By James Rochford.
The Western world takes for granted how much everyone knows about Jesus, but often, we don’t realize how many different parts of the world have never even heard his name. Scholar David Barrett writes, “Despite Christ’s command to evangelize, 67% of all humans from A.D. 30 to the present day have never even heard of his name.”[1] Given this fact, a number of questions follow.
What will happen to those people, if they never hear about Christ?
Are they doomed to God’s judgment –simply because they have never heard about Jesus?
Why would God allow one group of people to be saturated with Christianity, while others have never even heard about him?
Isn’t God unfair to reveal Jesus’ message to some people more than others?
Equally, Enough, and Extra
God has not revealed himself equally to all people, but he has revealed himself enough, and to those who seek him, he reveals himself extra. These three E’s will form the basis of our study.
1. Equally
God has not revealed himself equally to all people. This is simply a brute fact. Clearly, some people have more revelation of God than others. If you were born into a certain family or culture, you will have a sizeable advantage in hearing about Christ and becoming a Christian. This being said, let’s consider a number of objections.
OBJECTION #1: “It isn’t fair that God gives some people more revelation than others.”
OBJECTION #3: “Why did God choose to use human agency in delivering his message to others?”
2. Enough
So far, we’ve seen that God has not revealed himself equally to all people, but at the same time, he has revealed himself enough to all people. While God works primarily through human agency, he has not chosen to work exclusively through it.
OBJECTION #1: “Don’t people need to hear Jesus’ name in order to get into heaven?”
3. Extra
So far, we’ve seen that God has not revealed himself equally to all people, but he has revealed himself enough. Here, we will see that God reveals himself extra to those who seek to know him.
[1] Barrett, David B., Todd M. Johnson, Christopher R. Guidry, and Peter F. Crossing. World Christian Trends, AD 30-AD 2200: Interpreting the Annual Christian Megacensus. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2001. 3.