AN evangelical journal of theology article entitled 'Those who have never heard' concluded with these sentiments: I feel that a sincere believer in the one true Creator God may possibly be saved apart from explicit knowledge of the gospel of Christ... Possibly even some of the unevangelised "heathen" of centuries past are among the elect who will be found in heaven." That such statements should come from a reputedly evangelical stable illustrate just how much ambivalence there is about biblical teaching on the plight of the unreached. Wishful thinking and sentiment have replaced God's Word as the objective authority and touchstone of belief.

Those who hold to this 'Wider Hope' theory as it is sometimes called, along with variations on the same theme, believe it to be possible for men and women who live in the years since Calvary to be saved as a result of general revelation, i.e. God's work in creation, apart from the special revelation of Scripture. It is possible, they suggest, that through this evidence men and women might come to implicit rather than explicit faith. They believe in God and would have believed in Christ had they been given the opportunity.

The question we must ask is, what does Scripture say? – and Scripture says many things, but among them it says these four very clearly:

• In one sense, no one is truly unreached, for although not all have heard the gospel all have received some measure of revelation and light Romans 1:18-20.
• However, far from turning to God through the evidence of creation man turns away from God this is the burden of Paul's argument in Romans 1: 1 8ff. Men and women aren't condemned for not believing in a Christ of whom they have never heard; they are condemned for not acting on the amount of revelation they have received.
• Explicit faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, rather than implicit faith in a Creator God, is necessary for salvation. It is, says Paul, "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord" who will be saved. (Romans 10: 13) Peter agrees, (Acts 4:12) "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved". There is great emphasis on the necessity of knowing the name of Christ for salvation. Jesus could not be more explicit about the need for explicit faith. "Whoever believes in him (God's Son) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. (John 3:18, emphasis mine)
• You see, the point is this: men and women are not safe until they opt out and reject the gospel of Christ. They are "condemned already" until they opt in, having heard and believed the message of the gospel. Mission is not about preaching to those who are safe until given the choice, it is about going to those on death row and offering the possibility of life.
• This saving faith comes through the hearing of the gospel and the application of the message by the work of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 10:14,17) 1 believe in a God of compassion, love and mercy but also in a God who is at the same time righteous, holy and just. I have no warrant to have confidence in anything outside or apart from what he reveals in his Word and, in the words of John Piper, the essence of Scripture is clear "apart from a knowledge of him (Christ) none who has the ability (mental capacity) to know will be saved." (Let the Nations be Glad, p. 135)

There are two things that motivate these thoughts. The first is that of jealousy for the authority of the Word of God. The second is a compassion for all those who remain outside of the saving grace of that same God. As individual Christians and churches we spend so much time, energy and resources on ourselves, pampering and indulging the saved, while millions of men, women and children created in the image of God die and pass into a conscious yet Christless eternity because we selfishly refuse to take them the message of the gospel in the vain, optimistic hope that they might not after all be lost anyway.

Some will find themselves not only in agreement with the truth of God's Word, but feel the responsibility this truth lays on them to go and reach the unreached.

Let the last word on this go to Paul: "How, then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?... faith comes from hearing the message [not from seeing creation], and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:14,17)