CHAPTER 27
Robertson McQuilkin
Robertson McQuilkin was a speaker and writer, engaged in conference ministry across America and overseas. He was a missionary in Japan for 12 years and later served as president of Columbia International University for 22 years.
From The Great Omission, 1984. Used by permission of Authentic Publishing, Colorado Springs, CO. Statistics have been updated.
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men, by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
Have you ever experienced the terror of being lost—in some trackless mountain wilderness, perhaps, or in the labyrinth of a great, strange city? Hope of finding your way out fades and fear begins to seep in. You have likely seen that fear of lostness on the tear-streaked face of a child frantically screaming or quietly sobbing because he is separated from his parent in a huge shopping center. Lost. Alone.
Equally terrifying and more common is the feeling of being hopelessly entangled or trapped in a frustrating personal condition or circumstance: alcoholism, cancer, divorce. Incredibly alone! Lost.
What It Means to Be Lost
The Bible uses the word “lost” to describe an even more terrible condition. Those who are away from the Father’s house and haven’t found the way back to Him are “lost.” Jesus saw the crowds of people surging about Him as sheep without a shepherd, helpless and hopeless, and He was deeply moved.
Worse than being trapped and not knowing the way out is to be lost and not even know it, for then one does not look for salvation, recognize it when it comes, nor accept it when it is offered. That’s being lost.
How many are lost in our world? We are told there are about 600 million evangelicals in the world. Some of these are no doubt lost, but at least that many people believe Jesus is the only way of salvation and that through faith in Him one is forgiven and made a member of God’s family. Surely some who are not evangelical also have saving faith. So let us double the number to a hypothetical 1,200 million. Those who remain number more than eight billion people, or nine of every ten on earth. These are the lost—longing for salvation but not finding it or trusting some other way to find meaning and hope.
Not that long ago, one of every two lived in a tribe or culture or language group that had no evangelizing church at all. Today, we can thank God it may be one in every three. But whatever the precise numbers may be, there are billions of people who, unless someone goes to them from outside their culture, have no way of knowing about Jesus.
Are these people really lost? What of those who have never had a chance, who have never heard—are any of them lost? Are all of them lost?
Approaches to Universalism
Throughout church history there have been those who teach that none will finally be lost.
Classic Universalism
The old universalism taught that ultimately all will be saved because God is good. Not much was heard of this position from the days of Origen in the third century until the nineteenth century when it was revived. This teaching then began to spread in many mainline denominations.
There are problems with this position. Philosophically, such a teaching undermines belief in the atoning death of Christ. For if all sin will ultimately be overlooked by a gracious deity, Christ never should have died. It was not only unnecessary, but it was surely the greatest error in history, if not actually criminal on the part of God for allowing it to happen. Universalism, therefore, philosophically demands a view of the death of Christ as having some purpose other than as an atonement for sin.
New Universalism
A new universalism arose in the twentieth century which took the Bible more seriously. It was Trinitarian. Christ did die for sinners, and all will ultimately be saved on the basis of Christ’s provision.
Karl Barth and many of his neoorthodox disciples took such a position. All will be saved because God is all-powerful. His purposes will be accomplished. And He purposes redemption.
There were also philosophical and biblical problems with this position. Philosophically, if all will be saved eventually, for whatever reason, preaching the gospel is not really necessary. Why did Christ make this the primary mission of the church if all will ultimately find acceptance with God with or without the gospel? The more serious problem is biblical: Christ clearly taught of an eternal hell, of a great gulf between the saved and the lost (Luke 16:19–31). In fact, He clearly taught that the majority are on the broad road that leads to destruction (Matt 7:13–14).
Wider Hope
Because universalism cannot be reconciled with biblical data, there were those who promoted what was called a “Wider Hope.” Not all will be saved, but many who have not heard of Christ will be saved because God is just and will not condemn the sincere seeker after truth. The problem is that if sincerity saves in religion, it is the only realm in which it saves. For example, it does not save in engineering. The architect who designed the magnificent John Hancock building in Boston was sincere. The builder was sincere. The glassmaker was sincere. The owner, especially, was sincere. But when the giant sheets of glass began to fall on the streets below, sincerity did not atone for error. Neither does sincerity save in chemistry. We do not say, “If you drink arsenic, sincerely believing it to be Coca-Cola, according to your faith be it unto you.” Sincerity does not alter reality. We shall consider the question of God’s justice later.
New Wider Hope
The nineteenth-century doctrine of the Wider Hope has been superseded by what I call the “New Wider Hope.” According to this teaching, those who live by the light they have may be saved on the merits of Christ’s death through general revelation (what God reveals through nature). Or, at least, they will be given a chance at death or after death. This is a more conservative version of the new universalism. A practical problem is that preaching the gospel seems almost criminal, for it brings with it greater condemnation for those who reject it, whereas they conceivably could have been saved through general revelation had they not heard the gospel. It certainly seems less urgent to proclaim the way of salvation to those who may well be saved without that knowledge. A mutation of this view is the idea that only those who reject the gospel will be lost. This viewpoint is not widespread because it makes bad news of the good news! If people are lost only if they hear and reject, it is far better not to hear and be saved. According to this view, it would be better to destroy the message than to proclaim it!
What Scripture Teaches
For one committed to the authority of Scripture, our debate concerning the reasonableness of each position must yield to the authority of Scripture. What does Scripture teach concerning the eternal spiritual condition of those who have not heard the gospel?
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him. (John 3:16–18, 36)
Scripture teaches clearly that there are those who perish and those who do not. Notice that it is those who believe in Christ—not simply those who, through their encounter with creation and their own innate moral judgment, believe in a righteous Creator—who receive eternal life. God’s intent is to “save the world through [Christ]” (3:17). The word “through” speaks of agency: it is by means of Jesus Christ that a person gains eternal life.
The passage does not deny other agencies, however. The Japanese proverb assures us that many roads lead up famed Mount Fuji, but they all reach the top. This is the Japanese way of expressing the viewpoint that all religions will have a good outcome. But Jesus Christ Himself said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). In other words, Jesus Christ is the only agency of salvation.
The New Wider Hope would affirm this. Salvation is by Jesus Christ alone. But, it would hold, that does not mean Jesus Christ must be known by a person for that person to be saved.
Jesus assures us that people will be judged because they have not believed on the name (John 3:18). Peter is even more explicit in telling us that there is no salvation in any other name given among men (Acts 4:12). Surely it is no accident that the name is so prominent in the Bible, especially in teaching on saving faith. Peter did not say, “in no other person.” When a person is named, the identity is settled and ambiguity is done away with. You will be saved, he tells us, if you call on and believe in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah. John, Jesus, and Peter are not the only ones with this emphasis. Paul also speaks to the issue:
“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 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!” (Rom 10:13–15 NIV)
The ones who call on the name are the ones who will be saved. But what of those who have not heard so they cannot call? Paul does not assure us that those who have not heard may simply believe whatever they have heard. Rather, “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17 NIV).
God’s Love and Justice
Scripture is clear that there are two kinds of people, both in life and in death: the saved and the lost. But still, for those who truly care, questions may remain: Is God loving, fair, and just?
God’s Risk: His Love Rejected
Yes, God is good and that is why men are lost. In love He created a being in His own image, not a robot programmed to respond as the Maker designed. In creating such a being to freely love and be loved, God risked the possibility of such a being rejecting His love in favor of independence or even self-love. Humankind did, in fact, choose this option. Still true to His character, God provided a way back even though the cost was great. But the way back must not violate the image of God in humanity and must not force an obedient response. Rather, the God of love chooses to wait lovingly for the response of love. Those who wish to reject Him may do so.
God’s Judgment: His Light Rejected
But is it fair and just for God to condemn those who have not had an opportunity to respond to His offer of grace?
The Bible does not teach that God will judge a person for rejecting Christ if he has not heard of Christ. In fact, the Bible teaches clearly that God’s judgment is based on a person’s response to the truth he has received. As Jesus said:
The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:47–48 NIV)
When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, “The kingdom of God is near you.” But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.” I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me. (Luke 10:8–16 NIV)
Judgment is against a person in proportion to his rejection of moral light. All have sinned; no one is innocent. Therefore, all stand condemned. But not all have the same measure of condemnation, for not all have sinned against equal amounts of light. God does not condemn a person who has not heard of Christ for rejecting Him, but rather for rejecting the light he does have.
Not all respond to the light they have by seeking to follow that light. But God’s response to those who seek to obey the truth they have is the provision of more truth. To him who responds, more light will be given:
The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables:
‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand’
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them’
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.” (Matt 13:10–16)
He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” (Mark 4:21–25)
This repeated promise of additional light to those who obey the light they have is a basic and very important biblical truth concerning God’s justice and judgment. Cornelius, the Roman officer, responded to the light he had with prayer and good deeds. God did not leave him in ignorance and simply accepted him on the basis of his response to the initial light he had received. God sent Peter to him with additional truth (Acts 10). To him who had, more was given. Since this is revealed as God’s way of dealing with people, we can be very sure that every person has received adequate light to which they may respond. God’s existence and His power are made clearly evident to all people through creation (Rom 1:18–21) and through each person’s innate moral judgment or conscience (Rom 2:14–15). To the one who responds obediently, God will send additional light.
Of course, His method for sending this light is a human messenger. Paul makes clear in his letter to the church in Rome (Rom 10:14–15) that the solution to the terrible lost condition of humanity is the preacher who is sent, the “beautiful feet” of him who goes. Ultimately, then, the problem is not with God’s righteousness, but with ours. Will God send some angel or some other special revelation? Scripture is silent on this and, I believe, for good reason.
No Other Judge
But the question will not go away. How does one respond in a Japanese village when a new convert inquires, “What about my ancestors?” My response is simple: I am not the judge. “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25 NIV). Abraham pleaded with God for the salvation of innocent people who did not deserve to be condemned and destroyed along with the guilty. He was appealing to God’s justice, and God responded with grace more than Abraham dared ask. This crucial question recorded in the first book of the Bible is answered in the last: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments” (Rev 16:7 NIV). We are not called as judge—either of God, whose ways we do not fully know, nor of man, whose destiny we are not called upon to settle. Rather, we are commissioned as His representatives to find the lost, declare amnesty to the captive, and release the prisoner. 