"Why God would condemn people who have never heard the gospel, such as the Aborigines in Australia?" This question was given to me a couple months ago during a conversation with a dinner guest. God’s condemnation of those who haven’t heard the gospel is a deep mystery (def: something that is hidden and will be revealed) because God has not given us all the details concerning this matter at this time. As it says in Deuteronomy 29:29, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever…" (NASB). Although complex according to human standards, God’s plan for the heathen also has definite and concrete realities according to the Bible.
Most inherent in God’s character is His justice. All other qualities such as His holiness and love correlate to His justice. Sometimes God’s love is humanly seen as apathy towards sin, but this would mar His impeccable holiness. As Dr. Charles Ryrie observes, "The absolute, innate holiness of God means that sinners have to be separated from Him unless a way can be found to constitute them holy" (Ryrie 39). God’s love is revealed through His justice in sending Jesus Christ to stand in the place and take the punishment of those who believe in Him. All self-works, self-believing, and self-motivation ought to be put aside. Excluding Christianity, all religions base their adherents’ standing before God on a relative scale with no assurance of finding favor with God. All human attempts to win favor with God or man are "detestable" before Him (cf. Luke 16:15).
Because of His justice, mankind can be confident that God will be fair according to His character with those who have never heard the gospel. However, the plight of the heathen is exposed in the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden. It is through "defection from any of God’s standards" (Ryrie 212) that man is alienated from fellowship with God through spiritual death. You might wonder, "How can God, who loves, condemn the lost?" Consider the judgments God has already carried out on the lost: "The Noahic deluge which destroyed the whole human race, the judgment upon the idolatrous worship of the tower of Babel, the ten judgmental plagues upon the idolatrous worship of Egypt, [and] the order to exterminate the idolatrous and immoral Canaanites…" (Olsen 74). Yet, just as all mankind is born into sin through Adam, a representative of the human race, so can all men be born into the righteousness of Christ, the representative and intercessor between God and man (Romans 5 and John 1:29).
The heathen are sincere in many spiritual aspects. Yet in itself, sincerity has no intrinsic redeeming quality. Olsen notes that, "Our God is a God of truth" (75). God’s justice is not determined by man’s sincerity. For an extreme example of sincerity, the prophets of Baal mutilated their bodies while in the process of calling upon their god to consume their sacrifice. Yet they were rejected by God who consumed Elijah’s watered sacrifice by fire from heaven (I Kings 18). It wasn’t outward sincerity God was concerned about, but the obedience of the heart (Genesis 4:4-7). In today’s world, if you sincerely consume poison as a medicine, the result remains the same: death.
From an external perspective, the fact of God’s existence is evident to every man by nature. In ancient times, man observed the intricacies of flowers, the mystery of the water cycle, and the predictable consistency of tidal fluctuations. In the modern era, man examines the bombardier beetle concocting a precise mixture that explodes at a specific instant while never injuring itself. By observing the earth, scientists have determined that "our planet is 25,000 miles in circumference and, weighing 6 septillion, 588 sextillion tons, hangs in space. Spinning at 1000 miles per hour with perfect precision to that time is kept to the split second, the earth careens through space around the sun in an orbit of 580 million miles at over 1000 miles a per minute" (MacArthur 39). God clearly reveals His attributes from the creation of the Milky Way Galaxy to the electrons of an atom. Romans 1:20 demonstrates, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so they are without excuse" (NASB-u).
What if God judged man according to his conscience? Mankind would still be doomed to God’s divine judgment. Who has lived up to the standard he has set for himself or others? By his own words and actions, no matter what the scale of morality, man stands condemned. The Bible acts as a tool to show men their sin, yet men previously knew of their sin before the Bible (i.e. Adam, Genesis 3). Paul expounds on this principle in Romans 2:14-15, "These [people], not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them" (NASB). A hypothesis based on spiritual ignorance will not appease the eternal consequences that intrinsic accusations levy against God’s holiness. Romans 1:18-19 warns, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them" (NASB-u).
God requires a sacrifice to be made on behalf of our sin. No, He is not calling for sinners to go without dessert or to give all their money to the poor. Many people believe that their self-denial will earn them eternal life. Some believe eternal achievement is based on good works done here on earth. Others think they will cash in on eternal life through their philanthropy. Sadly, these people are left in the never ending depression of no assurance regarding their eternal state. However, the Lord provided a way for fellowship to be restored between God and man.
In the Garden of Eden, God required shed blood to pay the price for Adam’s sin. God killed an animal to cover the sin and to restore fellowship between him and Adam (Genesis 21). Thereafter, a blood sacrifice was instituted as the means of restoration.
Throughout the entire Old Testament, sin was covered through the blood sacrifices of animals; since the cross, our sin is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Some might argue for universalism in that Christ died for the sins of all men, thus saving them whether or not they believe. Yet Jesus, God’s Son, instructs, "Unless you believe that I am He [God/Messiah], you will die in your sins" (John 8:24b, NASB-u). Jesus counseled Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5, NASB-u).
There is no other way besides belief on the highway to heaven. Jesus also said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16, NKJV). This not only applies to affluent of the world, but also to the destitute. John Dyer states, "A man may go to Heaven without health, without riches, without honors, without learning, without friends, but he can never go there without Christ." (Comfort Springboards 250). The apostle John differentiates between those who believe in Christ and those who do not: "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18).
Yet even after all this, some might feel that it is not fair to condemn those who have never heard. First of all, we must never allow our feelings do dictate our theology. When feelings preside over theology, heresy spreads like wildfire. Also, we need to step back and refocus our outlook on eternity. Who judges the hearts? Our micro perspective from earth is insufficient and incapable of giving us the wisdom from above. The emotional dross which corrupts our earthly focus must be laid aside as we seek to know through God’s Word what His perspective is on the heathen throughout eternity.
Again, natural revelation alone does not give enough information for a sinner to be saved; for the name of Christ is not there. Romans 10 says, "That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation" (vv.9-10, NASB-u). Believing the message of the gospel, as found in the death and resurrection of Christ, is critical to eternal salvation. The rhetoric of Paul continues as he states, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14, NASB-u). The imperative mandate to preach and share the gospel cannot be more clear.
The driving force behind Christians should be God’s eternal perspective. By the Holy Spirit’s power, the plight of the lost must take first priority in the vapor of believer’s time on earth. With both hands steady on the plow and both eyes fixed on Christ, the believer ought to have one mission: to see the mercy of God poured out on the lost through faith in the cross. This is the heart of evangelical faith missions.