Never Heard The Gospel?

Q

What about those who have never heard the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ? Does Jesus reach them in some divine way…so they have an opportunity to accept or reject Him as their Savior? Does Christ give EVERY person a chance to accept or reject Him? I’m just unclear. I read Romans 1:20, but then there’s Romans 10:14 and Romans 10:17.

A

As I’ve stated before, God is just (Deut. 32:4). That means He can’t hold us accountable for something we couldn’t have known. He is also on record as saying He doesn’t want that any should perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). If no one comes to the Father except through the Son (John 14:6), then everyone has to have at least one bona-fide opportunity to accept Him during their lifetime. Otherwise God would be condemning people who never had a chance to be saved. That would be unjust and contrary to His own desires.

Romans 10:14 says that everyone who asks for salvation in Jesus’ name will receive it, and Romans 10:17 says that we are prompted to do so by hearing the Gospel story. Logic would lead us to conclude that somehow the Gospel has to be communicated to everyone during his or her lifetime.

This is something that God can easily accomplish. One example of this is that recently we’ve been hearing about an amazing number of people in countries where the Gospel is outlawed coming to Jesus because He came to them in a dream. There’s no way of knowing how long this has been going on.