Concerning those from other religions or those who may never hear of Jesus:

First, some scriptural data:

1) There is universal revelation of God in nature, that apparently operates at a sub-conscious (or holistic) level (Psalm 19; Rom 1.19-20; Acts 14; Acts 17; Rom 2.14).

2) "Extra-ordinary" evidence (e.g. miracle) is NO MORE PERSUASIVE than 'regular' evidence (e.g. the Bible) (Luke 16 [Story of "Dives and Lazarus"]; Luke 24.25; John 5.45).

3) Every person knows in his conscience that he has violated God's laws and is under His judgement (Rom. 2:14,15).

4) We are promised that all true "seekers" find God (Mt. 7:7-8). "Seeking" doesn't mean trying to discover if God exists or not. It is a motivation by our "will" to have a LOVE for "TRUTH", no matter what it is, even if we have to submit to it!

5) This "seeking" is for "ultimate truth," and Truth is derived from the character of God (Heb 6:18; cf. Exod 18:21; 2 Tim 2:13; Titus 1:2).

6) Some can so 'hate' truth--for whatever reason--that God will give them what they want--FALSEHOOD. (2 Thess 2.11 & Romans 1)

7) No one can know God except through Christ (Jn 1:18, Lk 10:22).

8) But pagans know God (Acts 17:28; Rom 1:19-20; 2:11-16).

9) Therefore pagans know Christ!

10) Christ is not just a historical person. He is the 2nd person of the eternal Trinity, the full expression, or revelation of the Father (Col 1:15,19; Jn 14:9).

In fact, the pre-incarnate Son of God was active in creation and revelation BEFORE assuming a human body in history.

11) NO ONE ever is restored to a healthy relationship with God APART FROM the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross (John 14.6) (Matt 11.27) (Rom 3.25-26).

12) One cannot explicitly reject the "real" Christ and still have a positive relationship with God. (Luke 10.16; John 3.36; Rom 2.8; Heb10.28).

13) There were a number of people in the OT outside of the covenant community of Israel that had detailed (but not perfectly accurate) knowledge of God, somehow.

-Melchizedek had a VERY high knowledge of God, and certainly taught a lot to Abraham (Gen 14)

-Balaam had definite revelations, even though he only obeyed them partially (Num 22)

-Nebuchadnezzer (Daniel 2) -Abimelech (Gen 20)

-Job(!)--had a highly developed theology

-The Magi that came and worshipped the infant Jesus (Matt 2, but perhaps influenced by Daniel)

-Abraham's relatives, such as Laban (Gen 24)

-Abel, Enoch, Noah--all cited as examples of faith in Hebrews 11

14) Even in the OT, one did not have to become a member of Israel to be 'saved'--salvation certainly was supposed to occur 'outside' of Israel (Ex 19).

15) God's dealing with the pre-gospel, outside-Israel nations is described in rather 'generous' terms. (Acts 14.15 [Paul to the folk of Lystra] ) (Acts 17 [Paul to those at Athens]).

16) God is good, gracious, merciful to ALL people. The data is VERY clear here. (Ps 145.8) (Matt 5.44)

17) God does what is fair, just, and right concerning ALL matters--including this one. (18.25) (Deut 32.4) (Ps 98.9).

18) God's universal and final judgment is according to the actions and motives of humanity--NOT to one's "exposure" (or lack thereof) to the NT gospel.

Indeed, Romans describes a moral purity that is theoretically attainable by ANYONE. (Romans 2) (I Cor 4:4) (Prov 16.2).

19) We know that SOMEHOW, at least SOME people from EVERY nation on earth end up in heaven! (Rev 5:7).

20) We know that this group, with representatives from every 'nation' is a VAST MULTITUDE--NOT a tiny minority of folks! (Rev 7.9)

21) There will apparently be MANY, MANY people in heaven that do not come from the historical Jewish locus: (Matt 8:10-11) (Matt 24.31).

21) Anyone who desires salvation will be saved (Rev 22:17).

22) Heaven's door is always open (Rev 21:25; 3:7-8; 4:1).

More detailed info on people who may never hear of Jesus:

Rom. 1:18-28 points out that some truth about God is obvious (in the heart) from creation.

And that how a person responds to that truth (light), determines whether they get more truth or they 'lose' the truth they have.

If you do not respond/use what you have, you lose it; if you do respond/use it, you get more.

If an unbeliever responds to revealed truth (in nature, conscience, society, culture, whatever), God will get 'some more' to him, and if this process continues, eventually the gospel will come to him.

Similarly, some can so 'hate' truth--for whatever reason--that God will give them what they want--FALSEHOOD. (2 Thess 2.11 and Romans 1)

Also, Rom. 2:14,15 says that every person knows in his conscience that he has violated God's laws and is under His judgement. There is enough light and enough opportunity, enough knowledge and enough free choice, to make everyone responsible before God.

Everyone knows God/Jesus (not just know of Him, but they actually know Him!)

(1) No one can know God except through Christ (Jn 1:18, Lk 10:22).

(2) But pagans know God (Acts 17:28; Rom 1:19-20; 2:11-16).

(3) Therefore pagans know Christ!

For Christ is not just a six-foot-high, 33 year-old Jewish carpenter. He is the 2nd person of the eternal Trinity, the full expression, or revelation of the Father (Col 1:15,19; Jn 14:9).

He is to the Father as sunlight is to the sun. As such he is "light, which enlightens everyone" through reason and conscience.

The same person - the second person of the trinity - is both the preincarnate Logos who "enlightens everyone" and the incarnate Jesus who was seen only by some.

Those who know either one, know the other too, because both are the same person/spirit.

We are promised that all true "seekers" find God (Mt. 7:7-8).

"Seeking" doesn't mean trying to discover if God exists or not.

It is a motivation by our "will" to have a LOVE for "TRUTH", no matter what it is, even if we have to submit to it!

Truth is derived from the character of God (Heb 6:18; cf. Exod 18:21; 2 Tim 2:13; Titus 1:2).

Those who seek truth seek God. Those who do not seek do not want to know the truth (God).

One cannot explicitly reject Christ himself and still have a positive relationship with God: Luke 10.16; John 3.36; Rom 2.8; Heb10.28;

The point is very clear: to reject Jesus is to reject God the Father.

Although God's love and mercy is given to all, it must also be freely "received" in order for it work.

"Rejection" is a very ACTIVE word--it is not apathy, ignorance, neglect, ambivalence, doubt, misgivings, or lack of attention. It is a conscious choice about truth--considered and evaluated--and then actively and completely repulsed.

Those who "accept" Jesus do not merely accept that He exists, they accept Him as Lord and "receive" Him as controller over their life. They "submit" to His authority (NOT the Churches!).

Their "Faith" is a positive response to proven truth.

Those who reject the "real" Jesus, reject God - to "push" Him out of their lives for SELFISH reasons. They don't merely reject that He exists - they actively turn from God.

Their "Rejection" is a negative response to proven truth.

But if someone preaches a highly legalistic Jesus to a person, and that person rejects THAT IMAGE OF JESUS, have they REALLY rejected the Jesus of the Bible?

Many of the non-Christian skeptics and atheists have rejected a caricature of Jesus--that they have truly never seen His heart of love, His quiet commitment to their noble freedom, His patience in the face of unrequited love.

The same may be true of members of non-Christian (and especially non-Western) religions--they may have rejected a false Christ--and probably one WORTH rejecting!

But the Jesus of the Bible, when seen in the blinding light of His love on the Cross, is the TRUE Jesus! And rejecting "that" Jesus is rejecting God.

So, how could these other people possibly receive salvation without hearing about Jesus?

This leads us to "Objective Salvation" vs "Subjective Salvation":

Objectively, the NT insists that Christ is the only Savior (Acts 4:2, John 14:6).

Christians believe Jesus is the only savior because he said so.

Subjectively, the explicit knowledge of the incarnate (person of) Jesus is not necessary for salvation.

Abraham, Moses and Elijah, for instance, had no such knowledge, yet we know they were saved (Mt 17:3, Lk 16:22-23).

So, you can see that the inability to answer yes to the question, "Do you believe Jesus to be your Savior?" does not automatically condemn you.

The mere abstract, intellectual pursuit of truth is not sufficient to save you.

But neither are intellectual mistakes sufficient to condemn you.

How could pagans have known Christ?

In the same way everyone can: as "the true light, which enlightens everyone" (Jn 1:9).

Or as the divine Word or Light or Reason.

(1) No one can know God except through Christ (Jn 1:18, Lk 10:22).

(2) But pagans know God (Acts 17:28; Rom 1:19-20; 2:11-16).

(3) Therefore pagans know Christ!

For Christ is not just a six-foot-high, thirty-three-year-old Jewish carpenter.

He is the second person of the eternal Trinity, the full expression, or revelation of the Father (Col 1:15,19; Jn 14:9).

He is to the Father as sunlight is to the sun. As such he is "light, which enlightens everyone" through reason and conscience.

The same person - the second person of the trinity - is both the preincarnate Logos who "enlightens everyone" and the incarnate Jesus who was seen only by some.

Those who know either one, know the other too, because both are the same person/spirit.

So, it does NOT necessarily require (in all cases) the recipient of that forgiveness to know the name 'Jesus Christ'--this is obvious from the experiences of the OT saints!

SO "subjectively," what kind of faith is it that might save pagans, or Hindus or agnostics?

1 - A vague, genaralized honesty and sincerity;

2 - a total commitment to the Truth - not as something diffuse but as something absolute, implicitely a divine attribute;

3 - seeking not just the Truth but also Goodness, true morality, a fundamental option for good rather than evil, in general;

4 - love of Goodness not - as something diffuse and general but as an absolute, a divine attribute;

5 - repentance for sin, however unclear may be the concept of the God to whom the pagan repents;

6 - faith in God, the God of natural revelation, the intelligent Designer of nature and the Holy Source of the voice of conscience, and;

7 - a deliberate, free and conscious response to divine grace, however dimly understood.

So, who then is saved?

Is Socrates saved? And if he is, how exceptional is he? How many are saved?

The answer is that we simply do not know.

We are not to judge that which we cannot judge.

Who IS saved? The answer is clear:

"Anyone who desires" (Rev 22:17).

Heaven's door is always open (Rev 21:25; 3:7-8; 4:1).

It stands to reason if God is pure love, salvation is pure gift.

And if salvation is a free gift, then all get it except those who refuse it.

God refuses no one except those who refuse him.

Case Study (Socrates):

Could Socrates be saved?

He (or any other pagan) could seek God, repent of his sins, and could obscurely believe, and therefore he could be saved - or damned, if he refused to seek, repent and believe.

There is enough light and enough opportunity, enough knowledge and enough free choice, to make everyone responsible before God.

God is just. And a just God judges justly, not unjustly; that is, he judges according to the knowledge each individual has, not according to a knowledge they do not have.

God does not give a theology exam before entering heaven.

James 3:1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

Pagans can't be saved by paganism, only by Christ. Hindus can't be saved by Hinduism, only bt Christ.

If "to become a Christian" means to receive the real, objective Christ, then the only way to be saved is to become a Christian.

But nothing in scripture proves that Socrates was not a Christian in this sense.

QUESTION: "But Acts 4:12 SPECIFICALLY says that there is no other 'NAME' whereby we must be saved--it looks TO ME that the name of "Jesus" IS critical!

RESPONSE: "Name" was normally used in such settings to mean "person with authority".

For example, in 4.18, the Sanhedrin "commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus".

"Name" referred to the status, dignity, authority of the person.

This can be seen easily by just reflecting upon the difference between " baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 8.16) and " baptized into Jesus" (Rom 6.3) / " baptized into Christ" (Gal 3.27).

The person is still what is in view.

Therefore there is no mystical meaning in the name "Jesus."

Finally, note that Hebrews 1 talks about the 'superior name' that Jesus inherited ("SON") and that John speaks of Jesus' name as 'the Word of God' (Rev 19.13; John 1).

If Acts 4.12 meant the phonetic word "Jesus", then these designators could not be used.

Instead, we find it is perfectly okay with scripture to say things like " you that believe on the name of the Son of God;" (I John 5).

So, it seems to me that if you force this passage into some 'magical name' theory, you have missed the point of the passage and context.

It DOES assert the criticality of Jesus to salvation, but in the context of the Sanhedrin--who focused alot on questions of 'where authority came from' (cf. Mt 21.23)--it focused on the exalted mission and credentials of the Messiah.

Question: But didn't Jesus say that only a few would be saved and that the road to eternal life was narrow while the road to destruction was wide (Mt 7:13-14)?

Response: Yes, but "few" and "many" here are not mathematical percentages. Jesus is a lover/shepherd, not a mathematician/statitician.

The Good Shepherd feels about his sheep the way good parents feel about their children; even one lost is too "many," and even 99 out of 100 saved is too "few."

When the disciples asked Jesus about comparatively heavenly and hellish population statistics ("Lord, will only a few be saved?"), his answer was not "Yes" or "No" but "Strive to enter through the narrow door" (Lk 13:23-24).

So, why become a Christian?

(1) To have the assurance of salvation from your sins and damnation.

(2) To enter a deeper spiritual life in this world: intimate knowledge and love of Christ that brings deep faith, hope, love, joy and peace.

Without an explicit knowledge of Christ it is probably impossible to have these.

And without them, though salvation may be possible, the assurance of salvation is not.

So why witness and evangelize?

First, we are commanded by our Lord, Jesus, to do so(Mt. 28:18-20).

Second, we do not know exactly who is on the way to hell, that's why we do all we can to save some.

One doesn't need to know that a friend is going to fall through the thin ice and drown before he is motivated to shout, "Get off the ice!"

All he needs to know is that he doesn't know that the friend won't drown-but that they may drown. We know that anyone may go to hell, because Jesus said so.

Lastly, our motive for preaching the gospel is not only to increase the population of heaven and decrease the population of hell, but also to invite others to a deeper spiritual life in this world: intimate knowledge and love of Christ that brings DEEP faith, hope, love, joy and peace.

Without an explicit knowledge of Christ it is probably impossible to have these. And without them, though salvation may be possible, the ASSURANCE of salvation is NOT.

* - Return to the Skeptic page.