Since God Is Just, How Is It Fair for Those Who've Never Heard of Jesus to Go to Hell?
It’s always a good idea to define our terms, so let’s see what the dictionaries say about “just”:
acting or being in conformity with what is morally upright or good (Miriam-Webster, definition 2a(1))
In a moral sense, upright; honest; having principles of rectitude; or conforming exactly to the laws, and to principles of rectitude in social conduct; equitable in the distribution of justice; as a just judge. (Webster’s 1828, definition 5)
Now, what about “fair”?
marked by impartiality and honesty : free from self-interest, prejudice, or favoritism (Miriam-Webster, 1a)
Open; frank; hones; hence, equal; just; equitable. (Webster’s 1828, definition 9)
Okay, so basically, something is “just” if it is morally upright, good, or lawful; and “fair” is a closely-related term that basically means that someone or some action is impartial and honest.
Now we must ask ourselves a question…
How do we determine what is morally upright, good, lawful, or honest?
Or, to put it succinctly, “By what standard?”
If I instruct my son to cut me a length of 2x4 to 18-3/4” but he’s never seen or used a tape measure, what is he to do? Or, perhaps worse yet, what if the tape measure I used in making the request was faulty, and my son’s tape measure was flawed in a different manner? When he hands me a board that measures by 18-3/4” by his tape, but only measures 18-5/8” by my tape, what then? How do we figure out who’s right and who’s wrong? I believe it was in Mere Christianity that C.S. Lewis said:
“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?
The Bible answers this question for us:
The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He. — Deuteronomy 32:4
God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day. — Psalm 7:11
But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. — Psalm 115:3
Whatever Yahweh pleases, He does, In heaven and on earth, in the seas and in all deeps. — Psalm 135:6
And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can strike against His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ — Daniel 4:35
By definition, God can do nothing at all that is not morally upright, good, and lawful:
Far be it from You to do such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?” — Genesis 18:25
The only correct answer to this question is that since He is our creator and the creator of all that is, “God Himself is the standard.”
So, if God Himself is the standard, what right do we have to even start to question His judgment…as if anything He does could even come close to being “unfair”? Paul addresses this in Romans 9 when he says “who are you, O man, who answers back to God? Will the thing molded say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” (Romans 9:20)
This Question Is Fundamentally Flawed
There are at least three problems with this question:
it contains the unspoken assumption that there are some for whom hell is not a just punishment,
it seeks “justice” and “fairness” without really understanding what that would look like, and
it underestimates the sinfulness of sin.
When it comes to your eternal destination, you do not want what is “just” and what is “fair”—that’s the last thing you want—for if God gave us what is just and fair, he would have to send every last one of us to hell. To appreciate why, we need to understand why people are sentenced to hell in the first place.
Why Do People Go to Hell?
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God — Romans 3:23
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. — Psalm 51:5
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken a lie; your tongue mutters unrighteousness. No one calls in righteousness, and no one seeks justice in truth. They trust in confusion and speak worthlessness; they conceive trouble and give birth to wickedness. — Isaiah 59:2–4
The soul who sins will die. The son will not bear the iniquity of the father, nor will the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. — Ezekiel 18:20
for the wages of sin is death — Romans 6:23
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned — Romans 5:12
Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully matured, it brings forth death. — James 1:15
So, you see, people don’t go to hell because they’ve never heard of Jesus; people go to hell because that is the just recompense for their sin against an eternal God, the one whom the Holy Spirit says that all know exists (Romans 1:18–22), and what’s more, “and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. (Romans 1:32) They violate their own knowledge of righteousness (Romans 2:14, 15), and they refuse to come into the light because they love darkness (John 3:19). This is why Scripture says: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)
But God has not left us without remedy…
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. — Romans 5:8
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” — Mark 1:15
Homework
Next Sunday, Lord willing, I’ll be addressing another student-submitted question:
What happens to babies when they die since we're all born with a sinful nature that separates us from God?