They never knew him...

Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Acts 4:11-12

Enoch walked with God. Genesis 5:21-24

My wife and I have a friend who is absolutely adamant that everyone who was born before the time of Jesus must be eternally lost. Why? Because faith in Jesus is the one condition of salvation, and as they had never heard his name they could not put their faith in him. Simple, logical; so, end of story, nothing to discuss.

Simple, yes. But sorry, there is something to discuss. For one thing, it just seems plain unfair – like a schoolteacher telling a class that he is going to set them an exam on a book they have had no opportunity to read. When they protest, he says “Sorry, but that’s the way it is. Tough!”

Far more serious, the Old Testament makes it very clear that many people in its pages were “saved” (though that word is rarely used), in the sense of having a true relationship with God, even though of course they never knew the name of Jesus.

Last time I wrote about Enoch in Genesis 5. In verses 22 and 24 it is stated that he “walked faithfully with God”, implying that he had a deep faith in God as far as he knew about him, and then, intriguingly that a day came when he “was no more, because God took him away”. A similar thing is written about the prophet Elijah in 2 Kings 2, that he “went up to heaven in a whirlwind” (verse 11). He, of course, reappears on the earth centuries later, flanking Jesus along with Moses on the mountain of transfiguration.

Are we to believe that such people, noted for their relationship with God on earth, and even in some mysterious way taken up into the presence of God instead of passing through death, were then (what word shall I use!) dumped, abandoned by this same God? Not to mention saintly people like poor suffering Hannah (1 Samuel 1-2), or the prophets who suffered for God’s sake, or the many psalmists whose names we may not know but whose deep personal faith in God shines through their prayers and poems? All lost, because they had what might seem the sheer bad luck of being born in the wrong phase of history? Surely a little deeper thought is called for!

I’ve put at the top of this blog the words of Acts 4:12, one of many passages I could have chosen to demonstrate that the first followers of Jesus were convinced that he is indeed the one and only Saviour (“no other name…”!). Even simpler is Acts 16:30-31, where the Philippian jailer - trembling with fear as the prison for which he is responsible literally falls around his ears - cries out to Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”, to receive the wonderful reply, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…”

So what are we to do? Let’s sum it up… Yes, Jesus is the only way of salvation; yet we do meet men and women who never heard his name but who obviously had had a precious relationship with God. There really is no wriggling out of that dilemma – if indeed it is a dilemma. There’s so much needing to be said! - I’ll limit myself to just two comments…

First, we need to recognise that God’s revelation of himself is progressive in nature. It comes gradually, in stages, spaced out in history.

That progress is reflected in the Bible, and it reaches its peak in both the story of Jesus – his life, his death, his resurrection and his ascension – and in the accompanying teaching about him in the rest of the New Testament. The Old Testament prepares the way, and if the Old Testament (or part of it) is all that godly people have, God gladly accepts that faith in anticipation of everything that will be fulfilled in Jesus.

Putting it another way, the whole of the Old Testament leads up to Jesus, and the whole of the New leads on from him. The pages of the Old Testament contain many clues and pointers which climax in him (Isaiah 53 is perhaps the supreme example), but his name is never mentioned and his identity is not fully disclosed. So when we read of people who “walked with God” or who showed that they clearly trusted God, we can surely assume that they are saved. And if that is so, they can only be saved through the Christ they never knew.

Second, we should never forget that the gospel is good news. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that “God is not willing that anyone should perish, but wants everyone to come to repentance”, and that is a statement to which we should give full value.

Yes, of course. But so what? Let me explain what I mean. I said earlier that faith in Jesus is the one condition of salvation. But perhaps “condition” isn’t quite the right word; it makes salvation sound a little like an exam you have to pass, and faith is the key idea you have to prove yourself competent in. But that is wrong. Faith in Jesus isn’t so much a condition that we have to fulfil, but simply the God-given means offered to us whereby we can lay hold of salvation.

Putting it another way… the need for faith is not a threat to be delivered with a frown and a bit of finger-wagging: “If you don’t put your faith in Jesus, you can’t be saved” (so you’d better look out!). No, it is an invitation given with a smile: “You want to be saved? Wonderful! Just put your faith in Jesus!” (There’s a big difference between those two!)

God is a gracious and merciful God; may he help us always to keep that note at the forefront of our belief and our evangelising!

Father God, thank you that from all eternity you had a plan of salvation for the fallen human race, a plan which began with your chosen people Israel and reached its climax in the cross. Thank you for your crucified and risen Son, and for the untold multitude of those who, like me, have found forgiveness and reconciliation through him. Amen.