Are Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel Still Accountable to the Gospel?

Are Those Who Have Never Heard the Gospel Still Accountable to the Gospel? This is a great question that has been asked and answered a hundred ways. Some say that they do not believe a good, loving God could send anyone to Hell, much less someone who has never heard the name Jesus or how He died for their sins. Others claim that we can pray for or be baptized for those who died without Christ and somehow help them work their way into Heaven. The problem is that these and a host of other theories were created in the imaginations of men, and they don’t line up with the Word of God.

The Bible tells us in John 1:9 that Jesus is “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” That verse tells us that the light of Jesus touches all men! How can that be so, knowing that there are many people in areas of the world where they will live and die never seeing a Bible or meeting a Christian? The Bible tells us that as well! As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us several ways Jesus’s light is spread:

The general Light of Nature. Romans 1:20: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” Creation screams an orderly, benevolent Creator.

The Light of Good Things. The Bible declares that all good gifts come from God; any thinking person will realize that when a gift is received, it must have come from somewhere.

There is the Light of Jesus Himself: As He lived, ministered and died on the earth, He was also bringing His light to all who would receive.

There is the Light of the Gospel: Christ has now “come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me [Christ] should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46).

There is the Light of the Spirit: both the guiding and the convicting power of the Spirit.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:13).

Understand that all the light existing in the world is due to Christ, both the light from nature and from heaven, from the physical world and from the spiritual world.

We know from the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch, that when someone responds to whatever sliver of Light they experience, God will send more Light. In the case of the Ethiopian, Philip was supernaturally transported to the middle of the desert to teach the Ethiopian what he needed to know about the Light, and when he was done he was transported back. The problem has never been the lack of light, but of sinful man purposely rejecting whatever light he sees. No one ever goes to Hell because of lack of opportunity; they go to Hell because they willfully reject the opportunity placed in front of them by Jesus.

Have you been rejecting the Light of Jesus? Will you stop rejecting and turn to that Light today?

Be Good, Pastor Jay