CONTINENTAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

UNIVERSAL NEED OF THE GOSPEL

A RESEARCH PAPER PREPARED FORPROFESSOR JOSEPH DIMITROV FOR THE COURSE REQUIREMENTS OFROMANS AND GALATIANS, BI 303E

BY MIKKO SINIVIRTA

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM MAY 3, 1996

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
THE NATURE OF THE FAITH REQUIRED FOR JUSTIFICATION
THE DESTINY OF THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD THE GOSPEL
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THOSE WHO HAVE HEARD THE GOSPEL
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Introduction

The Bible tells that all people are a part of one race, once created into the image of God. However, the first members of the human race sinned against God and so became guilty before him. Although the Holy God hates sin and must judge it, he still loves the sinner. Already in the account of the Fall a promise of salvation is included (Gen. 3:15), to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. From the beginning to the end, the Bible is the Good News of God to the fallen mankind.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul claims that his gospel is the answer for mankind's desperate need of salvation, to the Jews as well as to the Gentiles. The way back to God is open, but only by faith. This doctrine was crystallised by the Reformers as "justification by faith."

For a modern Christian, however, this conclusion raises questions: what is exactly the nature of that faith required for justification? What is the destiny of those who have never heard the gospel, and, on the other hand, what is the responsibility of those who have? These are the questions this paper will address, to prove the universal need of the gospel. This will be done on the basis of Paul's writings, especially Romans.

The nature of the faith required for justification

In the OT, faith was the human response to God's primary action, while in Judaism it was rather a strong obedience to the law. The NT Greek noun for faith is pistis and it primarily means a firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing. In the NT it is always used of faith in God or Christ, or things spiritual. The verb "to believe" is pisteuo.

For Paul, faith is not a disposition, but primarily an acceptance of the message related to confession (Ro 10:9). This means subjection to the way of salvation ordained by God and opened up in Christ. Faith is personal and it entails obedience as acceptance of the divine act of both grace and judgement at the cross, which brings understanding both of God and of self, i.e., of the grace of God and of the self under grace. Since faith involves confession and obedience, it is a state as well as an act (Ro. 14:22).

Secondly, Paul contrasts faith and the works of the law; faith need not be supplemented by works but is a committal to God and his grace. This committal, of course, is an act of will, but one in which a person is and does not merely do. Faith is a manner of life of those who now live in Christ (Gal. 2:19-20). As a negation of self-will, faith is the supreme act, and as such it is the opposite of works in every sense. It is correlative to grace, which stands in antitheses to works that merit payment. Faith is the true obedience made possible by God's gracious act in Christ. Moreover, faith is an eschatological attitude of a new man (2 Cor. 5:17); the age of grace has ended that of law (Rom. 6:14)and the last time has come with faith (Gal. 3:23ff.). In addition, Paul's concept of faith has a strong unity with that of John; to both faith is an act of obedience renouncing one's own power or self-righteousness.

Therefore, saving faith, i.e. faith required for justification, means receiving the message of salvation and conduct based on the gospel (Rom. 1:8; 1 Cor. 2:5; 15:14, 17). It is based on the cross of Jesus and his resurrection (1 Cor. 15:3-4:11). Many claim that saving faith is a gift God gives to man, but for the writer it rather seems to be an active response on the part of the sinner to the gospel, i.e. an acceptance of salvation by grace and through faith (Eph 2:8). The salvation is the gift God gives in his grace, but it can only be received by means of faith.

Saving faith seems to equals the decision of will to believe in Jesus as the Saviour; faith is our part in as much as grace is God's part. Even the Holy Spirit does not directly create faith in man, even though his conviction of sin leads to repentance, and he is the agent of regeneration.

Finally, it seems to be impossible to have saving faith apart from hearing the gospel. In Paul's view, the gospel is "the proclamation of the historical fact and the redemptive meaning of the cross, which includes both present and future blessings." It could well be said that for Paul, "Jesus Christ is the gospel."

The destiny of those who have never heard the gospel

What about those people who have never heard the gospel? First, how did the OT saints come to the saving faith since they didn't have such a complete revelation of the gospel as defined above. Genesis 15:6 is an important connection between the OT and NT concepts of faith: "Abraham believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness" (quoted in Rom. 4:3 and Gal 3:6). Abraham's faith was "his readiness to lay hold of the rich promises of God. He made the word of God his security and base." Thus, "Abraham's salvation was by faith, not by works of the law." Moreover, Abraham, and the saints before him, probably had some knowledge of the original religion, including the blood sacrifice for sins pointing to Jesus.

The OT saints, therefore, had an adequate revelation of the gospel in order to put their faith in God, who justified them because of the cross, even though they didn't fully understand it. God established a covenant of grace with his people, "the law was simply the standard God set for those people who would adhere to that covenant." Furthermore,

Although the covenant between God and man was certified by an external ritual, namely, circumcision, that act alone was insufficient to make a person right with God. There had to be a circumcision of the heart as well (Deut. 10:16; Jer. 4:4). The act of faith was the crucial factor.

A more difficult question concerns the heathen who have lost the special revelation of God, whose ancestors did not pass down the original religion. Is it possible for them to come to the saving faith on the basis of the general revelation?

In Romans 1:18-3:20, Paul shows "that Jews and Gentiles stand on the same level of . . . disadvantage before God." "God will give to each person according to what he has done," 2:6. People are held accountable for the knowledge of the truth they had, not for what they didn't have. Jews will be judged on the basis of the written law, says Paul, but Gentiles on the basis of the witness the creation (1:18-32) and the moral law within (2:14-16). When the Gentiles violated the law they knew they were doing wrong, and by that knowledge they will be judged. Paul shows that "Gentiles by the working of conscience and Jews by the working of law have knowledge of sin. . . . Both are accountable to God."

This follows from the traditional way of interpreting 2:15, and especially the Greek word for conscience, syneidesis, as meaning "consciousness of right and wrong," used in a sense of an independent witness within, which examines and passes judgement on one's conduct. Paul seems to use syneidesis "very much in the same way as the Rabbinic literature [and the OT] makes use of 'the heart.'" This interpretation is supported by parallels in the Jewish literature. On the other hand, the background and meaning of syneidesis in the NT has been debated, and some have suggested alternative ways of interpreting it. One author argues, on the basis of an Egyptian Orisis myth, that syneidesis is an objective witness on the day of judgement rather than an inner arbiter between conflicting thought. This argument is supported by the claim that the textual context is one of objective external judgement rather than inner subjective control.

However, the traditional interpretation seems more reasonable; Paul was certainly standing on the Jewish tradition rather than on Egyptian. Interestingly, the view of syneidesis as the inner witness is also supported by the observations of the psychologists:

All theorists agree that it is the child's innate potential for cognitive development that is central to the development of guilt feelings. This sets the humanity's sense of right and wrong on a totally different level from the animals. Animals have the capacity for some simple learning of right and wrong through rewards and punishments but not the capacity for self-observation that can result in true moral judgements.

So it follows that the Gentiles are sinners because they disobey the law which their conscience upholds. Conscience, indeed, is innate and universal, and not a mere product of environment. Accordingly, 2:15 could be paraphrased in the following manner:

The fact that Gentiles sometimes instinctively do what the Law requires is clear proof that these requirements are written on their hearts. Their conscience upholds this inner 'law' by condemning them when they break it (evil impulse prevails), and acquitting them when they occasionally keep it (good impulse prevails).

As a result, on the grounds of the general revelation God condemns heathen, according to Paul, but a special revelation is needed in order that one can respond in saving faith. "Knowledge of God's will is not enough; it is the doing of his will that counts." God's moral law is universal, but so is the failure to keep it.

God is just in his judgement, nonetheless; on the basis of the general revelation each person has the opportunity to come to the understanding of his sin and need of forgiveness and throw himself upon God's mercy. This a mere theoretical possibility, nevertheless, since in practise sin has marred the witness of the general revelation and, even more, man's understanding of it, Rom. 1:21. Indeed, in Romans 3, Paul suggests that no one comes to salvation through general revelation; it merely serves to make one guilty, not righteous, as does the law.

The responsibility of those who have heard the gospel

So far it has been shown that the faith in the gospel is the only way for anyone to be saved. Paul writes in Rom. 10:9, "if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." But then he asks in verse 14, "how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Clearly with the gospel comes also the responsibility to take it to others, that they might also hear and believe.

In Scriptures, moreover, no support is found either for universalism, i.e. at the end all will be saved, nor for "the second change theology," i.e. after death there is yet another opportunity to believe in God. On the contrary, finality is attached in the biblical depictions of person's eternal states after death; either in the presence of God, in Heaven, or in the banishment form his presence, in Hell. God doesn't want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9), but as C. S. Lewis explains, sin is man's saying to God throughout life, "Go away and leave me alone." Hell is God's finally saying to man, "You may have your wish." It is God's leaving man to himself, as man has chosen.

This gives a strong and urgent motive for evangelism and missions since "no one is innocent. All need to believe in God's offer of grace, and the message needs to be taken to them." This "eschatological motive" has created great concern and zeal in the hearts of some of the greatest missionaries to fulfil the supreme goal and motive of missions; i.e., to bring Glory to God, especially in the salvation of men for whom his Son died.

The right perspective of the Christians' responsibility toward can be found in the words of C. H. Spurgeon. A student once asked him if he thought the heathen who had never heard the gospel would be saved. The great preacher answered, "It's more a question with me whether we who have the gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved."

Conclusion

In Conclusion, this paper has answered to the questions concerning the nature of faith required for justification, the destiny of the unreached, and the responsibility of Christians. The following conclusions have been drawn: justification results only from personal faith in Jesus, without the gospel people are lost, and thus Christians have the grave responsibility to share the gospel with people far and near. Indeed, the doctrine of the universal need of the Gospel takes literally the claim of Christ in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me."

Bibliography

Atallah, Ramez. "The Objective Witness to Conscience: An Egyptian Parallel to Romans 2:15." Evangelical Review of Theology 18, no. 3 (July 1994):204-213.

Benner, David G. ed. Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985. S.v. "Guilt," by S. B. Narramore.

Brown, Colling, ed. The New International Dictionary of  New Testament Theology. Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1975. S.v. "Faith" by O. Michel.

Bruce, F. F. The Letter of Paul to the Romans: An Introduction and Commentary. Rev. ed., Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, and Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. House, 1985.

Elwell, Walter A. ed. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1984. S.v. "Conscience," by A. M. Rehwinkel.

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1983.

Foulkes, Francis. The Letter of Paul to The Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary. Rev. ed., Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Leicester, England: Inter-Varsity Press, and Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. House, 1989.

Kittel, Gerhard and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Translated and abridged in one volume by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, MI: William. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., and Exeter, Devon: Paternoster Press, 1985. S.v. "pisteuo."

Kittel, Gerhard and Gerhard Friedrich, eds. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. VI. Grand Rapids, MI: William. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1968. S.v. "pisteuo" by R. Bultmann.

Ladd, George Eldon. A Theology of The New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974.

Porter, Calvin L. "Romans 1.18-32: Its Role in the Developing Argument." New Testament Studies 40, no. 2 (April 1994): 210-228.

Sanders, J. Oswald. How Lost Are the Heathen. Chicago:Moody Press, 1966.

Thiessen, Henry Clarence. Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: WM. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1949.

Vine, W.E. An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1940. S.v. "Faith."