The Destiny of the Unevangelized

This is a position paper which I had to write for my Theological Foundations class. Now it has served two purposes... ha


Heaven is arguably one of the greatest aspects of the Christian life. The promise of Heaven to the believer in Jesus Christ is what drives Christians to set our minds “on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2 NIV) This truth is what gives the Christian hope to endure all things, because it is when we will see our Savior in the fullest sense that we will ever see Him. But what about those who don’t believe in Christ? What about those who have not come to put their trust in Jesus Christ as the only payment for their sins? What about those who have not even heard about the Savior, or that they even need to be saved? What happens to them? Do they get a free pass because of their “ignorance”? What about the alternative destination? What is Hell like? Who goes there? These are very pertinent questions, and they are questions that I believe the Bible answers quite clearly. What I hope to accomplish through this position paper is to clearly state what I believe the Scriptures teach on the destiny of the unevangelized and the nature of Hell. I hope to deal with each individually, though they intertwine on a number of points.
There are billions of people throughout this world, and each one of them is said to be under sin’s curse. Romans 5 declares that we all inherit a sinful nature which results in death from our father Adam. Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death”. (NIV) Ezekiel 18:4 says, “The soul who sins is the one who will die.” (NIV) Each person who sins by breaking God’s commandments or leaving good that should be done undone will be held accountable for that sin before God. The destiny of those who sin is a place called Hell. Hell was originally created for Satan and his angels, according to Matthew 25:41. This verse also tells us that Hell is a place apart from Christ, where there is fire that burns forever. This place is said to be by some a figurative place, and that it will not be an eternal, conscious torment. This view, however, fails to take into account verses like Matthew 10:28 which says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (NIV) If God is to be feared more than those who can kill the body, then He must be one who can punish more than just temporarily. Men can do things worse than just burn the body, but once the body is dead, that is all that they can do. God is to be feared because He can destroy both the body and the soul. Luke 16:23 tells us, in Jesus’ parable about the rich man and Lazarus who both died, that the rich man was, “In hell, where he was in torment”. (NIV) This speaks of a conscious torment. So, Hell is a place that is apart from Christ, where those who have followed Satan’s deception rather than Christ’s truth are consciously tormented for all of eternity.
But what about the unreached people? What about those who haven’t heard the Good News of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus? What happens to them? The answer I find to be the most consistent with Scripture is that they are sent to Hell with those who have heard and rejected the Gospel. There are two Scripture passages that I find that seem to indicate this, both from the book of Romans. Romans 1:18-23 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (NIV) The existence of God can be clearly seen by the things that He has made. Yet, despite this revelation, known as natural revelation, men choose to reject this truth of God’s existence, and instead worship idolatrous false gods. They “suppress the truth by their wickedness,” so that they will not have to submit to and honor God and glorify Him. They do not glorify God with the knowledge that they have received of Him through nature, and so they have rejected the knowledge of God and suppressed it by their sin. They will feel the just payment of their sin in Hell, because they have rejected the knowledge of God that has been shown to them. The second passage which leads me to believe that the unevangelized will be in Hell is found in Romans 10:9-17, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our message?’ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” (NIV) The beginning of this passage lays out the formula for salvation—confessing Jesus as Lord and believing that God has raised Him from the dead. In other words, repentance from sin and faith in Christ. This is the formula for salvation given. Paul then lays out the universality of salvation to those who call out to God by saying that anyone, no matter whether they are Jew or Gentile, who calls on Jesus’ name will be saved. However, Paul then asks a series of questions about how they will be saved if they haven’t believed, haven’t heard, or haven’t even heard preaching. This leads to the inevitable answer that they cannot be saved apart from faith, which according to verse 17, “comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” This states very plainly that the faith in Jesus has to come from hearing about Jesus; otherwise they cannot call on the name of the Lord and be saved.
Upon my study of Scripture, these are the beliefs that I have come to understand about Hell and the unevangelized. I do, however, understand that there will be those who see the Scripture line up a different way, and I am more than willing to listen to the points that they will make concerning these topics. I am simply grateful that God has saved my soul from Hell, and that I have heard the message about Christ!