Prologue, Introduction to Part I

The question raised in the title of this work is one which has been posed both to and by believing Christians for a very long time. And it is a question of great significance. This question first occurred to me personally as a very young Christian, growing up in a pastor’s home: “If faith in Jesus is the only way of salvation, then what of those who live in places far removed from any gospel witness? Is there hope of salvation for them?” This question was brought home to me again during my thirties, while engaging in ministry to international university students, many of whom were followers of non-Christian religions. The most frequent objection to the Christian faith that I heard from these students was that it presented itself as the only way of salvation. What then of those who grow up in cultures where they are unlikely to really hear the gospel?

It is important that serious consideration be given to this question, for at least two reasons. First, from an evangelistic and missiological perspective, if hearing the gospel and believing in Christ is not necessary for salvation, then the urgency of the task of world evangelization is at least diminished. This is difficult to deny. However, if faith in Christ is essential to salvation, then there is no more important enterprise than fulfilling the Great Commission. Second, from an apologetic perspective, it is essential that we have an answer for those who object that the necessity of faith in Christ for salvation is unfair to those who have never heard of Christ, or whose perception of Christianity has been clouded by the way in which it was presented. If the question of why God allows evil and suffering is the most serious objection to theism, the question of the unevangelized is perhaps the most serious objection to the Christian faith. “How could faith in Christ be the only way of salvation, when there are so many who have never really heard the gospel?”¹

These objections to the exclusive nature of the Christian faith have become even more pronounced in light of the acceptance of postmodernism (which denies that objective truth can be known), and more recently with the growth of critical theory (which views truth claims as simply attempts at preserving a position power over against other social groups).²

This work began as a doctoral dissertation at Dallas Theological Seminary in the late 1980s. However, due to long-lasting serious health challenges in my family, the work was delayed, and it was never presented as a dissertation. The Lord, however, knew what he was doing. For over the next three decades of life, I had opportunity to pursue more research and to give more thought to this topic than I ever could have if I had tried to bring it to completion in the prescribed time frame. I trust that it represents mature reflection. My prayer is that this work will encourage those of us who are believers, not only in giving a reason for our faith (I Peter 3:15), but also in giving ourselves to obedience to the Great Commission to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).³

Part I
History Of The Discussion

In this first of two parts of this work, I will survey the history of the discussion concerning this question among Christians (both Roman Catholic and Protestant/Evangelical).⁴ I have included a number of lengthy quotes, particularly in the discussion of the views of Protestants since the Reformation. I felt it was important to do so, first because the views of Protestants have not been as well documented as those of Romans Catholics in the literature. But second, I have included these lengthy quotes, because the sources cited are often not as well known, nor are they always easily obtained. One of my purposes in writing has been to provide this documentation, and to make it accessible to more readers—whenever possible, in the words of the writers themselves. In the second part of this work, I will examine the biblical teaching on this issue.

It should be mentioned that in many of the older quotations, the unevangelized are commonly referred to as “the heathen.” This term was used by most Christians of past generations to refer to those who did not worship the God of the Bible.⁵ However, in recent times, as the Christian faith has been overshadowed by secularism in the West, the term seems to have taken on a more derogatory connotation, and is seldom used as it once was.⁶ The reader should keep this in mind in reading these quotations from generations and centuries past. The use of the word “heathen” in this work is not intended to be disrespectful of those who find themselves among the unevangelized.