Question: What happens to those who have never heard the Gospel?

Answer:

This question puzzles Christians, because it sets our understanding of salvation against our sense of what we think is fair. On the one hand, we confess that it is only through faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved from our sins. A person who has not heard about Jesus would seem to be unable to have faith in him. On the other hand, it seems unfair that a person who has no opportunity to hear the saving Word of God would be consigned to eternal torment simply because he has the bad fortune to be born in a place where the Word of God is not taught. It is tempting to assert that there is some alternative means of salvation for these people, but the truth is that this is not something we can say based on what is revealed to us in Scripture. Salvation comes only in the name of Jesus Christ. We have no evidence from Scripture that people who have not had the Gospel preached to them have any way of receiving a saving knowledge of Christ, though of course God may choose to reveal this knowledge to them in some way we do not understand. In any case, it is the responsibility of the church to preach the Gospel everywhere, so that every person may hear and believe in Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. We have no sure promise of salvation apart from this preaching.
Our first parents, Adam and Eve, knew about God’s law, and they knowingly chose to transgress it. Since that time, each person has continued to break God’s Law. In Romans, Paul explains that no one has an excuse for unrighteousness, because God has revealed Himself to everyone in His creation. “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19-20) All people have some knowledge of God and what His Law requires, even if we have not heard His Law preached to us. We can choose not to believe in God and His Law, but creation testifies to His nature. Paul’s point is that we have all sinned and rejected God, and not one of us can use the defense of ignorance.
The remedy for our rejection of God and His Law is, of course, Jesus. God, in His mercy, has sent His Son to atone for the sins of all people. After making his point about the sinful nature of all people, Paul continues: “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:22-25) God actually gives us faith through means that he has established to tell people about Jesus. God uses the written and spoken word to call people to repentance from their sin and faith in Jesus. God uses Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to establish and strengthen our faith. We have all rejected the Law of God, but as Christians, we have been called by the Gospel to new life, and our sins have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus. This is true of all who trust in the promises of the one true God, including those who came before Jesus. These people were saved by faith in the promised One, who would come to set them free. Hebrews 11 notes a number of the Old Testament saints who were saved by faith. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.” (Hebrews 11:1-2) The examples that Hebrews gives of such people include Rahab, who was not an Israelite, but most likely a Canaanite. She was saved by faith in the promises of God, even though she was not a member of God’s chosen people.
We might speculate, based on the fact that God has revealed something of His Law to us through creation, that we are able to understand the Gospel through creation as well. We might also speculate that the same promises that the Old Testament saints believed were passed down through the generations among people who were not Israelites, but were descended from Noah. Both of these speculations open the door for at least some people who have never been taught the Christian message to have saving faith in Christ. God may indeed work in this way if He so chooses. However, we have no firm promise from Him that He will do so, while we do have the firm promise that He works through His Word and Sacrament. Furthermore, we have the explicit instruction in Matthew 28 to “[g]o therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:19-20) God intends for the Christian church to spread the Gospel in all nations, and He intends to work through the preaching of that Gospel to bring people in all nations to faith in Christ. We can not rely on speculation to assure ourselves that people who have not had the opportunity to hear the Gospel will be saved anyway. God, in his mercy, may save them, but we can not say this with any certainty.
God is merciful and good. He desires “all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4) He has given his people the Gospel and told his disciples to preach that Gospel to every nation. We trust in God to deal with goodness and mercy to those who have not had the opportunity to hear the Gospel, but we also know that all people have sinned and rejected God’s Law. It is only by grace which we receive through faith in Jesus that are sins are forgiven and we are saved. Apart from God’s promise that He creates faith in Christ through His Word, we know of know other way whereby a person might come to faith.