Introduction

One of the most challenging questions in Christian theology concerns the eternal destiny of those who never heard the Gospel. What happens to the billions throughout history who died without ever hearing about Jesus Christ? What about those who heard a distorted or harmful version of Christianity? These questions touch the very heart of God’s character – His love, justice, and desire for all to be saved.

Dr. James Beilby, professor of systematic and philosophical theology at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, offers a thoughtful and biblically grounded answer to these questions in his comprehensive work Postmortem Opportunity: A Biblical and Theological Assessment of Salvation After Death (2021). As a conservative biblical Christian who strongly believes in postmortem opportunity for salvation, Beilby presents a view that is both traditionally orthodox and surprisingly hopeful.

This report examines Beilby’s understanding of postmortem theology, exploring its biblical foundations, theological arguments, historical precedents, and practical implications. We will also consider how his views relate to other theological perspectives, particularly the “final decision” hypothesis of Ladislaus Boros, and examine connections with contemporary near-death experience research.

Understanding Beilby’s Postmortem Opportunity

At its core, Beilby’s theory of Postmortem Opportunity proposes that “those who die without a genuine opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel will receive an opportunity after death to do so” (Beilby, ix). This view maintains two crucial commitments that set it apart from more liberal theological approaches:

1. Traditional orthodoxy: “Explicit, conscious, and intentional faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation” – Beilby firmly rejects universalism and maintains that salvation comes only through faith in Christ.

2. “Outside-the-box” thinking: “Death is not the end of salvific opportunity and that some might receive their first and only opportunity to hear the gospel and respond to God’s salvific offer after death.”

Beilby makes it clear that this postmortem opportunity is not a “second chance” for those who rejected the Gospel in life. Instead, it is a first genuine opportunity for those who never had one. He writes from “an orthodox strand” of Christianity, “assuming the ontological necessity of Jesus Christ for salvation” (xi).

Who Receives Postmortem Opportunity?

Beilby identifies two primary categories of people who would receive a postmortem opportunity:

1. The Unevangelized

These are people who have never heard the Gospel at all. Beilby uses the example of “George,” a first-century Chinese rice farmer who lived and died without ever encountering Christianity. The geographical and historical realities meant that George had absolutely no opportunity to respond to the Gospel during his lifetime.

2. The Pseudoevangelized

This is perhaps Beilby’s most innovative contribution to the discussion. The pseudoevangelized are those who technically heard about Christianity but in such a distorted or harmful way that they never truly encountered the Gospel. Beilby provides several powerful case studies:

“Kunta Kinte” Case: An African slave whose only exposure to Christianity came through slave owners who used the Bible to justify oppression. As Beilby notes, “The Christianity that was presented to slaves was often a grotesque caricature designed to maintain the social order.”

“Micha” Case: Someone raised in an abusive “Christian” home where faith was weaponized for control and manipulation. The toxic environment created such negative associations that genuine faith became psychologically impossible.

“Rapunzel” Case: A person raised in extreme isolation by religiously abusive parents, creating insurmountable barriers to authentic faith.

Beilby emphasizes that God alone determines who truly needs a postmortem opportunity: “God will provide a Postmortem Opportunity to whomever he deems to be in need of it” (51). This prevents human presumption about who is or isn’t saved while maintaining God’s sovereignty and justice.

When Does Postmortem Opportunity Occur?

Beilby explores several possibilities for when this opportunity might occur, showing that his theory is compatible with various views of personal eschatology:

Four Theories of Personal Eschatology:

1. Immediate Judgment: The opportunity occurs at the moment of death when people are resurrected and face judgment.
2. Soul Sleep: The opportunity comes at the general resurrection on judgment day.
3. Common Intermediate State: The opportunity could occur either during the intermediate state or at final judgment.
4. Separate Intermediate States: The opportunity might happen in Hades/Paradise or at the final judgment.

Beilby shows particular interest in Jerry Walls’ suggestion of a purgatorial preparation period – not as punishment for sins, but as preparation for standing before a holy God. He quotes C.S. Lewis approvingly:

“Make no mistake, if you let me, I will make you perfect. The moment you put yourself in My hands, that is what you are in for… Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect.”

This aligns more with Eastern Orthodox understandings of purgatory as transformation rather than medieval Catholic views of punishment.

Biblical Foundation

Beilby builds his case on several biblical pillars:

1. God’s Universal Love and Salvific Will

Central to Beilby’s argument are passages clearly teaching God’s desire for all to be saved:

• 1 Timothy 2:4 – God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”
• 2 Peter 3:9 – The Lord is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance”
• John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son”

2. The Descent Passages

The most controversial biblical support comes from 1 Peter 3:18-20 and 4:6. Beilby acknowledges these are difficult passages, with Luther himself calling 1 Peter 3:18-20 “perhaps the most obscure passage… in the New Testament.”

Key elements of these passages:

1 Peter 3:19-20: Christ “went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah”

1 Peter 4:6: “For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are dead”

While acknowledging various interpretations, Beilby argues these passages provide precedent for the idea that Christ’s saving work extends beyond earthly life. The fact that Christ preached to “spirits in prison” suggests salvific activity in the realm of the dead.

3. No Explicit Biblical Prohibition

Beilby carefully examines passages often cited against postmortem opportunity:

• Hebrews 9:27 (“people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment”) – Beilby argues this says nothing about the finality of one’s status at death, only the sequence of death then judgment.
• Luke 16:19-31 (Lazarus and the rich man) – As a parable making a different point, the eschatological details shouldn’t be pressed as doctrinal teaching.
• 2 Corinthians 5:10 – Speaks of judgment based on earthly deeds but doesn’t preclude postmortem opportunity for the unevangelized.

Theological Arguments

Beilby presents a logical theological argument with seven propositions:

1. God desires all people to be saved – Based on clear biblical teaching
2. Salvation requires faith in Jesus Christ – Maintaining orthodox exclusivism
3. God desires all to have opportunity for salvation – Following from propositions 1 and 2
4. Not all have opportunity in this life – An undeniable historical reality
5. Postmortem salvation is possible – Not explicitly ruled out by Scripture
6. God desires postmortem opportunity for those without earthly opportunity – Logical inference
7. God will provide postmortem opportunity – Based on His character and power

“If one believes that God desires that all people have an opportunity to be saved, that there are some that do not have an opportunity in this life, and that it is possible to be saved after death, then it is most reasonable to believe that God desires those who did not receive an opportunity to be saved in this life to receive a Postmortem Opportunity.”

This argument maintains both God’s universal love and the necessity of faith in Christ, while addressing the practical problem of those who never hear the Gospel.

Historical Precedent

Contrary to popular belief, postmortem hope was not uncommon in the early church. Beilby documents extensive evidence:

Early Church Support

• Clement of Alexandria – Taught that Christ preached to those in Hades
• Origen – Believed in extensive postmortem opportunities
• Gregory of Nazianzus – Supported postmortem purification
• Gregory of Nyssa – Advocated for universal restoration

Early Christian Texts

• The Gospel of Nicodemus – Describes Christ’s descent to free Old Testament saints
• The Apocalypse of Peter – Popular text showing postmortem salvation
• The Shepherd of Hermas – Includes prayers for the dead

Why Did This View Decline?

Beilby identifies several factors:

1. Augustine’s influence – His rejection of postmortem opportunity became dominant in the West
2. Fear of diminishing evangelistic urgency – Concern that it would make earthly response less important
3. Association with universalism – Though Beilby shows these are distinct doctrines
4. The “second chance” misunderstanding – Conflating first opportunity with second chance

Contrasts with Other Views

Restrictivism

Traditional restrictivism holds that explicit faith in Christ during earthly life is necessary for salvation. Beilby agrees with the necessity of explicit faith but disagrees that earthly life is the only opportunity. He argues restrictivism makes God’s love partial and His justice questionable when billions never hear the Gospel.

Inclusivism

Inclusivism suggests people can be saved without explicit knowledge of Christ if they respond to God’s general revelation. Beilby appreciates inclusivism’s motivation but finds it biblically inadequate. He argues Scripture teaches the necessity of conscious faith in Christ, citing Romans 10:14: “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?”

However, Beilby sees value in combining inclusivism with postmortem opportunity. Those who respond positively to general revelation might be more receptive to the Gospel when presented postmortem.

Universalism

Universalism teaches all will eventually be saved. Beilby firmly rejects this, maintaining that:

• Scripture teaches the reality of eternal separation from God
• Human freedom includes the ability to reject God finally
• The postmortem opportunity can be refused

“While I feel the weight of the objection that the denizens of heaven cannot be happy as long as some suffer in hell, I think that Stephen Davis’s answer is absolutely correct. He says, ‘I do not know an adequate answer to this question. I expect that if I knew enough about heaven I would know the answer, but I know little about heaven.'”

Beilby and Boros: The Moment of Death

While Beilby doesn’t extensively discuss Ladislaus Boros directly, there are profound connections between their views. Boros, a Hungarian Jesuit theologian, developed his “hypothesis of a final decision” in the 1960s, proposing that death itself provides the supreme moment for human decision-making.

Boros’s Final Decision Hypothesis

According to Boros, death represents:

“The moment above all others for the awakening of consciousness, for freedom, for the encounter with God, for the final decision about his eternal destiny… In death the individual existence takes its place on the confines of all being, suddenly awake, in full knowledge and liberty.”

Boros describes the moment of death as involving two crucial changes:

1. Ontological indigence – The soul experiences total exposure and transparency
2. Pancosmic relationship – The soul enters into relationship with the totality of existence

Convergence with Beilby

Several key points of convergence emerge:

• Full consciousness at death: Both theologians emphasize that death brings unprecedented clarity and awareness, not diminished capacity
• Genuine freedom: The postmortem decision is truly free, perhaps freer than earthly decisions clouded by ignorance and sin
• Encounter with Christ: Both see death as bringing a direct encounter with divine reality
• Universal opportunity: Both theories ensure everyone has genuine opportunity for salvation

Boros provides philosophical depth to what Beilby argues biblically and theologically. Where Beilby focuses on the fact of postmortem opportunity, Boros explores the mechanism – how death itself creates the conditions for ultimate decision-making.

Connections with Near-Death Experiences

While Beilby doesn’t extensively discuss near-death experiences (NDEs), remarkable parallels exist between his theology and NDE research findings. These connections provide experiential support for key aspects of postmortem opportunity.

Common NDE Elements Supporting Postmortem Theology

1. The Life Review

One of the most frequently reported NDE elements is the “life review” – what many describe as “seeing one’s life flash before one’s eyes.” Research shows this occurs in approximately 22% of NDEs. Significantly:

• Experiencers report total recall and clarity about their life choices
• They often see how their actions affected others
• The review is typically non-judgmental but profoundly educational
• Many report understanding their life’s meaning for the first time

This aligns perfectly with both Beilby’s and Boros’s emphasis on the moment of death bringing unprecedented clarity and understanding – exactly what would be needed for a truly informed decision about one’s eternal destiny.

2. Encounter with Divine Love

Perhaps the most consistent NDE report involves encountering a being of light radiating unconditional love. Research indicates:

• 65% report encountering a mystical or brilliant light
• 76% experience intense positive emotions, especially unconditional love
• Many specifically identify this presence as God, Jesus, or divine

“The most incredible common element in the accounts I have studied, and is certainly the element which has the most profound effect upon the individual, is the encounter with a very bright light” – Raymond Moody

This supports Beilby’s contention that postmortem opportunity involves a genuine encounter with God’s love, allowing people to make an informed choice.

3. Enhanced Consciousness

Contrary to materialist expectations, NDErs consistently report heightened, not diminished, awareness:

• 74% report heightened senses and clarity exceeding normal consciousness
• Many describe thinking more clearly than ever before
• Decision-making capacity appears enhanced, not impaired

This directly supports the theological claim that postmortem decisions can be genuinely free and fully informed.

4. Meeting Deceased Relatives and Guides

About 57% of NDErs report encountering other beings, often deceased relatives or spiritual guides who:

• Provide comfort and orientation
• Answer questions about life and death
• Sometimes reveal previously unknown information later verified

This suggests a postmortem environment conducive to learning and understanding – ideal conditions for hearing and responding to the Gospel.

5. The Decision Point

Significantly, 31% of NDErs report encountering a boundary or decision point where they must choose whether to return to earthly life. This demonstrates:

• Conscious decision-making capacity continues after clinical death
• Free will remains operational
• Choices have real consequences

Theological Implications of NDE Research

The convergence between NDE reports and postmortem theology is striking:

1. Consciousness survives bodily death – Essential for any postmortem opportunity
2. Enhanced rather than diminished capacity – Decisions can be truly free and informed
3. Direct encounter with divine love – Provides the context for gospel presentation
4. Life review provides perfect self-knowledge – Enables recognition of one’s need for salvation
5. Real choices with eternal consequences – Maintains human responsibility

As one researcher noted: “These narratives resonate with the commonalities found in countless near-death experiences, providing a compelling tapestry of evidence that speaks to the reality of the afterlife.”

Addressing Potential Concerns

Some might worry that appealing to NDEs undermines biblical authority. However:

• NDEs don’t establish doctrine but illustrate possibilities already suggested by Scripture
• The consistency across cultures and religions suggests these reflect genuine spiritual realities
• Many NDErs specifically report Christian content, including encounters with Jesus
• The transformation in NDErs’ lives often mirrors biblical conversion

Addressing Objections

1. “It Undermines Evangelism”

Critics argue postmortem opportunity reduces motivation for earthly evangelism. Beilby responds:

• God commands evangelism regardless of postmortem opportunity
• Earthly faith spares people from sin’s earthly consequences
• We participate in God’s redemptive work through evangelism
• Many who could benefit from earthly discipleship need the Gospel now

“The Great Commission is not based on the assumption that those who do not hear the Gospel in this life are necessarily damned. It is based on God’s command and our privilege to participate in His redemptive work.”

2. “It’s Not Explicitly Biblical”

While acknowledging Scripture doesn’t explicitly teach postmortem opportunity, Beilby argues:

• Many orthodox doctrines (Trinity, incarnation) required theological development
• Scripture provides principles and precedents that point toward this conclusion
• The doctrine follows from what Scripture does explicitly teach about God’s character

3. “It Offers a Second Chance”

Beilby emphatically distinguishes between:

• Second chance: Another opportunity for those who rejected the Gospel
• First opportunity: An initial chance for those who never truly heard

The unevangelized and pseudoevangelized never had a genuine first chance. Postmortem opportunity provides what earthly circumstances denied them.

4. “Death Is the End of Opportunity”

While tradition assumes death ends salvific opportunity, Beilby shows:

• Scripture never explicitly states this
• Passages used to support this (like Hebrews 9:27) don’t actually teach it
• God’s eternal nature isn’t bound by human death
• Justice requires genuine opportunity, which many lack in life

Practical Implications

For Personal Faith

• Hope for loved ones: Those grieving family members who died without clear faith can have hope
• Enhanced view of God: God’s love and justice are magnified, not compromised
• Urgent but not anxious evangelism: We share the Gospel urgently but without panic that one conversation determines eternal destiny

For Church Ministry

• Compassionate pastoral care: Ministers can offer hope to those worried about deceased loved ones
• Confident evangelism: The Gospel truly is good news for all people
• Focus on discipleship: Since salvation is just the beginning, emphasis shifts to spiritual growth

For Christian Witness

• Addresses common objections: “What about those who never heard?” has a satisfying answer
• Maintains exclusivity of Christ: Salvation still only comes through Jesus
• Demonstrates God’s fairness: The Gospel doesn’t create an arbitrary division based on geography or history

Conclusion

James Beilby’s postmortem theology offers a biblically faithful, theologically sophisticated, and pastorally sensitive answer to one of Christianity’s most difficult questions. By maintaining both the necessity of explicit faith in Christ and the possibility of postmortem opportunity, he upholds orthodox doctrine while demonstrating the full extent of God’s love and justice.

The convergence between Beilby’s biblical theology, Boros’s philosophical insights about the moment of death, and contemporary NDE research creates a compelling cumulative case. Death need not be seen as God’s arbitrary deadline but rather as a transition that, for some, provides the first genuine opportunity to encounter the Gospel in its fullness.

Key takeaways include:

• God’s love extends to all people in all times and places
• Salvation requires conscious faith in Christ, but this can occur postmortem
• The unevangelized and pseudoevangelized receive their first real opportunity after death
• This view has strong biblical, theological, and historical support
• Near-death experiences provide experiential confirmation of key elements
• Rather than undermining evangelism, this view enhances its urgency and hope

Ultimately, Beilby’s postmortem opportunity presents a God whose love is truly universal, whose justice accounts for human circumstances, and whose salvation remains exclusively through Christ while being genuinely accessible to all. In a world where billions have died without hearing the Gospel, this theology offers hope without compromising biblical truth.

“The uniqueness of this theory is driven by a pair of commitments: one typically thought as solidly traditional and the other deemed to be ‘outside-the-box.’ The defender of Postmortem Opportunity assumes that explicit, conscious, and intentional faith in Jesus Christ is necessary for salvation, but they also make a claim that many have discounted as impossible, theologically liberal, or otherwise problematic: that death is not the end of salvific opportunity.”

In this careful balance between orthodox faith and expansive hope, Beilby offers the church a theology that is both faithful to Scripture and adequate to the scope of God’s love for all humanity. The God revealed in Jesus Christ is indeed seeking to save all who can be saved, and death itself cannot thwart His redemptive purposes.

References

Primary Sources

• Beilby, James. Postmortem Opportunity: A Biblical and Theological Assessment of Salvation After Death. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2021.
• Boros, Ladislaus. The Mystery of Death. New York: Herder and Herder, 1965.

Biblical Quotations

All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.

Secondary Sources

• Augustine. Letters. Various editions.
• Burke, John. Imagine the God of Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God’s Revelation, and the Love You’ve Always Wanted. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2023.
• Clement of Alexandria. Stromata. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2.
• Lewis, C.S. The Great Divorce. London: Geoffrey Bles, 1946.
• Lewis, C.S. The Problem of Pain. New York: HarperOne, 1996 [1940].
• Long, Jeffrey. “Near Death Experiences: Evidence for their reality.” In The Science of Near-Death Experiences, edited by John C. Hagan. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2017.
• Moody, Raymond. Life After Life. New York: Bantam, 1975.
• Origen. De Principiis. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4.
• Van Lommel, Pim. Consciousness Beyond Life: The Science of the Near-Death Experience. New York: HarperOne, 2010.
• Walls, Jerry L. Hell: The Logic of Eternal Damnation. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992.
• Wright, N.T. Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014 [1995].

Near-Death Experience Research

• Holden, Janice Miner, et al., eds. The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2009.
• International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS). Various research publications and statistics.
• Journal of Near-Death Studies. Various peer-reviewed articles.