Gospel?

[@TheIntrovertedChurch]

good video Rebekah

[@BreadofLifeChannel]

Thank you, Tom!

[@Jamie-Russell-CME]

If my theology judges babies, I am wrong. Babies are innocent.

[@BreadofLifeChannel]

Hi B.S.! That doesn't mean the baby was guilty. I think it is a different point, isn't it?

[@BreadofLifeChannel]

Hi Blocked Again! If you look at the history of my channel, you'll see that I have had extensive conversations with people of many different perspectives. But I'm getting tired of the same ol' toxic atheist arguments. So I'm not allowing atheists to make my channel toxic anymore. You can expect to be blocked again if you put toxic comments. Thanks!

[@danthechristian6097]

There's nothing in Scripture to suggest that a sinner is in "in the clear" if he didn't hear the gospel. Sinners are "without excuse". Romans 1:18-23 (talking about pagans who obviously had never heard the gospel); 2:12-16 (the unevangelized Gentiles will be judged based on their conscience); Revelation 21:8 ("all liars", not "all unevangelized liars"). Jesus says, in a salvatory sense, "No one is good except God alone". Mark 10:18b. See also Romans 3:12b (also in a salvatory sense, "no one does good, not even one")(quoting Psalm 14:3b). It's hyperbolic language in the sense that it refers to only people capable of sinning (hence Psalm 14:3a). Jesus suffered for the sins of sheep who have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6), not of the sheep who haven't. Babies and some mentally handicapped people haven't had a chance to "turn aside" (Psalm 14:3a). We learn of their innocence based on Scripture. See Deuteronomy 1:39; 2 Samuel 12:23. Your video is based on a false premise that people are born guilty of sin.

[@BreadofLifeChannel]

Hi Dan! Thanks for your comment! You said that my video is based on a false premise that all people are born guilty of sin. Actually, I don't believe that, so I'm not sure where you got that idea. I don't think babies are guilty of sin. And I agree that sinners are without excuse (from Romans 1). But what is the point of Romans 1? It's to show us that we are all equally worthy of judgment. God provided salvation for all of us sinners! I don't think sinners are "in the clear" if they didn't hear the gospel, I think the gospel is powerful enough to save those who have heard (and still disobey) and those who haven't heard (but responded to the revelation they had). God bless you!

[@danthechristian6097]

@@BreadofLifeChannel God bless you too Rebekah. If you don't believe people are born guilty, then your argument that the "exclusivist view" Christians are "not very consistent" falls apart. When you conflate nonsinners (babies) with other people who haven't heard the gospel (that Jesus died for their sins and was resurrected) as one category ("people"), and say that exclusivist-view Christians are inconsistent, you make a category error. 1 Timothy 4:10 doesn't mean what you are claiming (that some unbelievers will be saved), as that would contradict the dozens of other places where Paul, the author of 1 Timothy, taught what you call the exclusivist view, not to mention it would contradict the exclusivist view taught by Jesus. It just means Jesus is everyone's prospective savior because he died for all, and that he is the believer's effective savior. That's consistent with John 3:16. Your doctrine of "active disbelief" is false. Also, you don't seem to understand that it is not failure to believe in Jesus for which people go to hell. That's like saying a criminal went to prison because he turned down a pardon right after his sentencing.

[@BreadofLifeChannel]

Hi Dan! Where do you see Paul teaching the exclusivist view?

[@danthechristian6097]

@@BreadofLifeChannel Thank you for asking. Paul teaches the exclusivist doctrine in Romans 10.5-17, excluding the possibility that any sinner can be saved without calling upon the name of Jesus, and pointing out that one cannot call upon the name of Jesus unless one has been evangelized (heard the good news of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus). When A requires B and B requires C, A requires C. All unevangelized sinners go to hell, period. One doesn't even need to know about the Ten Commandments, let alone the gospel, to be condemned. "For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law." Romans 2.12. So "responding to what little light one had", whatever that nonbiblical doctrine is supposed to mean, isn't enough. One sin against one's own conscience leaves one condemned. You shouldn't say "God is powerful enough to [fill-in-the-blank heresy]". In fact, God is powerful enough to honor his preserved word and not be a liar. When Jesus said, "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God", he really meant it. Salvation is exclusive, for a small minority of people (Matthew 7.14): those who (1) have heard the gospel and (2) believed the gospel. Likewise, pre-Calvary people were saved only by calling upon the name of Yahweh, as we learn from the Book of Hebrews, and that would have required knowledge of Yahweh and his promise to save his people from the Fall (the promise given to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.15; confessed by Adam in 3.20, by Eve in 4.25, and by others in 4.26). The Bible consistently puts accountability on sinners for failing to seek out and find God. It's always been that way. See Job 33.14-30. Verses 14-17 and 29-30 account for the unevangelized, and verses 23-26 articulate the gospel of forgiveness of sins by a mediator and ransom, and eternal life to the one who entreats (pleads with) God (Yahweh). If a human evangelist doesn't get to them, God evangelizes them one way or another during the person's life in multiple ways (Job 33.14-17); in our day that might be as simple as people knowing they are sinners (an obvious reality) and knowing that the year 2024 dates back to Jesus of Nazareth and that they therefore ought to find out who Jesus is. That said, Christians are still given the Great Commission. Also, even if God did not afford a person the opportunity to hear how to be redeemed, no sinner is entitled to hear the gospel. In fact, once Jesus concealed the gospel from a particular crowd of Jews so that they would not understand it and be forgiven of their sins. See Mark 4.10-12. Just as grace is a "free gift" (an intentional redundancy that Paul used in Romans 5.15-17; 6.23), so to is the opportunity to hear the gospel. By definition, a gift cannot be an entitlement.

[@BreadofLifeChannel]

Thanks for taking the time to share your perspective! I disagree with your interpretation, but I think it's okay if we disagree. God bless you!

[@thurzaheim]

If we believe in the perfect goodness & justice of God, we can fully trust in His Sovereignty concerning these matters. In todays world, there are very few examples of peoples who have no opportunity to hear the gospel. Scripture also says that the law of God is written on the hearts of man. The Holy Spirit must work in the heart of all who receive Christ and can certainly reveal the condition of ones need for Christ without a gospel message. Abraham pleased God. He had no scripture, no prophet to explain things to him. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Our focus as believers should be to faithfully share the good news to the ends of the earth.

[@BreadofLifeChannel]

Hi TheIM! Thanks for your great comment! I agree with you on almost every point except for when you said, "In today's world there are very few examples of peoples who have no opportunity to hear the gospel." This is not true. Many people still have very little or no access to teaching about the basics about Christ. In Turkey, I regularly met people who knew that the cross was a Christian symbol, but who had never heard what we believe about Jesus dying on the cross. And there are places with even less exposure to Christianity, either from isolation, or direct attempts by governments to stop the message from being heard. In one country where I lived, most Christian websites were purposefully blocked.

[@thurzaheim]

@Bread of Life That's very interesting. I was at a conference where Rick Warren was speaking and he said that Saddleback has sent teams to every country in the world to plant a church except for 2 countries...North Korea & one other, can't remember which. I'm sure North Korea is one place where the gospel has not reached few if any. Warren mentioned that within many countries, there are still some remote tribes that have been beyond their reach. So I guess I stand corrected on that.

[@BreadofLifeChannel]

Thanks for sharing about Rick Warren's work. How wonderful!

[@freakylocz14]

Here is the gospel for those who never heard The Gospel, and where it's found in the Bible: Then I saw another angel flying in the mid-heaven, having the EVERLASTING GOSPEL to preach to those who dwell on the Earth-to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people-saying with a loud voice: "Fear God and give Him glory, for the hour of His judgement has come. Worship Him who created Heaven and Earth, the Sea and Stars, and everything that is created." (Revelation 14:6-7)

[@freakylocz14]

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But I ask: have they not heard? Indeed they have! For "[The Heavens reveal the glory of God, and His creation proclaims His handiwork.] Their voice goes out through all the Earth, and their words to the end of the world." (Romans 10:17-18) As I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." Whom you therefore worship without knowing it, Him I now proclaim to you. (Acts 17:23)