Problems with Theological Inclusivism – Part 33: Romans

Romans 1:19-20

Romans 1 is a foundational passage for understanding how God is just to condemn Gentiles who have never heard the gospel for their sins. But inclusivists use it to argue that the unevangelized can be saved through the knowledge of God as displayed in creation. Paul writes:

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Rom 1:19-20).

Richardson quips that exclusivists fail to take this passage into account in their theology: “In some Exclusivist-leaning commentaries and sermons, Paul’s ‘clearly seen’ and ‘being understood’ in Romans 1:20 end up sounding more like ‘dimly sensed’ and ‘barely perceived.’”[i]

But this argument completely misses the point Paul is making in this chapter and skips over verse 18: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” It is true that God’s existence is “clearly perceived” from the created order. The problem is not with creation, but with fallen man. Though God’s existence is clear, there are many atheists who deny his existence in spite of the overwhelming evidence. The same is true with the unevangelized. They should know from creation that there is only one God, but they universally turn to idols and superstitious religious practices.

Creation alone cannot be the instrument of salvation because man by nature suppresses or holds down the knowledge of God that already has been revealed to him. It is only through the gospel that the Holy Spirit works to bring about regeneration because the Spirit’s work is to glorify Christ (John 16:14; 1 Pet 1:23-25). The Spirit does not work where Christ is not known or rejected (1 John 4:2-6; 5:5).

The purpose of Romans 1 is to demonstrate that pagans are lost and worthy of condemnation even though they do not have access to the gospel because they have already rejected the one true God who has revealed himself in creation. Because they have willfully turned from God to idols, they are worthy of being condemned for their sins regardless if they have heard the gospel or not.

Romans 2:7-10

Another argument is that because Paul says in Romans 2:7 that “those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life” that the unevangelized can be saved by seeking after God apart from a knowledge of the gospel. The problem with this argument is that it proves too much. If Paul is teaching that a person can be saved “by patience in well-doing,” then he would be teaching salvation by works instead of through Christ’s righteousness alone.

Paul is speaking in this passage from the perspective of the law and what a person must do to gain eternal life on the basis of keeping it. Only those who are sinless could possibly be saved by keeping the law and there is no one like this except Jesus Christ. Paul has not yet contrasted the impossibility of meriting eternal life on the basis of the law in Romans 2 with salvation by grace alone in Christ in Romans 3.

Paul says the exact opposite of this in Romans 3:10-12 where he declares that there is no one who is righteous or seeks for God. Romans 2 must be read in light of Romans 3 where the gospel is set forth. Because there is no lost person who does good or seeks for God, salvation must be by faith and not on the basis of the law (Rom 3:20-21). Because we are all sinners, justification must be based on what Christ has done who alone lived in perfect obedience to the Father rather than good works.

Romans 2:14-15

Since all men have been given a conscience by God, which Paul calls the law written on the heart in Romans 2:15, some inclusivists argue that the unevangelized can be saved through the internal law of the heart even though they do not have the external law of Scripture. It is true that the conscience is a gift from God to show us our sin. But sinful man suppresses his conscience and that is why the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in the gospel is essential for salvation (Rom 1:18; 8:7-9). Gentiles keep the law, but only inconsistently and never for God’s glory. They partially keep it by nature because they are made in God’s image and have a conscience which tells them when they have done something wrong. They then attempt to suppress their conscience and make excuses for their sin (Rom 2:15). Conscience and creation serve to condemn us for our sin and give us a foretaste of the day of judgment, but they can never save us. Even the external law apart from the gospel cannot save.

Romans 10:18

While the original context of Psalm 19:4 is creation, Paul is reappropriating the verse to now speak about the preaching of the gospel instead of creation. The message of the gospel had spread throughout the known Roman world at that time through the Great Commission. The same Greek word translated as “world” in this verse is also used in Luke 2:1 to refer to the Roman census of all the world. It is the known inhabited world, not the entire created world.

Paul does the same thing in Romans 10:6-7 when he reappropriates Deuteronomy 30:12. In its original context, the verse is talking about the law. But Paul reapplies it to the gospel instead of the law. The same reapplication of the Old Testament is seen in Paul’s quotation of Nahum 1:15 in Romans 10:15 to refer to the spread of the gospel. But in its original context, Nahum is talking about messengers who are bringing the message of the defeat of Israel’s enemies.

If Paul is teaching in verse 18 that people can be saved through the created order, then that would make him contradict himself since he just said before this that the lost cannot believe in the one whom they have never heard and they cannot hear about him without someone preaching to them (10:14).

Part 34

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[i]Richardson, Heaven Wins, 84.