A Pastoral Position Paper -- Ben Alexander

A Pastoral Letter[1]

Dear Friend,

You asked, “How is it just for God to condemn to Hell a sinner who has never had a chance to hear and respond to the gospel?” A similar question was asked of Francis Schaeffer, a theologian and evangelist from Switzerland , and his answer at the outset was simply to cry. Schaeffer’s initial reaction corresponds well with God’s love throughout Scripture for the lost.

The Lord says, "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel ?" (Ezekiel 33:11). Notice that whereas God takes no delight in the death of the wicked and pleads with them to turn from their sin, it is the wicked person’s sinful choices that result in judgment.

Perhaps we need to rephrase your question biblically. Shouldn’t you have rather asked, “How is it even just for God to forgive such sin that cries out for justice and punishment throughout the world?” How can so much evil be perpetuated on earth without due justice? God will bring justice and He will also show compassion on those whom He wills. The question that has to be asked is, who is guilty?

We cannot assume a person is innocent if he has not yet heard the gospel. Every person is born in sin, and therefore guilty. All people who have ever lived have “rejected the gospel” by being born in sin. They do not have to hear the gospel audibly first then reject it to be guilty. All who are born are born into the guilt and condemnation of their representative and covenant head, Adam.

So, it is wrong to assume that a person could be innocent because he was not born in a Christian culture. All are guilty. “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God” (Romans 3:10, 11). Sinners sin willfully because it is in their nature to do so. No one forces them. They consent completely. This has to be understood before we can move on.

Notice the italicized parts of Psalm 19:1-4a:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

This passage says that the glory of God in the heavens and the firmament shows His handiwork, utters speech, and reveals knowledge. There is no one anywhere who has not "heard," heard the fact that there is a Creator who lays claim over their lives. But they reject it, as did their fathers, choosing to worship the creation and not the Creator. Why? Because men love the darkness and what they do in the darkness. The light reveals what they do, and therefore they hate it. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness. This is Adam in all of us. We have to trust in what God's Word says about this situation rather than our often skewed apprehension of the justice of God. Movies in American culture often flip upside down what true justice is. They are often not a help in serious reflection about the deeper questions we may have about God’s ways with the world. For example, liberal media in America is no help in portraying an accurate view of what they call a “noble savage.” Movies will often portray just such a person as pure, free, and innocent of the evil greed and power of the more civilized cultures. In reality however, most people devoid of Christian culture could hardly be described as "noble."

There are generations of savage people devoid of the gospel of Jesus Christ and they are indeed under a curse. "The iniquities of the fathers pass on from generation to generation," and these sins pass on covenantally. That is, whole people groups and tribes are bound up in such darkness as to obliterate any thought of the concept of nobility or purity. Many of these people are also isolated, which furthers their superstitions and errors. We should not think however, that a person is just a victim of their surroundings, be it ever so pagan.

In short, no one is going to Hell who has not first chosen to go there through their deep love affair with sin and self. All of us without Christ choose to love our sin, and therefore we are condemned. We are not forced to do this. We do it on our own.

Paul, in Romans 1:18ff, describes how we are all without excuse:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Paul says that these people are without excuse. People without Christ are not thankful, they take the blessing of the gift of life for granted, and raise the middle finger at God. The knowledge of God that they possess already and reject, is enough to condemn them. To be more specific in your situation, God is not silent in Mongolia .

Even though nomadic tribesmen in Mongolia may not be as depraved as many even more isolated tribes are around the world, their Buddhist beliefs are a rejection of God’s revelation. I do not think I need to expound that proposition, as you could readily do that based on your own exposure to its darkness.

There is often a central problem when we ponder the mysteries of God’s justice and His “fairness.” It is that we have too high a view of man and his lack of culpability and not enough realization of the sinfulness of his sin. If God were "fair" with everyone then He would put us all under His judgment and curse. But praise God that He is not fair. He is actually gracious and full of mercy. God has saved billions upon billions of wicked and gross sinners, and the number will grow until it cannot be counted. And in that day, when indeed all the prophecies and promises throughout Scripture are fulfilled, the knowledge of God and His salvation will cover the whole earth as the waters cover the sea.

I believe this because there are hundreds of prophecies in the Old and New Testaments that prophesy that Jesus will reign until all His enemies are subdued throughout the earth and that the Church of Christ will be predominant over her enemies. For example, in Isaiah 65:17-25 it speaks of the age in which the Church will have more thoroughly leavened the world with the blessings of the gospel. “For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands (Is. 65:22c), and; “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain, says the LORD (65:25). Notice this passage is not talking about the final Heaven, in which death itself will be no more, for in v. 20 it speaks of people still dying.

The bottom line is that there are some people who will be left to their own sin and destruction, thus glorifying God's rightful justice over sin and wickedness. They are not innocent victims. In Romans 9:13-24 Paul addresses the very question we are discussing head on:

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

But notice Paul's heart and affection for the accursed brethren who refused to come to the gospel in the same chapter in Romans, vv. 1-3: "I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh…"

So, finally, we have to trust in what God's Word says and not our "word," thoughts, and sense of justice. I leave you with what Paul quoted to the Jews at the end of Acts (Acts 28:26,27:)

Go to this people and say:‘ Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’

God will be glorified in applying justice to those who are bent on their sin. If any sinner, from America or from the remotest place on earth is drawn to Christ by the Holy Spirit, God will certainly not cast them out. And there have been many brought to Christ even from remote places. Every sheep that is His, He will find. But yes, there are some people left to their own devices like Pharaoh of old who hardened his heart, and they will go to Hell. And our response should be, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?" (Gen. 18:25).