Death, heaven and hell
What happens to people who never heard of Jesus?
Short answer
God is perfectly just and knows every heart. We can trust Him with them, and Jesus tells us to go and tell them.
This question usually comes from caring about people. The Bible doesn't answer every detail, but it says enough to trust God.
God is fair. Paul says creation and conscience give everyone some knowledge of God, and each is responsible for the light they have. Salvation is through Jesus alone, but God sees what we cannot. Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right? He will.
Christians differ on how God deals with those who never heard. All agree it isn't our place to decide who is in, and that God's justice and mercy are both perfect.
Jesus gave us a job: go and tell. This week, pray for one country where few know Jesus, and think of one person near you who has never really heard.
My verses
Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse.
Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. So they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Christ Jesus, as proclaimed by my gospel.
How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent. For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.