Can someone that does not know Jesus be saved?

In the Christian world, many times a question is asked among skeptics and believers both. The scenario usually goes along the lines of, what about the man who never hears about Jesus? Can he be saved? This can vary from being general to being more specific about a tribe on an island that no one has ever visited.

More realistically we can consider the few "uncontacted peoples" of the world. There are a few known tribes of people in the world who are "uncontacted" meaning no one outside of their tribe has ever spoken or met anyone in their tribe in possibly thousands of years.

There is no quick answer to this question and anyone who tries to give a quick answer, I question their studies.

But I do want to discuss the first quick answer that many Christians give as a default. Many will say one cannot be saved at all unless they believe in Jesus and possibly siting Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9, Mark 16:16, and John 12:46. All of these verses have a common theme and that is to describe that if you believe in Jesus, you will be saved.

These verses are certainly important for establishing that those who accept Jesus' sacrifice as their means of salvation are guaranteed 100% admission into Heaven. However, that is not the end of the story. We cannot believe all that is said about salvation can be summed up in those few sentences.

So then the question is raised, are all who believe in Jesus saved? To this, I will refer to Jesus:

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ -Matthew 7:21-23

Let's keep in mind who these people are. These people were able to drive out demons and perform miracles and prophesied. They certainly believed Jesus existed and believed in his power. But when Jesus sends them to Hell, they instantly point to their own deeds to save them. They wanted their own goodness to be worthy of Heaven. Even though they knew of Jesus and his authority, they missed something vital. What was it?

They were missing humility. Their first response should not have been "but we did all these good things!" It should have been, "but your grace was supposed to save us!" Their response shows they did not have faith in Jesus' sacrifice, they had faith in their own deeds.

I am sure some of you are wondering how this ties into the people who do not know Jesus at all, but stick with me.

This points to the very first criteria of salvation. I find it funny that it's kind of the first step in a 12 step program. The first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have one. Similarly, the first step to salvation is admitting that we need it.

This is actually more widely known and accepted than most realize. While I am not an endorser of the sinner's prayer, the first line of it is "I know I am a sinner." This line is it. It is the prompting of the Holy Spirit to recognize we are bad people. We do not need the Bible to recognize we are bad. No one has to tell us how good God is for us to recognize how bad we are (though the second thing that happens when you do realize how good God is, is to recognize how bad we are).

Jesus seems to suggest this very thing when He is questioned by the pharisees.

When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” -Matthew 9:11-13

And again Jesus tells of a man justified when says:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

Jesus says here about a tax collector who the only thing he did was confess he was a sinner, that he went home justified.

Jesus does not call the religious or the strong or the patriotic. He calls the down trodden, the poor, and the sinner. None of these things are specific to ethnicity or religion or creed. Jesus does not care about your background, He cares that you know you need Him.

So let us dig a little further. Can a person be saved without knowing Jesus? While a knee jerk response to say "no", no Christian truly believes that. I know because all Christians believe Abraham and Moses are in Heaven (because Jesus says so). They did not know Jesus. Had they known his name, they would have surely recorded it. Had they known exactly what He would do, they would have told us more specifically. But they did not. They knew they would be saved and that faith was credited to them as righteousness, not their deeds (Romans 4).

So now we know that people can be saved who did not know Jesus. So how do we know these people know God? It is from the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came, he prompts people (everyone in the world without discretion) to do the following things:

When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. - John 16:8-11

When a person (anyone at all regardless of their ethnicity or religion) is convicted of their sin or wrong doing and humbles themselves to admit they are a bad person, they are following the prompting of the Holy Spirit, of God himself. To over simplify it, they are listening to God.

I believe anyone who listens to this prompting and truly understands that they are not worthy of any kind of reward and deserve punishment for their wrong doing, will find Jesus' grace.

Do not in anyway misunderstand what I am saying. We cannot and will not be saved without Jesus' grace but I do not believe you need to know Jesus' name to receive his grace.

So then the question usually follows, what is the point of evangelism if people who do not know Jesus can be saved? However, hopefully it is pretty obvious by now what that answer is.

What a miserable existence it would be to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit and recognize how sinful and wretched we are and never get beyond that. How horrible to live one's whole life knowing he has done wrong and live in guilt his entire life without knowing God has sent his own Son to save him. And that is why we evangelize. That is why we bring the Good News to the world!

Jesus' message has always been to the poor in spirit and the down trodden and the sinner. The arrogant and righteous have always opposed Jesus and will continue to. Some have even tried to use Jesus' name to prove their own righteous deeds. I'm usually reminded of those who spend their time pointing out other people's sins without ever acknowledging their own.

I believe their are Muslims who believe they are sinners and unworthy. Despite the fact that Muslims teach a salvation based on works, there are many who know they cannot and will not live up to such standards and there are many who would never acknowledge such a failing. For those who do acknowledge they cannot earn their salvation and are miserable and unrighteous I believe that Jesus will comfort them at the end of their lives as He has been calling them the whole time. To them who do believe they are worthy, Jesus is more than willing to let them try. But so far the track record of people who have worked their way into Heaven is not good.