Imagine your teenage daughter comes home from youth group on Wednesday night after hearing a sermon on Acts 4:12: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved..”
She asks you: “Mom, how can those who have never heard the gospel be condemned for not believing in a message they never heard? Dad, what about Muslims or Hindus who do not have access to the gospel of Jesus Christ because of their birthplace and environment? Can we honestly claim that they will be condemned for having faith in the only understanding of God they possess, especially if they’re living a good moral life?” As a parent, how would you respond?
In this article, I want to help equip you to disciple your kids to think deeply about this challenging question through the lens of Scripture, and to see that God has given us an answer to this question through the truth of His word.
Gospel Exclusivism
Gospel exclusivism is defined as follows: people cannot be saved apart from hearing and believing in the gospel.[1]Gospel exclusivism is true for two reasons.
First, Scripture teaches that only the gospel of Jesus Christ can save us from our sins (1 John 4:14). Jesus is the only way of salvation because he is the only person who could represent us being fully human, and pardon our sins, being fully God (1 Tim. 2:5). Only God the Son came to this world and became a human in Jesus while maintaining his full divinity (John 1:1-4, 14). Only Jesus lived a perfect sinless life as a human and fulfilled God’s law. Only Jesus paid our sin debt on the cross and absorbed the full wrath of God in our place (1 Peter 2:22-25). Only Jesus rose victorious from the grave, defeated sin and death, ascended, and now sits at the Father’s right hand (1 Cor. 15). Thus, salvation is only through Jesus (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
Second, the Bible teaches that we can only be saved and receive the benefits of the gospel through faith in Jesus. In Romans 10:9-17, Paul says that we must confess with our mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart God raised him from the dead, then we will be saved. To confess Jesus as Lord, we must know he is Lord through hearing the gospel. This is why Paul says that faith only comes by hearing the words of Christ and one cannot believe if they never hear the gospel (v.14)[2].
Pluralism
Pluralism teaches that all religions and belief systems lead to God. However, Scripture clarifies that salvation can only come through trusting in God’s provision for one’s sin through the person and work of Jesus Christ. If Christianity is true, then pluralism cannot also be true, because the two belief systems contradict each other. Not all roads lead to God.
Inclusivism
Inclusivism is the belief that Christ saves all people so it’s not necessary for a person to hear the gospel to be saved. Inclusivists assert that Christ can save individuals through their faith in the revelation they receive, either by recognizing him through creation, or by responding to God through their culture or religion. However, both forms of inclusivism are mistaken for two reasons.
First, “There is salvation in no one else…” (Acts 4:12). This seems to clearly rule out that anyone can be saved apart from knowing and trusting in the person and work of Jesus Christ.[3]
Second, Romans 10:17-18 says faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Throughout Romans 10, Paul emphasizes the significance of explicit faith in Jesus for salvation (v. 9-10). If individuals cannot hear the gospel, how can they be saved (v. 13-14)? He also affirms that general revelation cannot lead to salvation, as everyone has rejected God’s truth in unrighteousness and is without excuse (Rom. 1:18-23). Therefore, people cannot be saved through general revelation in creation but must hear and respond to the gospel. So, inclusivism is also false.
Universalism
Universalism teaches that all people will eventually be saved.[4] Two biblical truths cut against the grain of the argument for universalism.
First, numerous passages seem to explicitly teach that hell is an everlasting place of torment and not all will be saved (Matt. 11:23, 25:46; Rev. 20:11-13,). Second, the Bible makes numerous statements about the separation between the sheep and goats –those who believe and those who don’t believe—so it seems that not all will be saved (John 3:36; Matt. 11:23, 25:31-46). Thus, sadly, not all will be saved.
Doesn’t Exclusivism make God unfair?
There are two common objections, focusing on God’s justice and fairness, that your kids may raise against exclusivism.
How can God be just if people go to hell who never had a chance to believe in the gospel?
First, as hard as this truth is, the Bible teaches that no one deserves to hear the gospel. God is not obligated to save everyone or give them the grace to listen to the gospel. Scripture teaches that all people deserve death because they have rebelled against their Creator.
Yet, Scripture also teaches that God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). Despite our sin and rebellion, God has graciously revealed himself to all people through creation and our conscience, but we have all rejected him and are without excuse (Rom. 1:18-23, 2: 12-16). Instead of worshipping the Creator, we have all chosen to worship the creature.
We must remember that God is not obligated to save everyone. The question we should be asking is not, “how could a loving God send people to hell,” but “how could a holy God let sinners into heaven?” This is why the gospel is such good news! It is only through the cross of Christ that God’s justice could be satisfied and allow him to show mercy to sinners like us who he freely chooses to save.
This should give us and our kids an overwhelming sense of gratitude to God for saving us from our sins when he was not obligated to do so. Yet it should also grieve our hearts to know that there will be people who will continue in their rebellion and rejection of God and face the just punishment of his wrath on the day of judgment. Like Jesus, who lamented over the people in Jerusalem who refused to come to him, it should grieve and burden our hearts to plead to God in prayer and proclaim his gospel to all so that more might be saved.
How can God be just if people go to hell for not believing in the gospel they have never heard?
This second objection is a misunderstanding of why people go to hell. The Bible never states that people will be in hell for not believing in Jesus; instead, they will be in hell because they have sinned against a holy God. Romans 5:18 says we are condemned in Adam’s sin. We are “children of wrath” because we are dead in our sin and follow the passions of our flesh (Eph. 2:3). Scripture teaches that all people are condemned and under the wrath of God because of their sin and rebellion against their creator, not because they have rejected the gospel (John 3:3, 16-18, 36).
So, what happens to those who never hear the gospel? Based on the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, we must teach our children to hold to gospel exclusivism, even though this conclusion is difficult to accept. There are no “good” peoplein the world who worship their understanding of God and live a moral and upright life (Psalm 14:2-3). But God is faithful: those who seek him with all their heart will find him (Deut. 4:29; Jer. 29:13). And even the seeking is prompted by the Holy Spirit: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them” (John 6:44).
Gospel exclusivism should lead our kids to have immense gratitude and humility that God, in his grace, chose to reveal himself to them and save them when they deserved only judgment. Because people will not be saved apart from hearing and believing the gospel, our only proper response is to dedicate our lives to proclaiming the gospel to all the nations so that many would hear and believe the good news. Faith only comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Therefore, let’s call our kids to have the beautiful feet that bring the good news of the gospel to a lost and dying world (Isa.52:7).
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[1] Morgan, W. Christopher Morgan and A. Robert Peterson, Faith Comes by Hearing: A Response to Inclusivism(Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 2008), 39.
[2] Numerous other passages teach that salvation only comes by grace through faith in Christ alone (Eph. 2:1-10; Gal. 2:16; Rom. 3:23-26; John 3:16; Rom. 5:1-2; 6:23).
[3] This theme is also repeated throughout the book of Acts, which repeatedly emphasizes that salvation is through faith in Christ alone (Acts 10:35; 14:17; 17:23).[3]Morgan and Peterson, Faith Comes by Hearing, 188-189.
[4] It should be noted that there is a form of “Christian” universalism that teaches all people will be saved through faith in the atoning work of Jesus, whether in this life or the next.
