The creed says that Jesus,after his death and before he rose, descended into hell. As I recall St. Paul says he preached to the dead. Now what this might mean is not clear. But I would tend to say that he revealed to them about his salvation to those who would accept that, and would want to go to heaven. Then it would depend on them how them responded to his message.What do you think about people who lived before Jesus? They had no Savior to believe in. Plus, many ancient peoples had never even heard of Judaism. I get how God made Israel a priestly nation to spread His Message, which would obviously led up to Jesus. I just wonder how those people were judged… What are your thoughts on this?
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for
“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your own poets have said,
“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’
Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. **The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”** Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with thi think paul discussed the above topic, rm1:20-32,2:1-11. For those who acknowledge the existence of God yet didnt give him honor or worship, God gave them up to impurity, "to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but to those who are factious and do not obey the truth but obey wickedness there will be wrath and fury"rm2:7. Even before christ, man knew what was right and what was wrong, to those who sort honor and glory eternal life was credited, to those who didnt ‘wrath and fury’ was the reward. Rm 2:12-16 is even clearer, “all who sined without the law will perish without the law…when the gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires they are a law to themselves, even though they donot have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them on that day when according to my gospel God judges the secrets of men by christ Jesus.”What do you think about people who lived before Jesus? They had no Savior to believe in. Plus, many ancient peoples had never even heard of Judaism. I get how God made Israel a priestly nation to spread His Message, which would obviously led up to Jesus. I just wonder how those people were judged… What are your thoughts on this?
Well, first and foremost we have to understand that the New Covenant is a continuation (fulfillment) of the old covenant… so to understand what happened to those who never had the chance to “accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior”, we must reject the “altar call” mentality and look to what was divinely revealed to the Jews in the old covenant as the plan of salvation.What do you think about people who lived before Jesus? They had no Savior to believe in. Plus, many ancient peoples had never even heard of Judaism. I get how God made Israel a priestly nation to spread His Message, which would obviously led up to Jesus. I just wonder how those people were judged… What are your thoughts on this?