Are the Heathen Lost?

"Are the heathen lost?" This question is asked quite often at many times,  in many ways, and in  various forums. "How can God hold them responsible for what they did not know?" God is never caught off guard. There is never a question that He has not already answered. We may not know the answer, but that does not mean that there is not one.

Are they lost? Is God unfair for holding them to a standard that they did not know? In a word, "No." Let's look at the text book or manual. Romans 2:12
    12 All those who sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all those who sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

Will the heathen be judged because they did not keep the Sabbath? The answer seems self evident. Those who sinned "under the law" will be judged by the law. So if the heathen were not under the law, they would not be guilty.

How about lyin', cheatin', and stealin'? And just for good measure, throw in murder. Here is the question: Is there a society anywhere on earth where lying, cheating, and stealing are condoned? How about murder? Some may lie, cheat, and steal from "others" but they do not do so to themselves. Same for murder. So do they have a conviction that lying, cheating, and stealing is wrong? They do. Do they lie, cheat, and steal? If they do, they are guilty, by their own standard.

Paul explains it for us. (Gentiles are non-Jews or heathen.)
    14 So, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, (lyin', cheatin', stealin') instinctively do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts will either accuse or excuse them.

If they are lying, cheating, and stealing, and possibly murdering, they are breaking their own law. They need help. That is why the Lord gave the Ten Commandments to Moses. When the people honestly compared themselves to the list, they had to declare themselves, "Guilty!"

The rest of Moses' message was that there is a remedy. The Old Testament sacrifices were a picture of the Sacrifice to come. That One would, in the words of John the Baptist, "Take away the sins of the world." (John 1:29)

Paul went on through chapter 2 and half way through chapter 3 explaining how everyone was guilty. Then in 3:21-25 he explained the solution, foretold by Moses.
    21 But now, apart from the law, God's righteousness has been revealed—attested by the Law and the Prophets 22 —that is, God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

Paul writes in such a way as to eliminate any ambiguities or questions. That is why it took him two and a half chapters to conclude that all are under judgment. The rest of Romans expands on the ramifications of this salvation. We read the first two and a half chapters and weep. But through the rest of the book, we read it and rejoice. Rejoice! (Check Psalm 32