Many people distrust God because they question the fairness of his salvation plan.
If the only way to heaven is through Jesus, it seems grossly unjust for God to condemn to hell those who live and die without ever learning about him.
Fortunately, this is not the case.
God’s salvation plan is universally equitable. He offers everyone the same opportunity to live eternally with him in heaven.
God’s Fairness
God made us in his image. Our sense of fairness reflects an aspect of his character.
Unlike us, however, God is perfect. His sense of fairness is more acute than ours, and his judgments are always righteous.
Consequently, God is more concerned with the fairness of his salvation plan than we could ever be, and his determinations about what is and is not fair are more accurate than ours.
God’s Goal
The Bible explicitly states that God does not wish to condemn anyone to hell. Instead, he wants everyone to comply with his salvation plan so they can live with him in heaven forever.
The primacy of God’s goal, coupled with his supreme fairness, compels him to make it equally easy for everyone to qualify for heaven, including those who never have the opportunity to learn about Jesus.
General Standard
God applies the same general standard to each of us to determine our eternal destiny.
He holds us accountable for only what we know and could easily learn about his salvation plan. He does not hold us accountable for what we do not know and could never learn.
The more we know and could easily learn about his salvation plan in this life, the more we must answer for in the next life.
Everyone who complies with what they know about the essential elements of God’s salvation plan qualifies for heaven.
Those who casually disregard or overtly reject this knowledge disqualify themselves from heaven.
Salvation Plan Basics
Here are the essential elements of God’s salvation plan.
- God is our creator. He is morally superior to us and sovereign over us, i.e., he is holy.
- We are sinful by nature and by choice. Our sins alienate us from God. He considers us spiritually dead in this state.
- God loves us despite our sinfulness. He wants a personal relationship with us, now and forever.
- But God’s justice—which coexists with his love in parity and harmony—requires him to hold us accountable for our sins. His mandatory penalty for them begins in the next life.
- This penalty is permanent separation from God and the good things he provides. Thus, our sins render us ineligible to live with him in heaven.
- We cannot escape this punishment because we have nothing of sufficient value to offer God as penance for our sins. We cannot remedy our unfitness for heaven because we are powerless to change our inherently sinful nature and become righteous.
- Fortunately, God makes it easy for us to qualify for heaven, despite our innate ineligibility. He offers us eternal salvation as a gift, rather than as an earned reward.
- To qualify for heaven, all we must do is humbly acknowledge God’s holiness, contritely confess our sinfulness, gratefully accept his forgiveness, and walk in harmony with him as consistently as we can; i.e., we must repent.
- We repent because we trust that God will extend mercy and grace to us based on who he is, not according to who we are. In other words, we place our faith in him.
- In response to our repentance and faith, God forgives all our sins—past, present, and future; intentional and unintentional; egregious and innocuous. He also grants us access to true contentment on earth and gives us a free, irrevocable pass to heaven.
- We are spiritually reborn through our repentance and faith, made possible by his mercy and grace.
God’s Atonement
What about the penalty for our sins? If it is mandatory, how does God absolve us of this punishment while still upholding his justice?
This is the stunning part of God’s salvation plan. To spare us from our rightful punishment, he satisfied his justice himself.
The death of Jesus paid the penalty for all humanity’s sins, from Adam and Eve to those yet unborn.
This universal atonement enables God to gift eternal life to everyone who complies with his salvation plan.
Fundamental Truths
The experiences of the Old Testament patriarchs demonstrate that we can comply with and benefit from God’s salvation plan without knowing that Jesus died for our sins.
While these men understood God would save the world through the coming Messiah—whom we now know is Jesus—they did not realize this mission would require his atoning death. Even his disciples failed to grasp this truth until after his resurrection.
Despite lacking this complete revelation, the patriarchs humbled themselves before God, sought his forgiveness, trusted in his mercy and grace, and walked in harmony with him as best they could. He granted them eternal life as a result.
Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, God has required all who seek eternal life to follow this blueprint. That is why he designed it to be easily understood by everyone.
God made the fundamental truths of his existence, his holiness, and our inherent sinfulness self-evident.
At pivotal moments, he enlightens our conscience about our moral accountability to him, his offer of forgiveness, and his blueprint for attaining eternal life. Then he urges us to reconcile with him accordingly.
Thus, God ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to determine their eternal destiny, whether or not they ever learn about Jesus.
So, how does this unfold?
God’s Holiness
First, we infer God’s existence from his natural revelation.
We see the intricate beauty and sophisticated functionality of our bodies, other living things, and the universe at both macro and micro levels.
From these observations, we conclude that nature reveals the power and creativity of an intelligent creator, i.e., God.
We then realize that if God created the world and everything in it, we are his handiwork, which means he is morally superior to us, sovereign over us, and holy.
Our Sinfulness
Second, we recognize our inherent unrighteousness when we evaluate our own behavior.
Each of us has a moral code by which we gauge the rectitude of our thoughts, words, and deeds. Our values reflect the principles and parameters that define our ethical boundaries.
Each of us violates our moral code. We all think, say, and do things that conflict with our ideals, as evidenced by our regrets.
We confirm our innate sinfulness each time we fail to uphold our moral values.
Divine Enlightenment
Third, once we comprehend God’s existence and our sinfulness, he prompts us to contrast his holiness with our unrighteousness and to consider the eternal implications of this disparity.
He informs our conscience that our sins alienate us from him, that we cannot rectify this situation ourselves, and that, as a result, we are ineligible to live with him in heaven.
At crucial junctures, however, he lets us know that he loves us, that he stands ready to forgive our sins, and that we can qualify for heaven through repentance and faith, all thanks to his mercy and grace.
God holds us accountable for these understandings. Our response to them determines our eternal destiny.
Our Decision
Our fallen nature urges us to suppress this knowledge, deny the seriousness of our sins, and live independently of God.
The dissonance between this natural propensity and God’s enlightenment presents us with three alternatives.
- We can ignore our conscience, heed our fallen nature, and defy God.
- We can acknowledge our sins but disregard God’s salvation plan and presume we can appease him on our terms.
- We can repent of our sins, put our faith in God, and reconcile with him on his terms, in accord with his salvation plan.
God condemns to eternal death those who choose either of the first two alternatives. He grants eternal life to those who choose the third.
Old Testament Standard
God elaborated on the basics of his salvation plan in the Old Testament.
He established a universal moral code, commonly known as the Ten Commandments, which clarified and, in some cases, superseded prevailing standards of individual behavior.
God also prescribed a range of acceptable sacrifices that symbolically atoned for various sins until Jesus’ death paid the penalty for them.
Those who were aware of the Ten Commandments recognized their inherent sinfulness whenever they violated them or the civil laws derived from them, as presented in the Old Testament.
God gifted eternal life to those who responded to this awareness by sincerely repenting of their sins and offering the proper sacrifices with contrition.
He condemned to eternal death those who were aware of the Ten Commandments, the derivative civil laws, and the sacrificial protocols, but refused to repent and offer atonement as required.
God applied this specific standard only to those in Old Testament times who were aware of his moral code, the civil laws that ensued, and his prescribed sacrificial protocols.
His general standard remained in effect for everyone else.
Their eternal destiny was determined by their response to what they knew about God and his salvation plan, as revealed through nature, their conscience, and his enlightenment.
New Testament Standard
In the New Testament, Jesus distilled the Ten Commandments and the derivative civil laws into a few principles. His key followers amplified these truths in their writings.
Those of us who are familiar with the New Testament now recognize our inherent sinfulness whenever we violate these principles and the related amplifications, as well as our own ethical standards.
After Jesus died on the cross, God rescinded the sacrificial protocols prescribed in the Old Testament.
He deemed the death of Jesus the ultimate atonement for all sin, eliminating the need for any further sacrifices.
God now gifts eternal life to those who repent of their sins and put their faith in the atonement of Jesus by asking him to be their personal Savior.
He condemns to eternal death those who are aware of their sins and the availability of salvation through Jesus but choose to dismiss this information, either passively or overtly.
However, God’s general standard still applies to those alive today who never have the opportunity to learn about Jesus.
Their eternal destiny will be determined by their response to what they know about God and his salvation plan, as revealed through nature, their conscience, and his enlightenment.
Special Provisions
God is omniscient. He knows when we contemplate his existence, ponder his holiness in light of our sinfulness, and wonder what will happen to us after we die.
At these spiritual junctures, God ensures that we have sufficient information about his salvation plan to make an informed decision about our eternal destiny.
He makes special provisions when necessary.
In the Old Testament, God often conveyed messages to people through dreams, visions, or personal visitations.
The New Testament cites several examples of God sending reborn believers to meet sincere seekers when they were ready to hear the Gospel.
God still uses these methods today in countries where the Bible is banned and Christianity is illegal.
Many underground believers in these areas report that God initially revealed the essential elements of his salvation plan to them through a dream, a vision, or a personal visitation.
Or he alerted them to an upcoming encounter with a stranger he had providentially prepared to share the Gospel.
Those of us who live in areas where churches operate openly and the Bible is readily available should not expect God to enlighten us through mystical experiences.
We already have access to enough information about his salvation plan to decide whether we want Jesus to be our personal Savior.
However, each time we contemplate our eternal destiny, God reminds us of our inherent alienation from him, his offer of forgiveness, and the blueprint we must follow to be saved.
Heavenly Diversity
The apostle John was given a visionary glimpse of heaven before he died.
In the Book of Revelation, he recorded seeing an innumerable multitude before the throne of God, from every nation, people group, tribe, and language.
This description affirms that heaven will be home to spiritually reborn believers who lived and died in ignorance of Jesus and the Bible because of geography, era, or education.
An Old Testament verse tells us that heaven is home to children who die too young to comprehend his salvation plan.
We can be confident that he similarly accommodates those who are mentally incapable of this understanding, regardless of age.
