How does God judge people raised in other religions or non-Christian cultures?

from the old testament

• God reveals Himself in the Old Testament as perfectly good in all He does. Moses declares, “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4). God’s goodness is not situational or selective. Everything He does flows from a flawless moral character. This means that His judgments against sinners are in accordance with goodness. He never judges arbitrarily or cruelly.
• Scripture also affirms that God is righteous and always does what is right. Abraham asked rhetorically, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25). This needs to be our answer when we think about God judging people who never heard about Jesus. God’s righteousness means He never judges wrongly nor condemns unfairly.
• Finally, the Old Testament says, “The LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness” (Psalm 9:7–8). God’s justice is done with perfect knowledge and unwavering fairness.

from the new testament

• Paul explained that God’s judgment is just because humanity already knows Him. In Romans 1:18–20, he writes, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” No person, regardless of culture or religious affiliation, can escape God’s judgment against their sin. Creation testifies to God’s existence.
• The problem is what humanity does with that knowledge. Paul writes that “by their unrighteousness [they] suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18). Rather than honoring God, they reject Him, distorting what they know about Him, replacing truth with false worship. This suppression is willful and compounds guilt rather than removing it.
• Judgment applies to everyone. There is no group of morally innocent people awaiting judgment. While arguing against a Jewish moral superiority, Paul asserted, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and that “none are righteous” by nature (Romans 3:10–12).
• While everyone who does not know or respond to Jesus will be judged as a sinner, Scripture indicates that judgment will take into account the degree of knowledge. For example, in a parable about prepared and unprepared servants, Jesus taught that greater understanding brings greater accountability (Luke 12:47–48). Paul reaffirms this point when he explains that God judges people according to the light they received (Romans 2:12–16). Judgment is still judgment, but it will be measured and just.
• The Gospel explains how God can judge sin and still save sinners. God sent His Son to bear the punishment for our sins so that those who trust in Christ can be justified (Romans 3:24–26; 2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, God judges all sin, either the sinner directly or Jesus on behalf of those who repent and trust in Him. This is why people must hear about Jesus.
• That’s why Jesus sent His followers to all nations. Salvation comes through hearing and believing the Gospel, and God uses His people to bring that message to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:19–20; Romans 10:14–17).

implications for today

“Trust me.” If a salesman you just met says that, his words won’t hold much weight. If your friend with a history of trouble-making says that, you know through experience to tread carefully. When God says it, though, we can be assured that He is always one hundred percent trustworthy.

That applies to our concern about the salvation of those who may have never heard of Jesus. But Scripture tells us that we can trust God with how He will judge those who haven’t heard about Jesus. We don’t have to know how that will come about. All we need to know is that those people are in the hands of an infinitely loving and just God who takes into account every minute circumstance of each person’s life and will judge accordingly.

Our responsibility isn’t to figure out how such people will be saved but to share the good news with those in our sphere who need to know Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20).