Who gets saved according to the Bible?
The idea that God condemns people to hell can sound like a nasty game with a 50/50 chance of winning or losing. And what about people who don’t even know they're playing the game?
Photo by Jonatan Pie
One of the biggest barriers to Christianity is the idea that God condemns people to hell.
It sounds like a nasty game with a 50/50 chance of winning or losing. The problem is, a lot of people don’t even know they’re playing the game. How are they supposed to win?
The cards are stacked against those who don’t know God exists, yet have to acknowledge his saving power to escape hell.
This idea hurts and divides. No one wants to talk about it, let alone believe it.
This post is part of a series on hell. My previous post challenged the idea that a particular view of Christianity (in my case, Western and largely Evangelical) defines the parameters for who is “saved” and who isn’t.
This post will delve into that a bit more, specifically looking at examples from the different groups of people we see in Scripture. It’s important to know what the Bible does—and doesn’t—say about them.
I’ll take a look at these four main groups of people:
Those who join the Old Testament Jewish or New Testament Christian traditions, either through family connections or an encounter with God and/or his followers.
Those who follow God after an encounter with him and/or his followers but remain isolated in their own culture, separated from the historic faith tradition.
Those who encounter God and/or his followers and reject him.
Those who don’t have a recorded encounter with God or his followers.
Jews or Christians within historic traditions
Some well-known examples of people in this category are Abraham, Moses, Esther, Mary, Peter, and Paul. Since they were part of a tradition with oral and written stories, codes of ethics, and rituals of worship and community, they had clear moral standards to follow as the out-workings of their love and allegiance to God.
Historic Christianity is crucial because it offers philosophical arguments for the value of each human life, the promise of forgiveness, moral guidelines for peace, order, and love, and a trembling belief that earthly life isn’t the end.
Again and again, I see the deep need for this worldview amid our twisted, tumbling world.
However, despite this beautiful history and depth of knowledge based on the study of God’s Word and the wisdom of priests, church elders, and leaders, these “educated” attempts to obey God don’t save. That hope is rooted in a belief that the Lord (later revealed through Christ) can forgive.
The Bible’s main focus is on people in this group. It’s important to remember that. Scripture’s narrative is chiefly about one nation and then one Church, both of whom are his tools for reaching the world.
This doesn’t mean the Bible assumes other people don’t exist or aren’t important, it simply means Scripture isn’t a history book of all peoples in all places.
Members of other cultures or religions who encounter God
The Bible mentions outliers to the historic Judeo-Christian faith. Think of examples such as the sailors in the book of Jonah (Jonah 1:4-16), the Persian king Darius (Daniel 6), Job, who was from Uz (Job 1:1), the Magi who visited Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12), and the Ethiopian eunuch who met Philip (Acts 8:26-39).
Each of these examples either had an apparent knowledge of God before they entered the story or had some experience that introduced them to a supernatural being who had power unlike anything they’d previously experienced.
They each decided to trust and obey this being. They then had to do their best to obey their moral consciences and any revelations God might give them.
However, their lives as God-followers in pagan contexts with little to no exposure to a Jewish or Christian heritage would have looked quite different from the ideas we now have about following God.
People who actively reject God
Many people in the Bible were aware of the Lord’s teachings or witnessed his works and still decided to reject him.
For example, the Egyptian Pharaoh who refused to free the Israelite slaves (Exodus 9:27-35), Jezebel and Ahab, who murdered God’s prophets (1 Kings 16:30-33), and Belshazzar, the king of Persia who failed to heed the conversion of his father, Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 5:22-30).
No one but God knows the entire lives of these individuals. We cannot claim to be certain of his judgements. However, their stories make it clear the Lord condemned their actions and the way they rejected him.
They had all the information, either through prophets or through signs and wonders from God himself. They weren’t interested.
People who never hear about God
The Bible is almost silent when it comes to this group of people. The vast majority of its focus is on those who actively accept or actively reject God.
People in this category may either never hear and remain misled, or never hear but grasp towards truth as best they can. But how far can they get on their own? And how far is “far enough?”
Romans 1:18-20 is one of the Bible’s few references to people who’ve never heard of God (and therefore it’s frequently cited). These verses suggest everyone has a basic revelation of God through the natural universe and their innate moral consciences, and that we all have a responsibility to respond to this revelation.
Perhaps these clues are just enough to lead truth-seekers to accept or reject God. However, this would be difficult. We also can’t claim every person will reach a conscious decision; for example, when children die young.
Nor is God after belief alone. James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” He cares more about our hearts than our head knowledge.
Perhaps, as some theologians argue, those who have never heard of God are judged by how they respond to this general revelation—i.e. their treatment of the world and other humans based on their moral consciences (Romans 2:12-16).
Do they listen to the tug of their hearts to act with love and mercy, or do they ignore the pull? Of course, this doesn’t make a person worthy of salvation. None of us are worthy.
But perhaps these choices reflect a desire to honour a God that person doesn’t know to acknowledge? I don’t know.
I do know that not everyone who believes in the Lord and whispers help me into the dark will look like my definition of a Christian.
I also know I’m not the judge.
Scholars have many opinions and theories. Some argue everyone is unequivocally condemned unless they trust in Christ’s forgiveness (Romans 10:9).
But logically, it seems salvation has to be more nuanced than the requirement of hearing the precise words that Jesus died to forgive humanity’s sin and accepting this truth.
Many of the examples I listed above don’t fit inside that neat box.
This requirement would also mean the number of people who end up in heaven largely rests on the ability of humans to successfully spread the gospel.
If that were the end of the story, it would seem God has little thought for the lives of those who will be eternally condemned based on their place in history or geographic location.
I don’t know the true answer. But I do believe taking a hard stance one way or another is still taking a stand where the Bible isn’t clear. Sometimes, I think we forget this.
We cannot assume the worst—that no one outside our perceived “in crowd” will be saved. Neither can we assume the best—that all roads lead to heaven.
To believe either is to pretend the Bible says something it doesn’t.
But of course, none of this removes the deep need for God-followers to speak the truth they have discovered. We live in a world full of chaos and lies, and we all need help clearing away the fog.
That’s why we need star-gazers to share the beauty of the galaxies with those in smog-covered cities. We need scientists to explain their wondrous discoveries to those unable to access laboratories.
We need actors, mathematicians, mothers, and plumbers to seek deeply and share their hope. We need truth-tellers of all sorts to help point other seekers toward a God who’s bigger, wilder, and more wonderful than we know.
FURTHER READING:
Here are a few other voices who’ve weighed in on this topic. These views do not necessarily represent my own; they are meant to prompt further exploration. In other words, don’t just take my word for it—keep learning!
Mark Pickering: What about those who’ve never heard about the gospel?
William Lane Craig: How will God judge someone who has never heard the gospel?
Todd Wagner: What happens to people who have never heard the gospel?
William Lane Craig: Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?