To those who disagree regarding the truth that God gives "light" (spiritual revelation that can be heeded or denied) to those who never heard the gosple, (John 1:9) you need to somehow account for this...Rev 5:7...And...Rev 7:9
Heheh, AIC, I know you're not gonna like this, but you're sounding a whooooole lot like an Old Hardshell Baptist now, with the exception that you throw the free will of man into the mix.
History testifies that there have been scores and scores of peoples and tonges and and tribes and languages that existed and died out, with NONE of those tribes/peoples EVER hearing the gosple of Jesus Christ.
And yet people are in heaven from those peoples/tribes.
The scripture does not say MOST tribes and nations. No.
Every tribe...every nation...every language...every tounge
How did they get there?
Christ told Nicodemus:
.....It behoveth you to be
born from above Jn 3:7 YLT
This was not a 'new' requirement, Christ was not implementing something 'new' here, He was revealing a mystery from of old, something that had always been, OT & NT.
The Psalmist tells of these Gentiles you refer to:
1 By sons of Korah. -- A Psalm, a song. His foundation is in holy mountains.
2 Jehovah is loving the gates of
Zion Above all the tabernacles of Jacob.
3 Honourable things are spoken in Thee,
O city of God. Selah.
4 I mention
Rahab and
Babel to those knowing Me, Lo,
Philistia, and
Tyre, with
Cush!
This one was born there.
5 And of Zion it is said:
Each one was born in her, And He, the Most High, doth establish her.
6 Jehovah doth recount in
the describing of the peoples, `
This one was born there.` Selah.
7 Singers also as players on instruments, All my fountains are in Thee! Ps 87 YLT
Paul sheds some light on this 'heavenly Zion' here:
26 and
the Jerusalem above is the free-woman, which
is mother of us all,
27 for it hath been written, `Rejoice, O barren, who art not bearing; break forth and cry, thou who art not travailing,
because many are the children of the desolate --
more than of her having the husband.` Gal 4 YLT
Those Gentiles outside of the Law Covenant whose mother was the Jerusalem which is above (spiritual Israel) are described as 'children of the desolate', and there were MORE of them than of her that had the husband (physical Israel). The true children of Zion had not a home or a husband until the visible Church of Christ came into existence.
....and Paul gives more light on those 'born from above' here:
13 for
not the hearers of the law are righteous before God,
but the doers of the law shall be declared righteous: --
14 For, when
nations that have not a law, by nature may
do the things of the law, these not having a law -- to themselves are a law;
15 who do
shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also witnessing with them, and between one another the thoughts accusing or else defending,
28 For
he is not a Jew who is so outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is outward in flesh;
29 but
a Jew is he who is so inwardly, and
circumcision is of the heart, in spirit, not in letter, of which the praise is not of men, but of God. Ro 2 YLT
[the above passages were what prompted the question in the next verse, 'What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision?' Ro 3:1]
You refer to “ those who never heard the gospel”; well here Paul is referring to those who had not the law and had not heard the law, but they are described as doers of the law because they had the law written in their hearts. And get this, it's extremely important (most 'by man's personal faith alone' folks miss the significance of this passage):
for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but
the DOERS of the law shall be justified: Ro 2:13
When we stand before the tribunal of the Christ, we will all be judged for the things DONE through the body:
for all of us it behoveth to be manifested before the tribunal of the Christ, that each one may receive
the things done through the body, in reference to the things that he did, whether good or evil; 2 Cor 5:10 YLT
The bottom line there is that the things done through the body are indicative of the condition of the heart. Blessed is the man to whom God does not impute sin.
but he who is
doing the truth doth come to the light, that his works may be manifested, that in God they are having been wrought.` Jn 3:21 YLT
Again, the 'by man's personal faith alone' folks totally miss the significance of the above passage. Those that come to the light have already been 'DOING the truth'. Why? How? Because God has already wrought within their hearts. Those coming to the light are the children of the Jerusalem that is above.
And the scripture speaks of MULTITUDES of these people. Many of them.
So many that you couldnt ealisly count them.
SOMEHOW they got there. Its undeniable.
Again...in heaven we find...
How did all those who never heard the gosple get there?
the Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth;
thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit.` Jn 3:8 YLT
Amen and Amen! By Christ alone!:
so also it hath been written, `The first man Adam became a living creature,`
the last Adam is for a life-giving spirit, 1 Cor 15:45 YLT
For there is one God,
one mediator also between God and men, himself man,
Christ Jesus, 1 Tim 2:5
Not just the *lucky* ones who hear the gosple before they die.
God TRULY is no respecter of persons.
What an awesome and wonderfull God we serve!
AiC
Are you sure you haven't got any Old Hardshell Baptist in you?