You showed no scripture for this interpretation, just opinions, we are to walk by faith and the word is the lamp unto our feet and light to our path, not opinions, show the scriptures. Another thing, how do they prove they never heard when God said that no one is without excuse, see Romans 1:18-32. So did God lie? Of course, that is impossible. Matt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.Or do we believe those that say there are some who have never heard and they will get another chance after death?
Have you ever talked to someone that has never heard of God? And if you have, would that not have checked them off the list of those who have never heard?
----------------------------------------
Good interpretation of the Bible is always an issue.
No one should be offended to discover what they believed the meaning of a passage to be is actually wrong. Every committed Bible student should have this ongoing experience.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The issue herein addressed is concerning the idea that one of the conditions
before the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus is the Gospel must be preached to everyone.
This understanding is from Matthew 24:14 and are the recorded words of the Lord Jesus.
NASB
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the
whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
KJV
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
When taken literally this verse clearly supports the issue of our concern, but is the plain and straight forward statement meant to be literally?
As to what does “then the end will come” refer requires an interpretation which is not being considered here. The concern is how “the whole world” or “all the world” or “the entire world” is used.
Is the meaning literal or figurative?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Examining how similar Greek words are used could be insightful.
In Acts 2:5 it is recorded that there were Jews in every nation under heaven.
NASB
“Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from
every nation under heaven.”
Does this mean that Jews lived in every governed geological place on the earth?
The English word “nation” is the Greek “
ethnos” which is defined as gentile, pagan, (foreign) nation, a people. It would seem this definition might include tribes which in the Greek has the same definition as “
ethnos.”
If taken literally would this include even places in the Americas, Scandinavia, and the Far East?
An alternative interpretation would understand “every nation under heaven” as hyperbole.*
Note:
* Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration, not meant to be taken literally, as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. Hyperbole is used to emphasis something as being “to a greater extent” than would be expected.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Returning to how the “whole world” is used in the Bible, recorded in Romans 1:8 when the Apostle Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans in about A.D. 55-58 he indicates the faith of the Roman Christians has spread “throughout the world.”
NASB
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed
throughout the whole world.
Again, if taken literally this would mean this fact about the Christians in Rome would be known in the many foreign languages in the Americas, Scandinavia, Arctic, and the Far East?
Again, should “throughout the world” have a literally meaning or a figurative one (hyperbole)?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
If an Bible interpreter is using a literally meaning for the phrases “the whole world” or “all the world” or “the entire world” one would expect that the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus would be when the Bible records “the whole world” or “all the world” or “the entire world” had heard the gospel. When does the Bible record this as being completed?
The answer is recorded in Colossians 1:5-6.
NASB
5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth,
the gospel 6
which has come to you,
just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as
it has been doing in you also since the day you heard
of it and understood the grace of God in truth;
If taken literally the Apostle Paul records that the gospel has come to “all the world” before he wrote the Epistle to the Colossians in about A.D 62-63. Reading Matthew 24:14 again “the end should come” once the gospel has come to all the world which was completed in A.D. 62-63.
Given these insights one must conclude, if taken literally, the meaning of “the end should come” has to refer to something that happened following A.D. 62-63.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Everything pointed out about Colossians 1:5-6 may be repeated for Colossians 1:23. The difference being instead of recording “the gospel has come to all the world” the Apostle Paul records “the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven.”
NASB
23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of
the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
The conclusion must also be the same.
Given these insights one must conclude, if taken literally, the meaning of “the end should come” has to refer to something that happened following A.D. 62-63.
It might behoove the serious Bible student to consider that both “
the gospel 6
which has come to you,
just as in all the world” and
“the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven” are hyperbole and not meant literally.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGING THE ARGUMENT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Another issue is the interpretation of Romans 1:18-32 thru 2:3 as teaching natural or general revelation which may mean people can know God and his righteousness through nature, and are therefore, accountable to divine judgment.
Every commentary read expresses this meaning.
However, this meaning strays from the intent of the epistle which is the relationship between the gentile Christians and the Jewish Christians in Rome. The Apostle Paul is exhorting the Christians in Rome to reconcile their differences. Accordingly, the referenced section of Romans might ought to be interpreted as a maneuver to trap the Jewish Christian into agreeing with him before he attacks them for their behavior.
Every point the Apostle Paul makes is only relevant under the revelation made in the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul seems to be doing much the same thing as the Prophet Nathan did when he told David the story of the rich man who stole the poor man’s lamb (2 Samuel 12). This interpretation of Romans 1:18-32 thru 2:3 is a separate Bible study, but the plea is that the readers might grant the possibility of this interpretation since it will be suggested that everyone does not know the God of the Bible or the God of creation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In Romans 10:14
NASB
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him
whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
There is not any question that the context requires this to refer to the Lord Jesus and the gospel rather that some sort of knowledge about God as is claimed for Romans 1:18-32 thru 2:3. The single point is that there are those who “have not heard.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Apostle Paul repeats this same information in Romans 15:21
by referencing Isaiah 15:21
NASB
21 but as it is written,
“They who had no news of Him shall see,
And they who have not heard shall understand.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------
In Romans 15:20 the Apostle Paul indicates there are places where Christ has not already been named.
NASB
20 And thus I aspired to preach the gospel,
not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation;
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Great Commission in the words of the Lord Jesus
Mark 16:15
NASB
And He said to them, “Go into
all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
The point attempted here is that Romans 1:18-32 thru 2:3 when interpreted as sufficient natural knowledge so as
not to be given any reconsideration seems an
inappropriate interpretation. This passage may not be revealing a sufficient natural revelation from observing creation, but rather there was sufficient divine revelation for Israel. Romans 1:18-32 thru 2:3 makes a case for there being sufficient knowledge but it is a cloaked attack on the unbelieving of Israel who had this sufficient revelation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------