Question: I believe that a person needs to believe Jesus is the Son of God in order to be saved and go to Heaven. What about the people who don’t know about Him? Or the people who believe in Buddha, or the Jewish people who don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah. Will they be saved? Will they be banished to Hell?
Answer: There’s no question that the Bible teaches that Jesus is the only way to God. Jesus said so Himself (John 14:6), and Peter preached, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Jesus is the means by which God saves us, but does that mean we must know who Jesus is in order to be saved? Is that what Peter was saying? Notice he didn’t say, “For there is no other name under heaven that men must call upon in order to be saved.”
And then, as you said, what about those who don’t know Jesus? Well, God is working in those places where Jesus isn’t known. We have heard of entire Muslim villages who have dreams about Jesus, and who come to believe in him as a result. The classic book, “Peace Child” by Don Richardson talks about tribes of people who believe in a Savior, although they don’t call him Jesus. Would God reject the genuine “sinner’s prayer” offered by someone who didn’t invoke the name of Jesus?
We need to also remember that God in three Persons includes God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God gave His only Son so that we might be saved, but it is still God who gives us the gift of salvation (Eph. 2:8), and it is the Holy Spirit who enables us to respond to God’s gift through Jesus.
Finally, we need to trust God for His fairness and justice. And we need to trust Him that He will lead to Christ those who don’t know His name. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Col. 1:19-20).
It’s a question like this that has motivated people through the centuries to take the Good News about Jesus to the remote corners of the world. Remember, we aren’t responsible to “save” people–that’s what God does. But we are responsible to “tell” people.
Now, as for the issue of Buddhists and Jews and people of other faiths, and whether or not they will be saved, it’s important to understand that these belief systems are different from Christianity in many ways, not just because they don’t recognize Jesus. Buddhists don’t even believe in a personal God, and orthodox Jews believe that works are what save us, and even then they don’t necessarily believe in an afterlife.
Regarding hell, the teaching in Scripture is very clear that hell is a real place. Whether the “fire and brimstone” is literal or figurative is open to debate, but it will definitely be a place of separation from God.
Again, we may not think it’s “fair” of God to “banish” people to hell, but you have to realize that God doesn’t send anyone there. Because of our sin, we are automatically separated from God. It’s only because of God’s mercy and grace that we have an opportunity to enter into a relationship with God through Jesus and have eternal life with Him. Remember, Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn us, but to give us the opportunity to be saved from our sins (John 3:17).
