I had just finished explaining the good news about Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection. After thinking for a moment, the person I was talking to said, “Well yeah. That’s nice and easy. But what about those who haven’t heard about this? What happens to them?”

Anyone who has ever tried to tell someone about Jesus has probably encountered this question. I’m lousy at speaking up in face-to-face encounters — and I do mean horrible — yet I’ve run into this question more than once.

The Answer

The question itself isn’t really that hard to answer. God has made himself known to every person in the world through what theologians call “General Revelation.” In other words, if you look at the world around you, God’s existence — though not specific details such as Jesus’ death and resurrection — is made known through nature and the law written on every man’s heart. As Psalm 19 puts it:

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge.

(Psa. 19:1-2, NASB)

When you look at nature, it’s impossible to miss the intricate balance and interdependence of plants and animals. Flowers cannot be pollinated without bees and other insects. Plants use carbon-dioxide and produce oxygen while animals use oxygen and carbon-dioxide. Even pagan religions recognize this overall balance in what they call “the circle of life.” The delicate beauty of flowers, the sensual beauty of various fruits and vegetables, the warm softness of an animal’s fur and the symphonic chorus of birds and insects all demonstrate God’s artistry in all the senses.

God’s beauty and logic are also shown in the inorganic world. The intricate balance of the planets and other celestial bodies in their gravitational dance show God’s skills as a master machinist. The beauty of a sunrise, sunset or rainbow demonstrate more of God’s visual spectacle. The grand spendor of an ocean shore, the delicate babbling of a brook and the incredible variety of snowflakes all demonstrate God’s ability to create a wide variety of beauty out of a simple substance.

It’s not just nature which shows God’s workmanship. God’s law is written on human hearts. As Paul wrote to the Romans:

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, 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, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

(Rom. 2:14-16, NASB)

Consider the Declaration of Independence. The second paragraph begins with these famous words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Thomas Jefferson is describing God’s law within every person’s heart. He considers the existence of such laws as obvious to anyone who gives the matter any thought. We may not know why we know it, but we know that there are absolute Rights and Wrongs, even if we disagree on the details. In his classic book Mere Christianity (a book which every Christian should read multiple times), C. S. Lewis describes God’s law like this:

I know that some people say the idea of a Law of Nature or decent behaviour known to all men is unsound, because different civilisations (sic) and different ages have had quite different moralities.

But this is not true. There have been differences between their moralities, but these have never amounted to anything like a total difference. If anyone will take the trouble to compare the moral teaching of, say, the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hindus, Chinese, Greeks and Romans, what will really strike him will be how very like they are to each other and to our own. Some of the evidence for this I have put together in the appendix of another book called The Abolition of Man; but for our present purpose I need only ask the reader to think what a totally different morality would mean. Think of a country where people were admired for running away in battle, or where a man felt proud of double-crossing all the people who had been kindest to him. You might just as well try to imagine a country where two and two made five. Men have differed as regards what people you ought to be unselfish to—whether it was only your own family, or your fellow countrymen, or everyone. But they have always agreed that you ought not to put yourself first. Selfishness has never been admired. Men have differed as to whether you should have one wife or four. But they have always agreed that you must not simply have any woman you liked.

As Paul points out in the passage I quoted from in Romans, God will judge those who haven’t heard the gospel based on their actions in relation to those parts of God’s law they did recognize.

What Is The Reason For The Question?

Now that I’ve made your eyes glaze over with an incredibly long answer to a simple question, it’s time to heap even more abuse upon your poor tired eyes.

It has been my experience that whenever this question is asked, it’s not out of concern for those who haven’t heard the gospel. Nor is it really the question that the person you’re talking to really wants answered. Both the skeptic and the person seeking the truth are addressing the same core issue.

The real question is, “Is God actually just and trustworthy?”

The skeptic is convinced that God is not trustworthy because, in his mind, only those who have heard the good news of the cross can escape punishment. Therefore those who haven’t heard the gospel are forced to go to hell, proving that God is actually unjust.

The person who is actually looking for the truth is still unsure of the truth of the gospel. They are unsure if God can be trusted. Like the skeptic, they are aware that those who haven’t heard of Jesus cannot be saved by calling on His name. And as with the skeptic, it seems unjust.

I do not have a good knock’em dead, one size fits all answer to this question. (If anyone knows one, please let me know.) As I pointed out above, God does recognize the difference between those who have heard the gospel and those who have not. He has promised to treat them appropriately. But even so, just exactly what that means is not something I have a good answer to. All I know is that God has proven Himself to be absolutely just and absolutely trustworthy in hundreds of other areas and that gives me a reason to believe that He knows what He is doing with those who haven’t heard the gospel.

On the other hand, I am sure of the status the person I’m talking to. They have heard the good news. They know about Jesus and His sacrifice to save us. They know they will face God and He will ask the question, “What did you do about my son, Jesus?” They will not be able to ask, “Who?” Any excuse of ignorance is gone. They only have the choice of accepting or rejecting His gift.

When you are telling another person about Jesus, what are your motives? Are you trying to show them the way to freedom for their sake, or are you trying to put another notch in your belt? Are you confident that God truly is who the Bible says He is? Are you confident that God is truly just and worthy of your trust? Answering those questions for yourself will go a long way in your ability to answer those questions for others.