Is There Any Hope for the Unevangelized?
By Alvin Fisher, 2006

Christ is our one and only Savior, the only hope for mankind. The Gospel message has transformed the lives of millions, both in places where Jesus has been known for centuries and in places where He is only now being preached. Knowing how the Gospel transforms lives, missionaries leave their homes and loved ones behind to make Christ known.

But, sometimes they are met with an uncomfortable question. Sometimes the new converts or potential converts will want to know about their ancestors - “Is there any hope for them? Will I meet them in Heaven?” If you were the missionary, what would you tell them? Would you tell them through your tears that all their dearly departed are lost? Would you tell them, “I don’t know.” as some missionaries have? If you held out any hope for their deceased relatives, what would be the basis for your hope? Let’s take a look at some Bible texts and some different positions people have taken through the years.

There are some who would say that all religions lead to God. This is called “pluralism.” However, the Bible says regarding Jesus Christ, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12* Therefore, in order for people to be saved, they need to be saved through Jesus.

But there are at least three groups of people that present a problem: babies who die in infancy, the mentally deficient, and those among the heathen who are apparently leading godly lives. Not long ago, there were some Christians gathered together in a conference who wanted to vote positively that no one who died since Christ died, without hearing, understanding and accepting the Gospel, had any chance of salvation. This is called the “exclusivist” position. The measure died, however, when it was realized that the logic they were using would also deny salvation to every one who died as a baby or was retarded.

There is a fourth group of people to consider – those who lived before Christ. Obviously there are multitudes who lived before the time of Christ who will be in Heaven. Exclusivists agree with this. But, let’s zoom in a little closer and look at some who died after Christ, using hypothetical individuals that represent real people.

A Jew named Joseph dies the year before Jesus is born. He loved God and looked for Messiah to come. We are assuming he died a saved man.

He had a son, Ethan, and two grandsons: Eliezer and Ezra. All were baptized by John the Baptist and loved God will all their hearts. They returned to their homes in Ephesus. Ezra is part of a group that is mentioned in Acts 19:1-7. When Paul finds out that they were baptized by John, but know nothing of the Holy Spirit, He rebaptizes them in the name of the Lord Jesus. So, Ezra is likely to go to Heaven.

But, what about Eliezer, who died the year before? He loved and served God just as much as Ezra and just as much as their grandfather did. Is he lost and damned because Jesus had died, but Paul had not made it to Ephesus yet? Would God not judge Eliezer on the same basis as Joseph and Ezra: by each one’s response to the Holy Spirit and the mediation of Jesus, even though they had only heard of God the Father? Ezra was baptized again, after hearing of God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But this does not mean that he was not in a saving relationship with God before then. It does mean that when God provides further light (in this case such things as the death of Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit) that He wants His children to follow that light.

If an exclusivist would deny that Eliezer had the possibility of going to Heaven because Jesus had died, then where should the line be drawn? His father, Ethan, died one hour after Jesus did. What about him? Would he likewise perish? John 3:17 says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

If, when Jesus died on the cross, suddenly no one could be saved without believing in His sacrifice for them, then His death brought massive condemnation (contrary to John 3:17) throughout the world for everyone who died before the apostles could reach them with the Gospel. But, when Ethan died, Jesus hadn’t even risen from the dead. And Christ's resurrection is an indispensable part of the Gospel. So, if there is a certain date when, suddenly everyone must know and understand the Gospel, is this on Resurrection Day? If that was so, then why didn't Jesus send angels to visit everyone who believed in God, but were dying? Otherwise, they would all be eternally lost.

Instead, he spent several weeks quietly instructing His disciples. Then He ascended to Heaven. That's another part of the Gospel, isn't it? So, can we move the dividing line down to Ascension Day? But then, the question Paul asked in Ephesus was about the Holy Spirit, who descended in power on the Day of Pentecost. So, this is another possible day. But, even if the Day of Pentecost completes the Gospel Story, we still have the problem of those who died before the disciples could reach them.

The more we look at these things, the more it is apparent that the idea that there was any certain date that divided up how people were saved is not reasonable. Whether one looks at the Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, or Pentecost, it does not make sense that immediately after the event, God's requirements for salvation suddenly change throughout the entire world. What does make sense and is biblical, is to believe that everyone is responsible for the light (knowledge of God) that he has received. This was the way to salvation in Old Testament times and it is still the way in New Testament times. This is how John Wesley believed and this is how Billy Graham believes. Also, various Bible scholars have believed this way. But, let's look at what the Bible says about it.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus talks about how He will separate the saved from the lost. He says that “All the nations will be gathered before Him.” This will be from all periods of history, not just those centuries when knowledge of Him has been widespread. His criteria for separating the “sheep” from the “goats” is whether they fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, took in strangers, clothed the naked and ministered to prisoners. It is easy to see that selfish, self-centered professing Christians may be surprised to find themselves among the goats.

But where He finds those in heathen lands who have responded to His Holy Spirit and lived lives of mercy, will He not take them home as His sheep? James 1:27 has a similar pronouncement, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” Surely the same Spirit who moves them to kindliness will also lead them to clean living and righteousness.

Psalm 19 declares that the glory of God is revealed to the whole world, that there is nowhere that the testimony of His work in nature is unheard. The apostle Paul reaffirms this in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” This verse ends with an emphasis on the concept that sinners don’t generally respond to God’s revelation in nature. And for many verses after that is the same theme. Exclusivists commonly use the first part of Romans to maintain their position.

But, there are glimmers of hope even in this section of Romans. Romans 2:14-16 says, “(for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things contained in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.” Here we see Gentiles, who have not been reached with the preaching of the Gospel, nevertheless having God’s law written in their hearts. Who can write God’s law in a man’s heart except the Holy Spirit? We see their Spirit-awakened conscience bearing witness. Then we see that sometimes their thoughts excuse them, rather than accuse them. What could this be, except the Holy Spirit impressing their hearts with a sense of the mercy and forgiveness of God when they repent?

John the Baptist declares Jesus to be “the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world.” (John 1:9) In verse 29, he says, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Titus 2:11,12 says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age.” Here again we see Christ’s worldwide reach, obviously by means of the Holy Spirit.

Generally, when I have considered Paul's sermon about the “Unknown God,” whom they worshiped (Acts 17:23), I have thought of it as a careless, casual “worship,” that would not bring salvation. After all, with so many to choose from, together with an educated skepticism, not very many of the intellectuals were likely serious about anything. But in verse 27, Paul says, “He is not far from each one of us.” So, we can not judge hearts. There were a few who believed after Paul's sermon, and we do not know their spiritual state before Paul preached. Ecclesiastes 3:11 declares, “He has put eternity in their hearts.”

Many animists (those whose religion revolves around keeping the spirits from getting angry) believe that there is a great God above all the spirits, but that He isn’t really much involved in their lives. Couldn’t God use this vague awareness of Him as a stepping-stone to believing that this God, who is above all, really is interested in us? Here is a true story about a boy named Ramke, who grew up in a tribe of headhunters.

“Ramke was still a lad only half-way through his teens, when he bade his uncle good-bye, and stepped into the boat that was to take him back to school. But he was a lad of meditative spirit, to whom the great river would make its own silent and solemn appeal. Clouds of mystery brooded over the face of the waters, and over the blue hills in the distance - the hills of his native land. What fierce passions were there, of man and beast! Was there no promise of better things? Were the souls of men really at the mercy of demons? What then were those other voices that spoke home to his heart; the ties of kindred, the calm of the evening, the stillness of the stars? Above all, what was this new hunger after goodness, and a Being worthy to be loved? The questions remained unanswered. Enough that he had asked them. The Lord’s angel was troubling the deeps of [a] soul.

“School life went on as usual. Ramke, quick to learn, soon became proficient in Bengali. On the playground he was handicapped by his crippled arm, which doubtless encouraged his mood for solitude. He loved to stroll quiet paths alone, and think and muse. The Hindu doctrine of repeated births gave him great distress. A new fear was taking the place of the old. In the free life of the jungle, he had a chance, even in spite of demons; it was possible to elude them. They could at any rate be appeased, and a man is a man always. He could be brave and strong; he had personal interests and a personal identity which death could not touch; his relatives and his friends were his forever. But this new teaching stripped him of all these. They belonged to the lowest scale of being, and were doomed to an endless succession of changed and enslaved existences. The whole soul of this Garo [his tribe] rose in revolt. His affection for his relatives was warm and deep. Their love for him was the one thing he was sure of in life and in death. And now it was all slipping away. To whom could he turn for comfort; to whom tell the trouble that weighed down his heart?

[Ramke speaks] “Meditating on the statement that, after death, I must be born again and again; sometimes, not of man, but of pigs and cattle, birds, worms, grasshoppers, grass, and trees; being worried I got great distress. The cause of my distress was this; if truly there is repeated birth, then I shall not know my father, mother, family and relatives. They also will not know me. Now they love me, and I also love them very much. That is to say, my mother loves me. I also love her. These affections will surely be lost. These other Jats (races) love not, but hate, despise, and associate not with me and my relatives. I also, and my relatives similarly treat other Jats as unknown faces. If it has always been so and will always continue to be so, what worse misery can there be beyond this? Thinking of all these things, my mind was very unsettled, and not seeing any way to escape these evils, I got more and more distressed.

[Carey returns to telling the story] “In the hour of his utter loneliness he lifted up his face to God. I can not explain it. I will not attempt to explain it. He had heard no preaching. He had read no religious books. There were no sacred memories to guide him. The little he had learned had but confused his intelligence and flung a deeper shadow across his path. In his sore need he appealed directly and intuitively to the Father of spirits, and thenceforward knew that ‘God is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.’

“The circumstances were such as to seal this faith upon his mind with unusual distinctness. He sometimes related them but with always a certain reticence of speech as of one who had seen and heard what it was scarcely ‘lawful for man to utter.’ On one of his solitary walks he had felt the sudden impulse to hide himself in the jungle and fight his pain. There in the quiet he poured out his soul, his long pent-up feelings finding vent in sobs and tears. But the bitterness was already passing. A gleam as of sunshine on a stormy day lightened his heart. ‘There must be,’ he thought, ‘there must be some spirit, better, stronger, wiser, and greater than the demons. If He please, he can make opportunity to give an everlasting blessing.’ That cry of faith went up to heaven and was surely heard. In the hush that followed, a sense of healing touched him, pure and sweet as the falling dew. And he knew that he was not alone, that Another was near; One in whose presence no demons have any power to hurt or destroy; in whose being lie the sanction and surety of all our human love...”

“A longing for fellowship filled him, and he began to pray: ‘O Thou who art wiser, greater, better than all! Thou knowest my unrest of mind, and thou knowest the cause! I believe that if thou pleasest and choosest, thou canst rescue me from this distress and grant me an everlasting blessing.’

“There was no answer. No sound broke the stillness - either then or on the following day, when at the same hour and in the same solemn manner, he renewed his request. But he was willing to wait. And he had not long to wait.

[Ramke said] “Having prayed thus for three evenings, on the last evening, there stood near my place of prayer a tall, dignified Person, and there sounded in my ears, as if spoken, the words, ‘Thy prayer is heard.’”

“We need not pry too curiously into this strange experience. It may never have happened to us. We may never have needed it to happen. ‘Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed!’ But the reality of it to this poor Garo can in no wise be doubted. The vision he saw was not less vivid than that which came to Jacob at Bethel, and the voice that spoke to him was no other than that which Paul heard on the road to Damascus, and Cornelius, in his home by the sea.

“Ramke’s vision had freed him from fear. He continued at school, his outward circumstances the same, but inwardly everything was changed. Thoughts of demons sometimes recurred to him, but he knew that their power was limited. They were held in leash, and could only go the length of their chains. Above them all and master of them all, was the one God Spirit who had said, ‘Thy prayer is heard.’ To him, rather than to the spirits of evil, or to the beasts that perish, were men allied. They could commit themselves to his care. They were safe in his keeping; in him all souls were one....he belonged to a larger brotherhood than clan or race.”

So, some might think, why do we need missionaries, if the Holy Spirit can break through the darkness of heathenism before the missionary arrives? Ramke’s own experiences shed some light on this question. After seeing this vision and finding some peace in his heart, he went out to talk to others. Some despised him, but some kindly Hindu “holy men” took him under their wing. From them he learned of Vishnu, whose greatest incarnation was as Ram. Vishnu has the role of savior in Hindu theology. Ramke recognized his need of a savior and worshiped Ram.

But then, he came across a Christian tract. Ramke says, “This book showed many proofs that those things trusting in which the Hindus hoped to obtain heaven were all untrue. Then the trust I had in Ram was also gone, and my mind was again lost.” (p. 68) One wonders how much of the love of God the tract contained, along with the tearing down of Hindu doctrine.

Ramke later had better experiences with Christianity and became an evangelist and teacher to his own people. After hearing the full Christian message, many more listened to him than before. Thus we see how Ramke’s experience and ministry were both benefitted by the missionaries. It is reasonable to assume that Ramke was saved at the time he was assured his prayer was answered. But, it is also reasonable to assume that many of his relatives and friends were only saved because of the work of foreign missionaries. Click here for more of Ramke’s story.

One thing that is happening in our day is numerous instances of Muslims having visions that lead them to Christianity. As we know, there are great obstacles in the way of Muslims converting to Christianity. In certain cases, God sees fit to grant visions to help them. With Ramke and with these Muslims, missionaries contacted them, and that is how we know their stories. Isn’t it safe to assume that there have been others saved, with or without visions, that we will never find out about until we get to Heaven?

It is interesting to note William Carey’s words as he tells Ramke’s story. He says, “I can not explain it. I will not attempt to explain it.” He may have had a hard time coming to terms with his friend’s story. Exclusivists talk as if this sort of thing is impossible and that may have been what Mr. Carey was taught. The concept I have presented (that there are exceptions to the rule, as far as the need of missionary contact is concerned) is often termed “inclusivism.” But some people don’t like that term and another term put forward is “accessibilism.” The reason Billy Graham, for example, gives for rejecting the term “inclusivism” is that some may understand it to mean “universalism,” which states that everyone will go to Heaven. But, regardless of the terminology, here are some declarations by different groups at different times regarding this concept of the wideness of God’s mercy.

John Wesley believed, “The benefit of the death of Christ is...extended...even unto those who are inevitably excluded from this knowledge. Even these may be partakers of the benefit of His death, though ignorant of the history, if they suffer His grace to take place in their hearts, so as of wicked men to become holy.” Those weren’t his original words, but he quoted a Robert Barclay and said he agreed with that. (Letters 2:118 )

A declaration by Swiss Calvinists in 1566, called the Second Helvetic Confession, said, “God can illuminate whom and when he will, even without the external ministry, which is a thing appertaining to his power.”

The Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church declared, “Those also can attain to everlasting salvation who through no fault of their own do not know the gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them by the dictates of their conscience.” Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium, 16

Also believing it are Edward Fudge, John R. W. Stott, Robert Brush of the Arminian Magazine and other Evangelical leaders and scholars, including John Sanders, who wrote the book, “No Other Name” and Terrance Tiessen, a conservative Calvinist, who wrote the book, “Who Can Be Saved?”

Given these declarations and an impressive example of the possibility of God reaching the unevangelized before the arrival of a missionary, let's look at some examples that are slightly different than that of Ramke. From the book, “Heroes of the South Sea,” by Martha Burr Banks (published by American Tract Society, 1896), we are told of the phenomenon of incomplete understanding of the Gospel spreading by word of mouth faster than the missionaries could get there. Here are two examples:

“In the year 1827 some men were driven from the Pearl Islands to Tahiti on account of war in their own country....While away from home these people picked up some seeds of gospel truth, and on their return to their friends and relatives they told what they had seen and heard on their voyage, and their story was accepted and acted upon. The idols were cast down, and Jehovah was chosen as the God of the Pearl Islands too.” (p. 23-24)

“It was in 1861 that a party [of missionaries] set out for the Ellice group [of Islands], but the frail vessel being overtaken by a storm was driven about by winds and currents for eight weeks. At the end of that time the crew stumbled upon one of the Ellice Islands, where they found that the people had gained a little religious knowledge from the sailors of a trading-vessel and had burned their idols. They were so hungry for the Bible that one of the new comers had to tear apart his Rarotongan New Testament, and give it out in bits to the natives.” (p. 68)

Surely we have to leave with God all questions of how each person responds to the knowledge he or she has and how the Holy Spirit touches each heart.

*All Bible quotations are from the New King James Version
The story of Ramke is taken from The Garo Jungle Book by William Carey. Published by the Judson Press, 1919