Christianity teaches that God is perfectly loving and just, and also, that Jesus is the only way to God and salvation. To many people, it seems completely contradictory that God could be so exclusive, providing only one way to get to Him, yet loving at the same time. However, if both things are true, it raises the question: what happens to people who never learn about Jesus before they die? Could a loving God send people to Hell, simply for never hearing of Him?
At first glance, this question might seem unimportant. After all, hasn’t the gospel already gone everywhere? But the reality is far more saddening. While there’s no way to know exactly how many people haven’t heard the gospel, we do have pretty reliable statistics on something we call “unreached people groups”.
Unreached people groups are big groups of people who have a lot in common: the same language, where they live, or their culture— and where less than 2% of them are true Christians. In these places, many people could go their whole lives without meeting a Christian, so many people don’t know anything about Jesus or the gift he offers. But how many people actually fall into this category?
There are 8 billion people in the world today and of that 8 billion, 42% of them live in an unreached people group. This means that almost half of the people in the world right now have very limited access, either to information about Jesus, or to relationships with people who follow Him!
The problem with these statistics is clear when we read what the Bible says— that faith in Jesus alone brings salvation.
Romans 10:9, 14 “If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved… how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?”
This means anyone who does not know Jesus as their Lord will spend an eternity separated from Him after they die. For anyone who believes the Bible, this is a sobering truth to process, and some try to reinterpret God’s words because they begin to doubt His goodness. If this is the first time you’re learning of this, you may also being to feel some doubt or frustration towards God. However, before God created you and I, He knew we would wrestle with doubts about His character, so He gave us the truth we need to combat our sin, right within His Word. The truth reminds us that God is perfect.
Deuteronomy 32:4 “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”
Psalms 103:8 “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
God has perfect love, perfect mercy, perfect compassion, and perfect justice. Because of this, we know God will make the perfect decision for the destiny of each soul. Even when we don’t understand how God’s character can be true in light of His exclusivity, Isaiah 55 reminds us that as the heavens are higher than the earth, God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours. When we truly believe this, we can have peace in God’s goodness and in His decrees, without trying to change Him to fit into our box, because He knows what’s best! And why would we ever want to worship a God who is so small he fits in our box?
This blog is only part one, and only answers one part of the questions concerning this heavy topic. Please come back to read part 2 and 3 when they’re posted, where we will look at Romans 1 and 3 to explore the role unreached people play in deciding their eternal destinies. We will also think on more verses like 2 Peter 3:9, to grow in our understanding of God’s character, and learn of the incredible ways God is saving the unreached today!
Psalm 145:9 “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works”
Written by Abbey Harley