Scott,

I will take the liberty of reframing the question for my own clarity, though the change may be semantic.

Romans 2:13-16 from the NIV Life Application Study Bible: For it is not those who hear the law who are
righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14(Indeed, when
Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves,
even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on
their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending
them,) 16This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my
gospel declares.
The NIV commentary on the passage comprising verses 12-15 reads in part “People are condemned not
for what they don’t know, but for what they do with what they know. Those who know God’s written
Word and his law will be judged by them. Those who have never seen a Bible still know right from
wrong, and they will be judged because they did not keep even those standards that their own consciences
dictated.”

1
2
Figure 1 - The Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Vol 3, p 1654; 1980, Tyndale House Publishers

The Necessity of Scripture

6/10/09

Can someone who never heard the gospel be saved? In other words is the truth of
scripture necessary for salvation?

The necessity of Scripture may be defined as follows: The necessity of Scripture means that the Bible is
necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life and for knowing God’s will, but is not
necessary for knowing that God exists or for knowing something about God’s character and moral laws.

To address the question above, this paper will only cover first part of the definition of the necessity of
scripture. The Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel and the gospel is necessary for salvation.
In Romans 10:13-17 Paul says:

13
For t “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14
But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in
him uof whom they have never heard?1 And how are they to hear vwithout someone preaching? 15 And
how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, w “How beautiful are the feet of those who
preach the good news!” 16 But xthey have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, y “Lord, who has
believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So zfaith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of
God.i

This statement indicates the following line of reasoning:

1. It first assumes that one must call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. In this usage,
generally, as well as in this specific context (see vs. 9), “the Lord” refers to the Lord Jesus
Christ.
2. People can only call upon the name of Christ if they believe in him (that is, there is a savior
worthy of calling upon and one who will answer those who call).
3. People cannot believe in Christ unless they have heard of him.
4. They cannot hear of Christ unless there is someone to tell them about Christ (a preacher or
teacher…).
5. The conclusion is that saving faith comes by hearing (that is, by hearing the gospel message),
and this hearing of the gospel message comes about through the preaching of Christ. The
implication seems to be that without hearing the preaching of the gospel of Christ, no can be
saved.

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This passage is one of several that show that eternal salvation comes only through believe in
Jesus Christ and no other way. Speaking of Christ, John 3:18 says, “He who believes in him is
not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in
the name of the only Son of God.” Similarly, in John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth,
and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.”
Peter, on trial before the Sanhedrin, says, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other
name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Paul says, “for there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all…” (1 Tim 2:5-6).

What about the Old Testament Believers?

But if people can be saved only through faith in Christ, someone might ask how believer’s
under the old covenant could have been saved. The answer must be that those who were saved
under the old covenant were also saved through trusting in Christ, even though their faith was a
forward-looking faith based on God’s word of promise that a Messiah or a Redeemer would
come. Speaking of Old Testament believes such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Sarah,
the author of Hebrews says, “These all died in faith, not having received what was promised,
but having seen it and greeted it from afar…” (Heb. 11:13). The same chapter goes on to say
that Moses “considered abuse suffered for the Christ (or the Messiah) greater wealth that the
treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward” (Heb. 11:26). And Jesus can say of Abraham,
“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56).
This again seems to refer to Abraham’s joy in looking forward to the day of the promised
Messiah. So even the Old Testament believers has a saving faith in Christ, to whom they
looked forward, not with exact knowledge of historical details of Christ’s life, but with great
faith in the absolute reliability of God’s word of promise.
Even in the lifetime of Adam and Eve there are some words of God that point toward a future
salvation in Genesis 3:15 the curse on the serpent includes a promise that the seed of the
woman (one of her descendants) would bruise the head of the serpent but would himself be
hurt in the process promise ultimately fulfilled in Christ. The fact that the first two children of
Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, offered sacrifices to the Lord (Gen 4:3-4) indicates their
consciousness of a need to make some kind of payment for their sin and of God’s promise of
acceptance of sacrifices offered in the right way. Genesis 4:7, “If you do well, will you not be
accepted?” indicates again in the very briefest form a word from God that offered the provision
of some kind of salvation through trusting in the promise of God offered in that word. As the
history of the Old Testament progressed, God’s words of promise became more and more
specific, and the forward-looking faith of God’s people accordingly became more and more
definite, Yet it seems always to have been a faith resting specifically on the words of God
himself.

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Although one may come to understand that God exists without scripture, it seems that there is
no possibility of coming to a saving faith apart from specific knowledge of God’s words of
promise found in Scripture.

The Bible is necessary for salvation, then, in this sense: One must either, read the gospel
message of salvation through Christ alone in the Bible for oneself, hear it from another person
or hear the gospel message through Christ alone from God’s direct audible words. Even those
believers who came to salvation in the old covenant did so by trusting the words of God that
promised a Savior to come. Coming to a saving faith without God’s gospel words of promise
can only be rationalized through speculation and is not supported by scripture.

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 Further Study in Scripture that supports the necessity of Scripture for salvation

1. The Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired and without error in the original manuscripts, written
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and
conduct. (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Mark 13:31; Acts 20:32)

What is the Word of God?

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being given by divine inspiration, are the Word of
God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice. (2 Peter 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; Isaiah 8:20,
Mark 13:31, Acts 20:32)
All these references use the “Word of God” as truths of Scripture

2. Romans 10:13-17 Paul says:

13
For t “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14
But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him uof
whom they have never heard?1 And how are they to hear vwithout someone preaching? 15 And how are
they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, w “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the
good news!” 16 But xthey have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, y “Lord, who has believed what
he has heard from us?” 17 So zfaith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of God.ii

KJV Commentary

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Paul restates his
belief that the gospel is offered to all by quoting the prophet Joel (Joel 2:32). The
expression call upon the name of the Lord is a common Old Testament expression of
worship to God (cf. Gen 4:26; 12:8; I Kgs 18:24; Ps 79:6; Isa 6:4–7). Paul’s application of
this formula to Christ is another example of his practice of taking Old Testament passages
which refer to God the Father and, without any qualification whatsoever, applying them to
Christ. Thus, in the New Testament, sinners are advised to call upon the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 9:14, 21; 22:16; I Cor 1:2; II Tim 2:22). The ground for human
responsibility in salvation arises out of the fact that the gospel is offered to all, irrespective
of national heritage. Both Jew and Gentile may be saved by the grace of God.iii

16–17. Paul now comes to the crux of his argument concerning human responsibility and
the righteousness of God. He claims that God takes the responsibility for Jewish unbelief
and places it squarely upon the shoulders of the Jews. The gospel has been near unto them,
it’s been offered unto them, but it has not been believed by them. As proof of this he again

6
 quotes from the Jews’ own Scripture as recorded in Isaiah 53:1, Lord, who hath believed
our report? The report was Isaiah’s message of the gospel concerning the Messiah. It was
brought to the mouths of the Jews and offered to them, but that message was not obeyed.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The word translated
report (written word) (Gr akoē) in verse 16 is the same word in the original language as
that translated hearing in, verse 17. We must understand that hearing alone does not bring
salvation, but faith in the message heard does. The heathen is not saved by looking at a tree
and conceptualizing a god-form represented in that tree. The moralist is not saved by
leading a moral life-style. Salvation comes when the message of the gospel is preached,
believed, and then confessed by men. That message must come from the Word of God.iv

3. James 1:16-18
16
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 zEvery good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from athe Father of lights bwith whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.4 18 cOf
his own will he dbrought us forth by the word of truth, ethat we should be a kind of ffirstfruits of his
creatures. v

KJV Commentary
This is definitely a reference to the new birth. How does He beget us? “With the word of
truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” Beget means “to bring forth.”
There are those who say, “Well, if I am predestined to be lost, there is nothing I can do
about it. And if I am to be saved, I’ll be saved.” There are two wills involved here—“Of his
own will begat he us.” Again, you have in conception two coming together—there is no
other way for a conception to take place. Therefore, when His will is joined with your will,
you will be born again. Don’t tell me that you are not responsible. It is not His will that any
should perish. You are begotten by the Word of God. When you are willing to come, when
you believe the Word of God and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you will be born
again. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Pet. 1:23).vi

4. 1 Pet. 1:23
23 d
since you have been born again, enot of perishable seed but of imperishable, through fthe living and
abiding word of God; vii

KJV Commentary
Peter brings us back to the Word of God (The truth of scripture) again. He is talking now
about the subjective work of God in salvation. We have seen that the objective work of God
was that Christ died—that’s our redemption. It happened over nineteen hundred years ago,
and we can’t add anything to it. However, if you are to become a child of God, you must be
born again, born from above. This, you recall, is what the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, as
recorded in John 3:3. Nicodemus was a man who was religious to his fingertips, yet the
Lord Jesus told him that he must be born anothen, meaning “from above,” by the Spirit
of God.

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“Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
for ever.” You cannot be saved, you cannot be born again apart from the Word of God. This
Book is the miracle that is in the world today. Although I believe this, I never cease to
marvel at the letters I receive from folk who tell me that they have been born again and
their lives have been transformed from listening to my Bible-teaching radio broadcast. It is
wonderful, but I don’t understand how it happens; I only know that it is the result of the
Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever.

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t Acts 2:21; Cited from Joel 2:32
u Eph. 4:21; [John 9:36; 17:20]
1 Or him whom they have never heard
v [Acts 8:31; Tit. 1:3]
w Cited from Isai. 52:7; [Nah. 1:15; Eph. 6:15]
x ch. 3:3; Heb. 4:2
y John 12:38; Cited from Isai. 53:1
z Gal. 3:2, 5
i The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Ro 10:13-17
t Acts 2:21; Cited from Joel 2:32
u Eph. 4:21; [John 9:36; 17:20]
1 Or him whom they have never heard
v [Acts 8:31; Tit. 1:3]
w Cited from Isai. 52:7; [Nah. 1:15; Eph. 6:15]
x ch. 3:3; Heb. 4:2
y John 12:38; Cited from Isai. 53:1
z Gal. 3:2, 5
ii The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Ro 10:13-17
iii KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 2252
iv KJV Bible Commentary. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1994, S. 2253
z Ps. 85:12; John 3:27; 1 Cor. 4:7
a 1 John 1:5
b Mal. 3:6
4 Some manuscripts variation due to a shadow of turning
c John 1:13
d [Gal. 4:19; 1 Pet. 1:3, 23]
e [Eph. 1:12]
f Jer. 2:3; Rev. 14:4; [Rom. 8:19-23]
v The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Jas 1:16-18
viMcGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997,
c1981, S. 5:637-638
d ver. 3; [John 3:3; James 1:18]
e John 1:13
f Heb. 4:12
vii The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. 1 Pe 1:23