Nope... I've heard that argument too... My question is this if hearing the gospel is instrumental to Salvation and as important as that doctrine is why is their no mention of it at the cross?... We are talking of scripture not speculation... My Son didn't need to hear the gospel or read it, his belief came through the heart... Brother Glen
Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
The thief on the cross was under the Old Covenant. He was no different than an Old Testament saint from the time of King David. Old Testament saints still believed in God by faith even though their knowledge of the future Messiah was limited. The thief on the cross obviously had some knowledge of Jesus and the things that were said about him. Just like other Old Testament saints, he believed by faith. Did he have the gospel preached to him as it is done today? Obviously not. All this changed after Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit was given to the Church the gospel message went out into all the known world like a thunderclap. Today, when we talk about the message preached (1 Corinthians 1:21), it is a euphemism for various methods of communicating the gospel; whether it be print, braille, radio, street evangelism, and even the tried and tested sermon from the pulpit.
I do like what the framers of the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith had to say about this topic:
10.3. Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit; who worketh when, and where, and how he pleases; so also are all elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
( John 3:3, 5, 6; John 3:8 )
16th-century Particular Baptists believed that God called His elect from eternity past not based on their ability to respond outwardly to the gospel call:
Ephesians 1:4 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.
Before there was any action on the part of one of the elect, God is the one who chose them before the foundation of the world. I agree with my 16th-century Particular Baptist brethren and trust in the efficacy of the inward call of God in those who are not able to respond outwardly due to a hard providence that prevents them from such a response.