Inculpably

(28) From this perspective, it is important to note that Vatican II's Ad gentes quotes Irenaeus, who claimed, "From the beginning even the Son, assisting at His own creation, reveals the Father to all to whom He wills, and when He wills, and insofar as the Father wills it." (29) Gerald O'Collins, in his comment on the importance of this passage, points to another passage in Ad gentes that references Hebrews 11:6: "Therefore though God in ways known to Himself can lead those inculpably ignorant of the Gospel to find that faith without which it is impossible to please Him (Heb.

Then we might learn this and inculpably fail to be in a position to believe God exists, which God would not permit.

However, when it comes to the inculpably ignorant, Sullivan incorrectly allows for more ambiguity in Bellarmine's solution which, in requiring special intervention (by God, angels, or human proclaimers) for those sincerely seeking God, clearly implies the necessity of explicit faith in Christ.