Those whom the Gospel hasn't reached

So all those who lived before Jesus are summarily condemned, regardless of their heart?

There is indeed only one way to salvation, and that is the power of Jesus' blood. It flows forward AND backward. To limit the power of his blood to the folks living in the last couple dozen centuries is pretty lame. Jesus is the author of creation. His powers are limitless. He saved a man being crucified next to him not because the man "heard the gospel and obeyed" - he did not. He saved him because the man acknowledged who Jesus was and Jesus wanted to.

Peace to you, too.

 

Jesus could have rocks and trees, animals, insects or fish in the sea proclaim the gospel. By choosing us to proclaim the gospel, it was made certain that not everyone would hear the gospel.

Peace to you

 

You are assuming there were some who had the right "heart" for salvation. Scripture tells none were righteous, all had gone astray.

Those in OT times were saved by grace through faith in God's promise of the coming messiah. That was special revelation.

Peace to you

 

So by your reasoning, it is God's will for certain folks to not hear the word and to perish as a result? How do you square that with John 3:16? It doesn't say "For God so loved part of the world..."

 

So only the precious few mentioned in the OT, that were given special revelation, were saved?

 

We are getting out there on some pretty far-out stuff. I mean WAY out there. So I am going to bow out and move along.

 

Salvation is not deserved by any of us. And we who have obtained this undeserved salvation are given the task to make it available to others. Romans 3:11.

 

Thank you for the reference. I'll disagree.

Peace to you

 

I Cor tells us that in the wisdom of the world men could not come to God but God was well pleased by the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

The gospel I'd God's plan to bring salvation to all His chosen.

 

Salvation from the time of Abel on has always been in the New Birth. In the NT Cornelius had the fruit of the Spirit long before he heard Peter preach. And Peter told him “But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” (Acts 10:35) These too are fruits of the Holy Spirit and signs of the new birth in many beyond the reach of the gospel. This only holds true in the case of Limited Atonement which would mean all for whom Christ died will be born again. And these will take joy in the gospel as Abraham did even in its most primitive level. The Westminster Confession and London Baptist Confession 1689 include this saying; Paragraph 3. Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit;10 who works when, and where, and how He pleases;11 so also are all elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
10 John 3:3, 5, 6
11 John 3:8

THE BAPTIST CONFESSION OF FAITH OF 1689 .

 

Is it God's desire that everyone hear the gospel?
Why did he confuse the languages at Babel? How did that help?

 

Duh.


Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Matthew 28:19

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15


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Those who pass away without embracing Jesus as their Savior will go to Hell even if they never heard about Jesus.

 

What about the people before the cross....duh?

 

I am stunned by opinions such as this. You do not know what God will do in these type of instances and God can act in any manner in which He chooses. He could welcome them into His heavenly abode and send you straight to hell if He so desires.

 

See post 32 for a coherent explanation. The Blood of Christ covers those before the cross.

 

#3

 

Our answers come directly from our view of God, and not necessarily from scripture. If you view God as a God of justice, then you must necessarily then believe that all who have not heard are lost, because they were unable to comply with a "law" that God established that one must believe and accept Lord as Savior.

Yet we are not saved by God's justice (law), but only by his grace and mercy. When we see God described in the scripture, he is always first and foremost a God of grace and mercy. Yes, he his also a God of truth, but never does truth come before grace and mercy in his description. If you look at the design of the Ark of the Covenant, the contents - including the law - are covered by the seat of mercy. The law is important, but it isn't coincidence that law is inside the Ark, while the seat of Mercy is outside the Ark and covers it. Grace and Mercy always come before law, because God is first and foremost a God of Grace and Mercy. Praise be to God!

It isn't for justice that God became flesh. It was exclusively an act of grace and mercy. Jesus didn't come to condemn the world through justice, but save it through grace and mercy. His blood doesn't save us for the purposes of justice, but because it covers us through grace and mercy and renders us justified.

Furthermore, the Blood is intended for all men. God's desire is that no one should perish. 2 Peter 3:9. Certainly, there is an urgency for the Gospel to be preached to the entire earth, hence Christ's charge to his apostles; not necessarily because some savages in a jungle are otherwise "lost", but because they will never experience the fullness of great joy and peace of the Gospel in this present life, and that is a great tragedy.

As for those who lived prior to the cross, the blood, through grace and mercy, flows backward to them, as has been discussed here by others already.