It's one of the most common questions people raise in church, and one of the most uncomfortable: how can God be just if he condemns people who never had the chance to respond to the message that could save them?
In this episode of It's in the Code, part of the series Questions I Wasn't Supposed to Ask in Church, Dan Miller walks through three broad Christian answers that stretch back nearly to the beginning of the tradition.
Exclusivism, the historically dominant view from Augustine and the Protestant Reformers, holds that salvation comes only through explicitly accepting the gospel.
Inclusivism, associated with Justin Martyr and more common among Catholics, holds that people can receive Christ's saving work through responding in faith to general revelation.
And a third category, miraculous revelation, includes the "harrowing of hell" (Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison), as well as the idea, associated with Thomas Aquinas, that God provides a way for sincere seekers to encounter the gospel.
Along the way, Dan explores why this question has troubled believers for centuries, how the answer often depends on the kind of church you grew up in, and how it differs from the separate question of what happens to Jews who lived before Jesus.
He also invites listeners to keep sending in the questions they weren't supposed to ask in church.
Interview:
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