The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-10, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. Copyright 1990 by John MacArthur Jr., All Rights Reserved.

Question

A couple of weeks ago at our Bible study, the discussion got onto the doctrine of election. And, inevitably, it got over to the point of: what about the heathen who have never heard the gospel? One group's feeling, since the Bible teaches faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word, that you have to hear the gospel and you have to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ for salvation through faith. And the other side, taking Romans 1, verses 16 through 19 (roughly), as meaning that anyone who believed in a god, or who saw God in the universe, could be somehow saved. Would you address that?

Answer

Yes, group two is wrong. And, let me tell you why. “Neither is there salvation in any other,” Acts 4, “for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” Salvation comes by hearing a speech a Christ, Romans tells us very explicitly--chapter 10, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thine heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” I Corinthians 16:22, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed [anathema].”

There is no salvation in any other than Jesus Christ. For by grace are you saved through faith. That faith must be directed towards Jesus Christ. What Romans 1 is saying is not that people who believe in God can thereby be saved, but that people have enough knowledge about God to know about Him, and knowing about Him doesn’t save them--it potentially damns them. That’s the difference. Romans 1 says that God has revealed Himself to such a degree that everyone is responsible for the revelation. And that’s why the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness, because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God.

So, knowing God isn’t sufficient to save you, but it is sufficient to damn you. You say, “Well, what about the heathen who know God and thus are sufficiently knowledgeable to be damned?” Well, the answer is, that if according to John 1, if they recognize God, then I believe God will accept that acknowledgement and take them to the next level. Because John 1:9 says, “Christ is the light that lights every man that comes into the world.” I believe that when you live up to the light you have, God gives you more light.

To give you an illustration of this, there was a book published many years ago called Angel in Ebony. It was a story of an African by the name of Sammy Morris--that was his American name. And when he was in Africa, he had no exposure to any Christian message whatsoever. He came to America by being a stowaway on a freighter; he was a very poor tribal African. He came to America and landed in New York City and, over a period of time, found his way into some group of Christians…and, having acquired some knowledge of the language, heard them talking about God and about Christ. And after having heard that, he ran to the leaders of that group and, I forget all the details, but the book said, “You worship the same God with the same Son that I worship!” The story goes on to say that when they began to give to him the gospel, he understood everything about the gospel except the name of Jesus Christ.

Now, that may be a very rare occasion or maybe not so rare, but I believe there’s another side to this and that is that people are damned to hell because of unbelief--unbelief in God, and unbelief or rejection of Jesus Christ. If you reject Christ, you’re damned. If you reject Christ, God turns His back on you. So, I believe if a person lives up to the light of the knowledge of God, God gives them more light; when that more light comes, as they follow that more light, it leads to Christ; if they respond to Christ, they’re saved; if they don’t they’re damned. But, I do not believe that just knowing about the true God, at that point, saves a man; it only makes a man potentially damned. 

If the heathen could be saved without the gospel, then better not to confuse the issue, so let’s call all the missionaries home and not waste our time. Because if they’re saved because they don’t know, then let’s not tell them, right? So, that flies in the face of the great commission; “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” assumes that every creature needs to hear the gospel. And, if somebody could be saved without hearing the gospel, then for mercy’s sake, don’t tell it to them. Leave them in the innocence of their ignorance. Why potentiate their damnation?  So, that would make nonsense out of the mandate of the great commission.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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Email: tony@biblebb.com
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