Destiny of the unevangelized

This is half of a paper I wrote for my Theo 350 class, its only half because the other half of the paper deals with the nature of Hell. I hope it is thought provoking and I would love to hear your objections or questions.

Position Paper:

Destiny of the Unevangelized

“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) So proclaims the New Testament, there is only one-way. Epistemologically and Ontologically Jesus as the single way to eternity permeates the New Testament, and spurred the disciples to spread the Gospel around the world. The heaviness of the first few chapters of Romans shows the desolate position of man kind, that despite God’s special revelation of Himself in creation (1:20) and His implementation of His law onto the hearts of mankind (2:15), man has suppressed the truth of God (1:32). Therefore no one is righteousness as it is written “both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; there is none righteous not even one… There is none who seeks for God.” (3:9-11). All are left needy rendered guilty by the universality of sin, but God in His awesome grace has provided redemption through his son Jesus (3:23-24), and only through Jesus are we saved (5:12-21). Furthermore only through cognitive and volitional acceptance and belief in Jesus and only Jesus will we be saved (10:9).

Paul was not alone in his exclusivity of salvation through Jesus; Jesus Himself stated that through Him and only Him would someone come to God (John 14:6) Along with Paul and Jesus the apostle John clearly wrote in his epistle of the exclusivity of salvation through Jesus, and that those who taught different are antichrists (I John 2:22-23, 4:3, II John 9). It seems clear that the bible teaches of the exclusivity of salvation through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone, but the question remains what is the destiny of the unevangelized?

Often the hardest doctrine for people to swallow is the condemnation of the unevangelized, and rightfully when working through this issue people look to the nature of God for answers. “Could a loving God condemn so many do to, misfortune (i.e. place of birth and time of birth)?” To answer this question it is necessary to look at the nature of God, God knows all He is omniscient, God is all-powerful He is omnipotent, and God is everywhere he is omnipresent. For the issue of the destiny of the unevangelized it is important to focus on the omniscience of God, for if He knows all then He already knows the outcome or the destiny of all. To take this even further if God knows all, then He knows what could have been along with what is; this is often referred to as middle knowledge, and it is essential for God to posses middle knowledge if He is to be God. William Lane Craig writes in his article on middle knowledge and the exclusivity of salvation through Christ

In the first, unconditioned moment God knows all possibilia, not only all individual essences, but also all possible worlds. Molina calls such knowledge "natural knowledge" because the content of such knowledge is essential to God and in no way depends on the free decisions of His will. By means of His natural knowledge, then, God has knowledge of every contingent state of affairs which could possibly obtain and of what the exemplification of the individual essence of any free creature could freely choose to do in any such state of affairs that should be actual.

(Craig, William L. "'No Other Name': A Middle Knowledge Perspective on the Exclusivity of Salvation through Christ")

If God knows all, the outcome and destiny of all and the possible outcome and possible destiny of all, then God knows who will and who would not except the gift of eternal life no matter their circumstances. Those who would not except no matter what the circumstance will often not hear the Gospel because it is only foolishness to them, but those who will believe and except will hear the Gospel of Jesus whether through evangelism or through the providence of God (Gen 20, Daniel 2).