I do not believe anyone has not heard the gospel. I, therefore, do not believe hearing the gospel is dependent upon someone being sent. I also, therefore, believe the assertion a person cannot hear the gospel or that receipt of the gospel is solely dependent upon someone hearing someone sent is a misuse of verses like
Romans 10:14-15. Those words were written by the exact same author who also said, "
Romans 1:18-20
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Romans 1 and Romans 10 cannot be made to contradict each other. No one is without excuse, not even those who did not specifically have someone specifically sent to them specifically.
What is more challenging to our soteriological sensibilities is the premise God would actively prevent someone from understanding and repenting - and therefore actively prevent a person from His gift of salvation. A correct Theology, Christology, and hamartiology are all also necessary for a correct soteriology. All have sinned and fall short of God's glory, we have all gone astray and there is no one who does God or pursues God salvifically. Because of that condition we are incapable of salving ourselves from the sin that kills, enslaves, and condemns. If God does not act then ALL would be lost. God is not being harsh (as some anthropomorphically imagine such a thing on God) when he does nothing. There isn't a person among us who does not take out the trash when it begins to stink. That does not mean we don't love the trash. In that context love is irrelevant and appeals to love (or mercy) are red herring appeals to emotion, not reason. What is amazing is that God saw fit to save
anyone.
I will also suggest - despite what I just posted - sin is irrelevant. Jesus was foreknown prior to the creation of the world as the sinless, perfect, blemish-free sacrifice. He and he alone is the resurrection and the life by which no one can come to God - and there has never been a fraction of a moment in creation when that has not been the case. He has always been the resurrection. This is evident in the fact humans were made mortal and the tree of life was set in Eden (long before any sin ever occurred. From the beginning it was appointed for man to die once and face judgment. Jesus has always been the first fruit of many, and that many was always going to be a minority of the "
all." Salvation is not a contingency plan and God is NOT dependent upon the existence of sin for His will, plan, and purpose to be accomplished. That Adam sinned and brought sin into the world did not change the Creator's divine purpose for creation one bit. There was always going to be "trash" to be discarded.
Folks often don't even venture to think about this. If, for example, a cow happened to be walking along a narrow trail on a mountainside 3,000 meters about the ground below and a misstep caused the cow to plummet..... would the cow die? Or where the laws of creation so radically different that a cow (or a person) could and would survive a 3,000 meter fall to the solid immoveable, rock-hard surface below? If the answer is, "Yes, that cow would definitely die," then there was death in the world before sin entered it and Romans 5 should be understood accordingly. What then would happen to the cow's now-dead carcass? Would it sit there as a dead carcass for all eternity, or would there be bugs to devour it? Would it decay and rot, or would nothing happen to it, once dead? For some never-stated reason people sometime imagine an Eden so idylic no one ever stubbed their toe, got an accidental cut, or might never have suffered a death due to "natural" consequences that have nothing to do with sin.
- If a person dies physically, he goes before to face judgment.
- If a person dies dead physically while dead in sin he faces judgment in a state of already-existing condemnation.
- If a person dies physically also being dead in sin but also dies dead in Christ, then there is no condemnation, and he faces judgment.
Dying is not the problem. Dying dead and not dying alive is the problem, and no one is without excuse.
Romans 2:14-16
For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
Everyone has heard the gospel one way or another and, therefore, everyone has had an opportunity to respond.
Galatians 3:8
The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham........
The gospel was preached to Abraham. God did that. We do not know how, exactly, but we do know it was preached to him. We also know David understood something of the resurrection and did so in a time when the prevailing view in Judaism as nihilistic.
Acts 2:30-31
Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
No one is without excuse. Scriptures pertaining to the necessity of preaching have context and should not be over-generalized.
