Part Five: Four Kinds of Unbelievers and Their Flawed Views of God and Salvation

Evangelists and apologists encounter four kinds of non-Christians in terms of their beliefs (or disbelief) in God and consequent views of salvation. Paul and other New Testament evangelists encountered these same four varieties in the first century.

Four Views of God

In Acts 17:1-3 Paul witnesses, “as his custom was,” to the Jews in Thessalonica. The first type of unbeliever, which both Paul and we encounter, are those who believe in the God of Scripture (or a close facsimile) but reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—or have never met Him. Today this group includes not only Orthodox Jews, but Muslims and some Christian cults.

Further in the chapter (vv. 16-22), Paul witnesses to the Gentiles in Athens. These people represent a second variety of unbelievers: those who are “religious,” like the Greeks, but have no concept of, or reject, the one true (Christian) God. Today, this group includes all primitive, polytheistic, and pantheistic religions: Animism (tribal religions), Mormonism, Scientology, the Unification Church, UFO religions, witchcraft, Hinduism, Buddhism, New Age cults, and so on.

Today’s religious scene also includes a large number of people who have no affiliation with any kind of religion at all: agnostics and atheists. Most likely Paul seldom—or never—encountered this variety of unbelievers because virtually all ancient cultures practiced some form religion. Nevertheless, atheism did exist in biblical times. Psalm 14:1 teaches that only a fool says in his heart “there is no God,” confirming that atheism existed centuries before Christ. Today, this group includes secular humanists, communists, materialists, and other atheistic philosophies.

Finally, there is a fourth category of people. I will spend more time on this group in future blogs, and you may be surprised that I include it in a list of non-Christian types. Perhaps the Apostle Paul was referring to this group of unbelievers in Titus 1:16 where he states, “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.”

I believe these people comprise a large segment of the so-called Christian population today; especially in the United States and Europe. I’m speaking here of people who claim to be Christians (and probably believe they are) and thus think they are saved, when in fact they are not Christians and are not saved.

These people identify themselves as Christians because they live in a country that (historically, at least) was predominately Christian. They are “Christian” by culture or upbringing but not by personal commitment. Because of their lifestyle, these people show no indication of being Christian in spite of their claims. In other words, although they think of themselves as Christian, they do not function within a Christian ethical framework; they do not actively promote the Christian worldview; they do not give any indication by word or deed that they are believers. They seldom or never go to church—and have little desire to do so. In short, they are more secular than Christian.

Although only the Lord knows their true relationship with Him, I believe these people need to hear the gospel message and need to make a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. We’ll talk more about them in a later blog article.

Four Views of Salvation

In addition to identifying four kinds of unbelievers in terms of their views of God, it is also helpful to recognize the distinct views of salvation to which these four groups adhere. I believe all people, worldwide, can be grouped into one of four categories in terms of their perceptions of salvation. These views more or less parallel the four kinds of unbelievers above.

The first group of people believes in the God of Scripture but feels unworthy of salvation or ignorant of the way of salvation.

The second group of people worship non-Christian gods and think they’re saved through other religions.

The third group does not believe in any kind of God at all, or think He’s unknowable if He does exist, and hence rejects the concept of salvation. These are the agnostics and atheists.

The fourth group believes in the Christian concept of God but thinks they are good enough to merit salvation. In other words, people in this group believe God will accept them just as they are because they are basically good people. Many of them believe that Jesus is their Savior but show no indication by word or deed that they really know Jesus or have committed their lives to Him.

Why Make These Distinctions?

You may be wondering why it’s helpful to lump potential converts into one of four groups. The reason is because it allows us to determine whether to focus our evangelism on gospel, law, or apologetics. In evangelism, we always apply one or the other. Exploring this—with biblical and contemporary examples—will be the subject of later blog articles. ©