...Why is it that we - poor, incompetent judges that we are – assume a position where we are passing judgment upon the Judge of the entire world?

Those who promote and teach the Bible are often asked the question, "On the judgment day, what will be God’s response to those who never had an opportunity to hear the gospel? Will they be lost?"

This is admittedly a very difficult question - perhaps primarily so because of its implications and the strong emotional opinions it invokes. Some ask this question in the hope of trapping the teacher into a position where he feels forced to depict God as unfair. Others are genuinely concerned and just need an explanation that makes sense to them. I have learned that answering the question for the person who just wishes to trap the teacher is usually a fruitless endeavor. Even when you answer the question, there will just be another – and another. This is not to say that honest questions shouldn’t be welcomed. It’s just that when there is continued rejection even when questions are answered, it may reveal motives other than honesty. So my lesson tonight is presented for the benefit of that person who just needs a reasonable explanation based on Scripture.

Since I have more material for us to consider than I can present in our time allotted this evening, this message will have two parts – one tonight and one next Sunday night, Lord willing.

Let’s begin by covering some preliminaries. These first several points are necessary as we approach this subject, so please pay close attention.

"But I thought we were talking about how God is going to judge those who haven’t heard?"

Yes, we are. But since this question often forces us into a position where we must pass judgment upon the way God does things, I think it is important that we understand that we are in no way capable of doing what God will do when He judges the world. Think about it.

1 Samuel 16:7: "…for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." This important statement was made just before the people of Israel carried through with one of the biggest mistakes in their history: They installed Saul, the son of Kish, as king over them. What we read here was valid then and it is still valid today. Our accurate view of the truth about other human beings ends at the level of their skin. Beyond this can only guess.

To speak definitively about the condition of say, "the native in Africa who has never heard the gospel" is to speak of something about which we have little or no knowledge. To bring someone else’s entire life into judgment that is fair and unbiased, whether we would condemn or acquit, is something we will never be capable of doing. We don’t know all the particulars in the life of even our next door neighbors, much less someone living on the other side of the world in some culture that has never been penetrated by the gospel. For you or me to say then, that we know how such a person ought to be judged goes way beyond our area of ability.

Have you ever been wrong in how you sized someone else up? Have you ever jumped to a wrong conclusion? If you’re honest I think you will admit that such things happen. Yes, we might be able to sit on a jury and judge a peer on whether or not a specific incident occurred (like a robbery or a murder) but to judge the entire life of another human being leaves us wide open for making some colossal mistakes. On the other hand:

Abraham once asked the rhetorical question: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25). Of course the Lord will do right in the judging of men. He cannot do otherwise. Righteousness is part of His holy nature.

Psalm 98:8b-9 says, "Let the mountains sing together for joy before the Lord; for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity."

Psalm 7:11 says, "God is a righteous judge…."

Acts 17:31 says, "…because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."

Romans 2:5 says, "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God…."

God will be completely fair in the Judgment.

Acts 10:34 says, "God is not one to show partiality…."

Does God possess the ability to see the heart of a human being" 1 Samuel 16:7 again: "…for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Does God possess the ability to know all of the detailed circumstances in the life of a human being? David said so in Psalm 139:1-3: "O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Thou dost know when I sit down and when I rise up; Thou dost understand my thought from afar. Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down, and art intimately acquainted with all my ways."

Does God make the same kinds of errors in judgment about other people that we human beings do? Revelation 19:1-2 says, "Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous…."

We humans are very poor judges. We cannot see the hearts of people. We cannot know all the particulars of their lives. We are subject to errors in judgment.

God is the perfect judge. He can see hearts. He knows all the particulars in the lives of every human being. His judgments are 100% righteous.

So I ask you, who makes the better judge – we humans or God? Obviously, God is the better judge. In fact, He is the only being capable of all of the complexity and insight necessary for judging the entire lives of humans. We simply are not equipped to do it.

So why is it that we - poor, incompetent judges that we are – assume a position where we are passing judgment upon the Judge of the entire world? That is what we’re doing, isn’t it, if we ask such a question as I framed in the beginning of this lesson, and then if the answer is not what we wanted to hear, we say, "I don’t agree with that." Whatever the answer may be to the question of how God will deal with those who have never heard the gospel, I think we have to recognize that God is far wiser than we are and that He and He alone is capable of doing what is right in such a situation.

I’m reminded of Paul’s words in Romans 9:20: "…Who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?"

Whatever the answer to the question of how God will deal with those who have never heard the gospel, we need to remember our place in the matter and not turn things around to where we as very poor judges are passing judgment upon God, the perfect judge. Whatever He says in the matter, we must abide by.

Not only is God’s wisdom infinite (and ours isn’t) but God doesn’t always think the way we do. To put God on trial in the courts of our own limited minds and understanding is foolish.

God Himself speaks in Isaiah 55:8-9: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."

Just how much higher are the heavens than the earth? That’s quite a span! That is how much superior God’s ways are to our ways.

Unless God has told us what He is going to do, for us to say, "I know that God is going to do something a certain way," is very risky and by its very nature subject to error and misunderstanding. We reach as high as we can in our wisdom and don’t even reach the lowest hanging part of God’s wisdom. That’s pretty much the way Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 1:25 where he said, "…the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

Sometimes we find ourselves thinking or saying, "Well if I were God, I would do it this way or that way," or "In my judgment, I don’t think that God is fair in this or that." We are in no position to know unless God tells us.

That brings us to the third preliminary in this matter of how God will judge those who haven’t heard.

Did Judas die lost?

You might say, "Surely he did. After all, he betrayed Jesus. No one would deserve to be condemned more than Judas!" Yet others who have betrayed Jesus have been forgiven. Think of Saul of Tarsus and the Christians he killed.

So, did Judas die lost? If God hasn’t told us in His word, there is no way to know. So what does the Bible say?

John 17:12 says, "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled."

Here is how the NIV puts that verse: John 17:12: "While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled."

Judas died lost. That is what the Bible says.

What about King Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba? Did he turn from his life of reckless abandon? The book of Ecclesiastes seems to suggest that he did, but the issue is not certain. We simply do not have enough information from the Bible to know. We cannot know because God has not told us.

For us to step into the issue of Solomon and say, "If I were God, I would have saved Solomon," or "If I were God, I would have condemned Solomon," is totally out of place.

If God hasn’t told us the ultimate verdict, we cannot know for sure. The Lord has not designated us as "judges," passing final sentence with regard to the eternal welfare of others. (This does not mean we are incapable of discerning right and wrong based upon what God has revealed.) While there are some guidelines in Scripture that allow the devout Bible student to draw some general conclusions, aside from these, it is prudent to recognize and acknowledge that the sovereign Creator has not appointed us to do His work for Him.

With these things said, so far I believe we could conclude two things:

With these preliminaries out of the way and with our understanding that we must be careful lest we put ourselves into the ridiculous position of judging the Righteous Judge, what has God said in His word about those who are ignorant of the word of God? Will they be saved or lost?

There are at least three primary passages that bear on this subject. They are:

I may also suggest a few more verses in support of these.

Paul wrote the First Thessalonian letter to a brand new church that was planted in the ancient city of Thessalonica. It was started amid much opposition from the Jews in the region and after his departure, things only became worse. The letter of First Thessalonians was written to encourage these suffering new Christians. Among the things that Paul wrote were these words:

God was going to punish those who persecuted the Thessalonian Christians. That is Paul’s message to them. When Jesus returns with His mighty angels in flaming fire to judge the world, justice will be done. Those who persecuted the Thessalonian Christians will be recompensed for their evil.

Pertaining to our discussion, notice what Paul said in verse 8: "… dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

According to this verse there are two classes of people who will pay the penalty of eternal destruction:

In the opinion of many Greek scholars, the construction of this passage, with the double use of the definite article ("those who" do not know God and "those who" do not obey the gospel) indicates that this refers to two different classes of people. If only one class were meant it would read, "those who do not know God and obey the gospel."(1)

Considering Paul words then to apply to two different kinds of people, he speaks of:

What does He say of these two? "…These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day,

So what do we have then? What does this passage teach? It looks to me as though "those who do not know God" and "those who do not obey the gospel" are going to be lost. Does it look like that to you?

Quickly, someone assesses the implications of this and says, "But I don’t agree with that! Surely God wouldn’t…."

Hold on. We’ve already established that we make poor judges and we are really out of place when we pass judgment upon the Righteous Judge of the whole world. Our task here isn’t to see if what God says agrees with what we think. Our task is to properly understand what God says and accept it.

I looks like to me that this passage indicates that "those who do not know God" along with "those who do not obey the gospel" will "pay the penalty of eternal destruction." If I have misinterpreted these verses, then that would be the only basis on which we might object.

Because our time is gone for this evening I am going to leave you to wrestle with this passage in 1 Thessalonians. We will resume our lesson next time, looking at the other verses I mentioned.

Footnotes: Please use your back button to return to your place.

1. See Robertsons New Testament Word Pictures comments on 2 Thessalonians 1:8.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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