You will sometimes hear even quite conservative Christians saying they believe that only a minority of people will end up in hell.
Many seem to assume that the great love of God will find a way for most to gain eternal salvation. They think that the vast majority of people who say they are Christians will be saved. And they think too that large numbers who don’t even profess Christian faith will also finally be saved.
A clarification
Before going any further, I need to make a point of clarification.
In this article I will be considering what proportion of morally accountable people will go to hell. I will not be thinking about the eternal destiny of people, including the unborn, who have died before they are old enough to be morally accountable. Nor will I be thinking about people who are never able to be morally accountable because of severe mental disability.
Instead, I will be thinking about people who know right from wrong and are old enough to be held morally accountable. And in what follows, when I refer to ‘people’, I will be thinking only of morally accountable people.
Most people will go to hell
Although it is horrible even to think about it, there are strong reasons for believing that most people, probably a large majority, will go to hell.
The following are some key points.
Matthew 7
The most important passage for our topic is Matthew 7:13-14, where Jesus states:
‘13 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.’
(Scripture readings in this article are from the English Standard Version unless otherwise stated.)
The ‘destruction’ that Jesus refers to here is punishment after death, i.e., hell. And because ‘destruction’ is contrasted with ‘life’, the life He is talking about must be the eternal life involved in receiving final salvation.
So Jesus is teaching that many are on the road to hell and few are on the road to final salvation.
Although Jesus uses present tense verbs here – ‘are many’, ‘are few’ – it would be a big mistake to limit what He says in this passage to the situation in His own day. There is no reason whatsoever to think that a time would come later on when there would be few on the road to destruction and many on the road to life.
Therefore, this passage strongly implies that most people will go to hell.
Another important passage, also in this chapter, is Matthew 7:21-23, where Jesus says:
‘21 Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” 23 And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”’
Here, Jesus must be referring to people who claim to be Christians but are not really saved. And note how he says in v. 22 that there are ‘many’ of them.
This passage is clear that there are many false believers in the world. And it therefore counts strongly against the idea that the vast majority of people who claim to be Christians will receive final salvation.
Those who have never heard the gospel
Next we need to consider people who have never heard the gospel of salvation in Christ.
There are many Christians today who claim that large numbers of people who have never heard the gospel will nevertheless be saved for eternity. They say that there are many who are sincerely seeking God and who would believe the gospel if they just had an opportunity to hear it. And they think that God will surely take account of that by granting them eternal salvation.
In actual fact, the Bible strongly implies that in all or at least almost all cases, anyone living in the Christian era who does not have a specific faith in Christ will not be saved.
In Romans 10:13-15 Paul writes:
‘13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”’
Paul’s words in this passage strongly imply that we can typically expect people who have not heard the gospel to remain unsaved. Other passages that point in the same direction are Acts 10:1-11:18; Acts 4:12 and John 14:6.
For a much fuller discussion of this issue, see my article: Can Anyone Who Has Not Heard the Gospel Be Saved?
Hated by everyone
Mark 13:13 and Luke 21:17 are also relevant verses for our topic, where Jesus warns His followers:
‘You will be hated by everyone because of my name…’ (Christian Standard Bible)
Although what the Lord says in these verses was intended to refer in the first place to Christians living in the first century, there is no reason at all to think that we should expect anything different for Christians of later centuries. These words imply that Christians of every century will be hated by everyone because of Jesus’ name.
When Jesus says in these verses that Christians will be hated by ‘everyone’, clearly this doesn’t mean literally every human being, because the Christians themselves aren’t included in those who hate Christians. Nor is there any need to assume that literally every single non-Christian will hate Christians.
On the other hand, however, ‘everyone’ in these verses surely implies at least a majority of people, probably quite a large majority. If ‘everyone’ didn’t imply this, this word would be very misleading, and we can be confident that Jesus’ words are not misleading.
So these verses are teaching that most people hate Christians. And if they hate us, they are against God and surely on track for hell.
Summing up
The combined weight of the points I have made provides very strong support for thinking that most people, probably a large majority of the world’s population, will end up in hell. This is obviously a very sobering and in some ways horrible conclusion to reach, but it does fit with what the Bible has to say.
Downplaying God’s justness
I am sure that one of the main reasons why so many Christians think most people will avoid hell is because they have a faulty understanding of God’s nature.
Biblical revelation contains many paradoxes, and one big paradox is between how God justly punishes people on the one hand and how He forgives people on the other. The Bible is full of examples of where God does punish people for their sins, and also full of examples of where He doesn’t punish people for their sins.
It is essential that we don’t downplay either side of this paradox. God is not just a loving God of mercy, but also an angry God who justly punishes. His mercy towards people will reach fullest expression when He admits those who are saved to final salvation. And His punishing of people will reach fullest expression when He sends those who are unsaved to hell.
Many Christians in Western society today underemphasise God’s will to punish, and so conclude that He wouldn’t send many people to hell. But this stems from a skewed picture of who He really is.
Why is this important?
So why is it important for us to know that most people will end up in hell?
Well, first, it can help us to avoid taking a casual approach to the evangelism of groups of people who have not yet been reached with the gospel.
Second, it can make us more alert to the importance of taking opportunities to share the gospel with people we meet who have no connection to Christian things.
And third, it can make us more alert to share the gospel with people within a church context who seem not to have a proper understanding of the way of salvation.
How to avoid hell
Although most people will end up in hell, the way to avoid going there is quite simple. We just need to accept by faith Jesus Christ and the salvation that is in Him. When He died on the cross, He paid the price for our sins, and we need to believe this and take hold of it for ourselves.
When we turn to Christ, we will receive the Holy Spirit and our lives will change. Then we will be ready to live out the rest of our time on earth for God.
See also:
Christian Teachers and Evangelists Should Speak Often about Hell