Someone recently inquired with me about an evangelistic conversation he had. This Christian brother was relating to a non-Christian friend how we are enemies of God, and under His judgment, even from birth. His friend asked if that means that children dying in infancy would be eternally condemned. Not sure what say, this brother used the "age of accountability" answer - but wasn't sure if it was biblical. Here's my response:
The question you raise
is a difficult one to address – especially in a pastoral or evangelistic
context. Sometimes, those who defend the “age of accountability view” will cite
2 Samuel 12:22-23. Through Nathan, the LORD rebuked David for his adultery with
Bathsheba, and for his murderous conspiracy against Uriah. As a consequence,
the LORD announces that the child born as a result of David’s adultery would
die. David fasts and weeps while the child is ill – interceding for God’s mercy
– but once the child dies, he eats & worships. He explains why in these
words: “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell
whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he
is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him,
but he shall not return to me.”
The last line is cited
with the following inference: David expresses confidence that he will see his
son in heaven. Therefore, all children dying in infancy must go to heaven.
However, I don’t think that’s a legitimate inference – that ALL who die in
childhood NECESSARILY go to heaven. David is a covenant man – and has
confidence in God’s covenant mercy to his covenant children (even one born out
of a sinful relationship). So at best, I think we can infer that David had
confidence in God’s mercy in the context of the covenant – but it doesn’t
necessarily follow that this mercy is extended to all children universally
(i.e., that the same hope automatically applies to non-covenant children).
The problem, as you
noted, is the fact that we are born (even conceived!) into a broken relationship
with God. In Adam, we are accounted as sinners because of his transgression –
as Romans 5:12-21 makes clear. There is no “age of accountability” clause in
Romans 5. Psalm 51 tells us that we are conceived in sin. Psalm 58:3 says “the
wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born,
speaking lies.” Thus, we have rebel hearts even from the womb – we’re conceived
and born as sinners, not as morally neutral until a supposed age of
accountability. Even harder – you have God commanding Israel in the
conquest of the land of promise to wipe out all of the pagan occupants, men,
women, and children. Israel was acting as God's agent of pure justice – a kind of “sneak preview” of
the consummate Day of Wrath.
These things, of
course, are both very hard to hear and very hard to convey even to Christians,
never mind a non-Christian! The Westminster
Confession of Faith provides the following biblically balanced
statement on the matter of infants & salvation: “Elect infants, dying in
infancy, are regenerated, and saved by Christ, through the Spirit, who works
when, and where, and how he pleases: so also are all other elect persons who are
incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word” (10.3).
Notice, it doesn’t say ALL infants are saved, nor does it say that NO infants
are saved – instead, it says there is a category of “elect infants,” i.e., those
to whom God freely shows MERCY and GRACE, even though He would be just in
showing only His justice, since infants too are accounted as sinners in Adam,
and bear sinful corruption even from the womb. I think covenant parents, like
David, have good reason to hope in God’s mercy to their children dying in
infancy. But outside of the covenant, these things ultimately belong to the
secret counsel of His will.
It’s hard to relate
these things to a non-Christian – it may be helpful to redirect the focus of the
conversation, if possible. We can acknowledge how horrible it is to lose a baby
– and how that points to the reality that things are not as they should be in
this world. Death entered the world through sin – but Christ has overcome both
through His Cross and resurrection, for all who would trust in Him. Because of
Christ, and by faith in Him, we can look forward to a day in which there will be
no more suffering, or crying, or death, or pain – for this “old order of things”
will give way to the new order of things, secured by His Cross &
resurrection for all eternity. The only sure hope we can have in the face of
tragic losses and death is Christ crucified for us sinners & risen from the
dead.
If your friend were to
continue to press the issue regarding the eternal state of a non-covenant child dying in infancy, the
only answer you can honestly provide is, “I don’t know.” You can only relate
that God is both just and merciful, and He’s in charge of these matters. But
you can gently remind your friend that God is calling him to understand his own
guilt before God’s Law – and his own need for Christ and His saving grace.
Ultimately, God is not “on trial” – we are. And our only hope is to trust in
Christ alone, and receive God’s gracious verdict of “not guilty, but righteous”
because of His Cross and righteousness on our behalf.
I hope that’s
helpful.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor
Tony