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This is the first of two articles addressing a question I have run into often; What about those natives in some remote part of the world who have never even heard of Jesus; do you mean to tell me that they will be sent to hell because they failed to believe in someone they’ve never even heard of?

Nowadays When I am asked this question I generally begin to address it by asking a question of my own; Who says they have no knowledge of Jesus just because they have never heard his name? When I ask this I’m usually met with very puzzled looks, but soon the looks of puzzlement turn into curiosity. At this point I direct them to John 1:9: “There was the true light [a reference to Jesus] which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” (Emphasis added).

The point I draw from this verse, which I develop more fully by bringing in other passages, is that every man who enters the world has some light. Some, because of where they happen to have been born, have a great deal of light. Others obviously have much less, but the name of the light, whether a person has ever heard it or not, is Jesus. And, if a person follows the light to its source they will ultimately find Him.

There is a great illustration of this principle in John Bunyan’s classic, Pilgrim’s Progress. Early in his allegory the book’s hero, Graceless, is reading the Bible, and as he reads he is increasingly convicted of his sin, which is pictured as a heavy and ever enlarging burden on his back. He also comes to realize that he lives in the City of Destruction. Bunyan pictures him standing in a field, frightened and wanting to flee but having no idea where to run to.

At this point in the story a man named Evangelist comes up and talks to him. In the course of their conversation he urges Graceless to flee to the wicker gate (a symbol of Christ). But Graceless protests that he cannot see the gate. So evangelist asks him if he can see a light. Graceless then looks to the horizon and says that, yes, he can see a faint light. Evangelist then encourages him to go toward the light and promises that if he does so he will eventually find the gate.

There are many places that speak to the fact that there is light that we all see. For example, in Psalm 19:1-4a we read of what I refer to as, The Silent Sermon: “The Heavens are telling the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth and their utterance to the end of the earths.”

In these verses we learn that there is a wordless sermon being proclaimed every minute of the day all around the world through the things that God has made. The source of this light is Jesus, and through it He enlightens every man and woman who enters the world. And like those who know His name, those who see only the light will be judged for how they responded to the light they had. Yes, those who have not heard of Jesus will be judged too, not as some say it, “because they never heard of Jesus,” but because they did know Him. In fact they heard Him speak to them non-verbally every day of their lives through the things He made (John 1:3).

When I was teaching tribal pastors I used the following illustration. Imagine a man from a village which has no knowledge of God. One day this man is walking in the jungle and he notices a beautiful and useful leaf. He plucks it from the tree and examines it. As he does so he notices, perhaps for the first time in his life, what a wonder it is. He notes its design and its beauty; and because it’s used for medicines he reflects upon its usefulness. Suddenly the thought comes to him; “Someone, some great God, must have made this leaf. ” At that moment, though he does not know the name of this God, the light of Jesus has shown upon him.

Now he is responsible, because in that moment of clarity the light of Christ has shown in his heart. So, what are his choices? He can try, like so many of my atheist friends do, to come up with as many other explanations as he can think of to explain away what his common sense is telling him. Or he can throw the leaf on the ground, forget about it and walk away. Or he can fall down and worship the tree that produced the leaf (that’s the normal response in his village), or he can call out to the one who created both the leaf and the tree and say, “Creator of the tree and the leaf, though I do not know Your name I will worship You. I will not worship the tree, nor will I walk away. Instead, from this point on I will worship the God who made both the tree and the leaf.”

In his book, Eternity in the Hearts, Don Richardson documents hundreds of actual cases where things like this have occurred. I will be recounting such an incident from my own ministry in my next post. But the interesting thing about using this illustration is how well it resonated with the tribal pastors I taught. They really related to it. I am convinced that the reason they related to it so well was that it mirrored the actual experience of many of them.

Whether it was a leaf in the forest or something else, like Graceless in Pilgrim’s Progress, they heard and saw the light of Christ through the silent sermon. Not having been trained that they should ignore or seek alternate explanations for such things, they responded to the light. God then responded by giving them more light. And they continued to respond to the light until they found its source and learned that it was Jesus.

Paul also spoke of the silent sermon; first in his proclamation of the unknown God in his sermon on Mars Hill (Richardson’s book is a must for appreciating this passage), and then again in the first chapter of Romans.

In Romans he says that the gentiles who have never heard are responsible nevertheless, because there are some things they cannot not know, the silent sermon. Paul has a great deal to say about the silent sermon in Romans. But for the purposes of this post I just want to summarize some of his main points: (1)The silent sermon has been universally proclaimed, (2) Everyone has heard and understood it, (3) The general response to the sermon is that sinful men suppress the truth we cannot not know.

So, does the Bible teach us that the heathen will be judged? Yes. What will they be judged for? How they responded to the silent sermon (Note: All of the things I have pointed out in my discussion of Christian epistemology — and many more things besides — are also part of the silent sermon. They are part of what theologians refer to as God’s common grace and His general revelation.)

There is one final question I want to address, the hypothetical question of what would happen to a person who was responding in faith to the light he had but died before he found its source or learned its name? Some may disagree with me, but I think such a person would learn the source and the name of the light after his death in heaven. In other words, I believe their response of faith to the light they have would be the equivalent of believing in Christ, because if he is the source of the light and rejection of it would be equal to rejecting Christ, how can we say the opposite response would not be equal to receiving Him?