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Hi, Not So Sure —
Thank you for your question.
We don't know for sure, except that
the Church believes God can save
anyone He wants, in ways known only to Him.
Jesus gives us a hint in Matthew
25 in the parable of the sheep and the goats.
Paraphrasing the text:
Christ says that on the last day
the angels shall gather the nations
from the four corners of the world.
And he will set the sheep to one
side and goats to other.
(Matthew 25:31-40)
Notice here that Jesus is speaking
to His disciples and fellow Jews.
The word He would have used for nations
in Hebrew or Aramaic is Goyim.
It means foreigner, or those who
are not a part of the people of God.
He didn't say the Angels will gather
the Church or my people; No, He says
the nations.
Now these nations are then judged
on their charity or lack of charity
towards Him, but when confronted
with this judgment, neither the just
or the unjust seem to know Him.
Respectively, they ask, when did
we feed you, or when did we fail
to feed you Lord?
And He, of course, answers whenever
you did unto the least of one
these, my brothers, so you did
unto me, (Matthew 25:37-40) but no Christian that
knows Jesus will ask that question
on judgment day.
We know that when we are charitable
to others or uncharitable we are
doing the same unto the Lord. At
the very least, we've heard this Gospel
read to us throughout the years.
We'd have to be pretty dense to ask
Jesus when did we feed you, after
hearing this gospel repeated so many
times.
My point is that this text most likely
refers to those who never knew Christ
in this life, but somehow responded
to whatever Grace was given to them.
That is not to say, they will be
saved by their own works. None of
us are saved aside from grace. All
of us can only be saved because Jesus
Christ atoned for our sins. There
is no salvation outside the person
of Jesus Christ but that doesn't
mean every single person who ever
lived, is living, or will live, accepts
and knows about Christ in their life
on Earth.
I hope this helps.
Under His Mercy,
John DiMascio
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