Obviously a very emotional and sensitive topic. I have often been called evil, a satanist, a demon-worshipper, and having a seared conscious for saying I didn’t consider there was enough evidence on either side. So, I have created this page, so that I might work through the issues and evaluate the scriptural evidence. This page is incomplete, but a collation of passages and thoughts at present.
There are the following options:
- All infants are saved by grace.
- Some infants are saved such as infants of believers or elect infants.
- No infants are saved.
I want to deal with the very first passage that is given in defense of infant salvation.
Did David say he will see his child again?
David committed adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, and then had Uriah murdered to cover up the adultery. As a result, God said that the child would die. David seeks the Lord and fasts, hoping that God will relent, but the child dies.
In 2 Samuel 12:23 David ceases fasting and says, “But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.“
This passage is the cornerstone of arguments that infants go to heaven when they die. It does not explicitly say all infants go to heaven, or that infants of believers or elect infants go to heaven. Thus, it is difficult argue by itself this proves infant salvation.
However there are some internal challenges with this view. If David is speaking of his soul going to his son, he also says his son’s spirit will not return to him. ‘Return’ is a biblical concept of joining together again, but here David says his son will not do that. David cannot both be speaking of his soul, but then speak of his son’s body, for his son’s body is not where his soul is. Thus David must be speaking of either both souls, or both bodies. It is clear that it cannot be both souls, because his soul will not return to David. It can only therefore apply to the body: they both are in the grave.
In Genesis 47:30, Jacob speaks of a future time when he would “rest” (CSB) or “lie down” (NASB) with his fathers. “When I rest with my ancestors, carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” Joseph answered, “I will do what you have asked.”” We do not understand that Jacob will be hanging out with his ancestors.
God speaks to Abram in similar language: As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. – Genesis 15:15. From this language, are we to believe that Abraham will be reunited with his fathers and they will hangout together? Is this what the passage teaches?
And Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of days; and he was gathered to his people. – Genesis 25:8.
This was a common Jewish understanding of death. Other patriarchs were described as being “gathered to his people” include Ishmael (Genesis 25:17), Isaac (Genesis 35:29), Jacob (Genesis 49:33), Aaron (Numbers 20:24), and Moses (Numbers 27:13)
David’s use of “go to him” is the same language used in Scripture of ‘Go to your ancestors’, ‘gathered to your people’, and ‘rest with your fathers’ and are all poetic, periphrastic references to physical death and being buried.
While it may be true that David hoped to see his son again, however it is difficult to establish from this text that David prophetically saw himself being reunited with his son. The similarity of his language to other depictions of “going to” your father demonstrates that David was simply echoing the language that he join him in the grave, just as Abram, Jacob, and Moses joined their fathers. It is far from persuasive, let alone conclusive, that David believed he would see his son again, or that this verse proves the idea that all infants go to heaven.
Children of believers are holy
1 Corinthians 7:14 – For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband. For otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
What ever else we understand from the text, we must accept that it is important to God that the children of believers are ‘clean’ and ‘holy’ as distinct from the unclean and unholy children of unbelievers. God makes a distinction between the children of believers, and unbelievers. It is clear that God considers the children of unbelievers as “unclean”. The word used by Paul here is the same word used to describe the evil spirits in Matthew 10:1. In fact, it is the primary word used to describe evil spirits throughout the New Testament.
In Revelation 21:27, speaking of the new heaven, new earth and new Jerusalem, God says “Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.” It is not just those who do detestable things, but also the unclean.
Speaking about the idea that the children of believers receive blessings because of the faith of their parents should come as no surprise. God routinely promises to various patriarchs that their descendents would inherit or sit on thrones. Likewise the “children of Israel” were to receive the promise and not the children of Ishmael. It is the children of promise that receive the blessings of God, not the children of wrath. Even in the New Testament, “the promise is to you and your children” is not an empty promise.
But what does this text mean? It is stated that the unbeliever is made holy because it will make the children holy. We can argue that “holy” means to be “set apart”, and so we can agree that the husband is “set apart” for the wife, but what are the children “set apart” for? What ever it means for the husband, it must mean the same for the child.
Advocates of infants going to heaven dislike using this passage, because if the “holiness” of the children here means they go to heaven, it is difficult to say the unbelieving husband who is considered ‘sanctified’ or ‘made holy’ would not go to heaven. And it is argued contravenes other Scriptures.
Some argue that since, two verses later, Paul casts doubt on a wife or husband able to save their spouse (1 Corinthians 7:16), it seems unlikely that this refers to salvation. So instead it is rendered that the unbeliever as merely ‘set apart’ for the believer, but then this a) becomes meaningless when it comes to the children, and b) says nothing more than husbands and wives are bound (which is nothing new to either the Christian or non-Christian).
God hates sin, and commands us not to be unequally yoked and yet says that a believing spouse is not to separate ourselves from an unbelieving spouse. This seems to be a contradiction. We normally justify it by arguing that our vows to our spouse made before God, trump commands to separate ourselves from sinners, however God commanded Israel to divorce women from outside Israel (Ezra 9-10). And while it is difficult to sustain that God would save a spouse because of a believing wife, it is not without precedence. The early church believed that baptised children will go to heaven, whereas the unbaptised children of unbelievers to not go to heaven (INSERT REFERENCE). This mirrors the Jewish belief that circumcision joined you to the covenant God made with Israel and was exemplified when the lying and disbelieving Abraham was spared from death because of the love the Abimelech king of Gerar had for uprightness, and for Sarah (Genesis 20).
To my mind, it is at least plausible from this passage, that the children of believers are ‘clean’ and ‘holy’, and far from being in a alleged state of innocence absent sin, they are in-fact ‘sanctified’ and ‘holy’. Obviously, if this passage is correctly understood to refer to the holy state of believers’ children, the children of unbelievers must be considered unholy, or as Paul writes in Ephesians 2:3, “[are] by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”.
Sin does not require volition (aka unconscious sin exists)
The next big argument in support of all infants going to heaven, is the idea that they cannot wilfully sin. This is often tied to the idea of knowledge (dealt with later in this post), and there is considerable overlap in the concept.
This is a critical issue. For advocates who say that God does not damn any infant often do so on the belief that infants cannot wilfully sin, and therefore are not guilty. However, Scripture repeatedly affirms that unconscious sin incurs guilt and wrath. This proves that the amount of understanding one has of the light given to us about right and wrong, is not the determining factor in incurring guilt.
Of course, this does not mean that God cannot or does not extend grace to those who sin in ignorance, but the fact that blood had to be shed in sacrifice for unconscious sin, shows that God’s hatred of all sin, conscious, and unconscious, intentional and unintentional.
Leviticus 4:1-3 – Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and he does any one of them, 3 if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him bring near to Yahweh a bull from the herd without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.
Leviticus 5:14-19 – 15Now if a person sins and does any one of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, but he was unaware, still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. (rest of passage)
Numbers 15:22-29 – 27Also if one person sins unintentionally, then he shall bring near a one year old female goat for a sin offering. (rest of passage).
You can sin, even when you do not willingly sin.
Paul goes further; he describes sins that we commit even when we do not want to do them and we hate them.
Romans 7:15-25 – 15 For what I am working out, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want, I agree with the Law, that it is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the working out of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one working it out, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle that in me evil is present—in me who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Paul describes that sin that we hate, and do not want to do, that we still do. He even denies that it is him doing it, instead attributing it to the sin which dwells in him. Thus we find that unintentional sin are still sins and still require death. Does this working of sin occur in infants or is it only confined to those of age, after which God effectively withdraws his protection of children and gives them knowledge of sin?
Of our relationship to animals and God
We generally consider animals to be unthinking creatures, driven by instinct. Noone has accused cows of being smart.
Animals have feelings, thoughts, desires. And yet, all Christians recognise that animals were commanded to be killed for our sin. They were permitted to be killed for our nourishment, and we can put them to a lifetime of servitude, without incurring guilt. In short, destroying animals for our benefit, is not considered wrong. If the death of an animal brings benefit to humans or glory for God, we do not consider it morally repugnant, even though we violate their feelings, thoughts and desires.
Yet even animals are punished for doing what animals do (Exodus 21:28-32). Yet they never received the law.
Are babies sinful from birth?
Psalm 51:5 – Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
There are two elements in this verse, the first relates to David’s sinful nature (“Surely I was sinful at birth“, and the second from the act of conception (“sinful from the time my mother conceived me“). In context, this Psalm is David’s lament about his sin in the matter of Bathsheba and Uriah. He cries out for a clean heart (verse 10), recognising that he is thoroughly and deeply sinful. It is in this context that he says, “Indeed, I was guilty (“עָוֹן” – guilt, depraved, fault) when I was born (“חוּל” – brought forth, made)(CSB). David unequivocally says he has been guilty since he was born.
Some translations render the next part of the sentence: “In sin my mother conceived me“. In context, and given what David has already said about his sinful state, it is doubtful the next words from his mouth, would cast aspersions on his mother in order to deflect his guilt. Church history has taught the correct way to understand this poetry is to say that David saw that his guilt and sinful nature extended even to the time his mother conceived him, not just starting at his birth, not that David’s mother sinned in his conception. Not that it would help contrarians. It is clear to David, even if his mother sinned in his conception, that only deepens his sinful state, not reduces it.
Psalm 58:3 – Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.
While the context is clearly couched in poetic language, the substance is that infants can be and are wicked. All children know to lie and hide the truth, parents do not need to teach them this.
Proverbs 20:11 – It is by his deeds that a child makes himself known If his conduct is pure and right.
2 Kings 2:23-24 – 23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking up the path, some small boys (נְעָרִים קְטַנִּי) came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the children.
Scripture makes it plain that these are little children, specifically little (קְטַנִּים) boys (נַעַר). It is the same word used translated in the KJV as babe of Moses in the basket in Exodus 2:6 – (And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe (נַעַר) wept…).
Job 14:4 – Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one!
Ephesians 2:3 – …among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Clean & Unclean by birth, not deeds or belief
Lineage matters to God. The Bible is full of phrases such as “sons of God”, “sons of disobedience”, children of wrath”, sons of the prophets, children of promise, etc Jesus spoke and debated endlessly with the Pharisees on this very matter, about who their father was and the actions of their fathers. Whole sections of Scripture are devoted to genealogies, which we tend to skip as unimportant. Moreover we tend to hate the idea that we are locked out of God’s blessings by birth
In 1 Corinthians 7:14 above God specifically tells us that the children of unbelievers are unclean. Many will be upset at this because the status of the child at birth is not their fault, it is solely in the sovereign hand of God. However we must note that God decrees pigs and rat being unclean: unclean through birth and nothing they had done. We do not condemn God for this or suggest he is unjust.
Conversely there was benefit to being unclean. Clean animals were used for sacrifices, merely by virtue of being born clean, and nothing they had done.
Paul expounds in his description used also in the Old Testament, that from the same lump of clay, some are made for honour, and some for dishonourable use (Romans 9:21). God also excluded from Israel’s promises uncircumsied infants, who were uncircumcised not through their own choices, but excluded as unclean regardless.
We note too that in Peter’s vision of unclean animals (Acts 10), that Peter determines was speaking of unbelieving gentiles (Acts 10:28), that God can and does cleanse gentiles (Acts 11:9; 15:9). For as Paul says, we were once children of wrath (Eph 2:3). Therefore the default status of unbelievers is uncleanness and exclusion from God’s kingdom.
Jesus says many interesting things about children
Matthew 19:13–15 – “…do not hinder them [the children] from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (link to whole passage)
Mark 10:13–16 – “And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” 16 And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.”
Luke 18:15–17 – 15 And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they were rebuking them. 16 But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
It should be noted that Jesus did not say that the kingdom of heaven belonged to all children, but “to such as these”. In the context, it was believing parents in Israel, who brought their children to Jesus, as it were an offering (commanded by God to present their infants to the temple (Exodus 13:2; 22:29) to receive blessing. This is what Christian parents do today: we seek God’s blessings on our children and vow to bring them up as an offering in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Matthew 18:10,14 – “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven…. In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
Adults too have the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us (Romans 8:26), and God not willing that any should perish, not just children. 2 Peter 3:9 – The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. However it is also true that many do perish, so it is difficult to claim that these passages mean that all children go to heaven. Especially in the light of passages such as 1 Samuel 15:3; Exodus 23:23 ; Psalm 137:9; Ezekiel 9:4-6, where God specifically orders the deaths of babies and infants. Thus, the desire that none should perish, cannot not be taken as an absolute injunction that all infants go to heaven, or even all infants of believing parents.
With that said, it does appear that the children of believers do receive special blessing from God, and possibly come into the New Covenant via their parents until they accept or reject Christ.
At least some babies are elected before birth
Luke 1:15,41 – For he [John the Baptist] will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will not drink any wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb…And it happened that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
This says both Elizabeth and the child were filled with the holy spirit, not John only.
Galatians 1:15 – But when God, who had set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased…
Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in the innermost parts I knew you, And before you came out from the womb I set you apart; I have given you as a prophet to the nations.”
Clearly some children are elect from before conception. However there are no passages that refers to the deaths of such children in infancy. It is possible that some die in infancy, but Scripture does not mention any.
Do people who not hear God’s law get saved?
John 9:39-41 – Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “Are we blind too?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
This cannot mean that the Pharisees were only guilty because they said they see, because many do not see their sin, and therefore would be innocent of sin.
The context of this is Jesus had healed a man blind from birth and the man wanted to know and see the man who healed him. The Pharisees did not want to know anything about Jesus.]
Sin does not require knowledge
As we have just seen God holds people guilty, even when the sin was innocent, and where they had no intent: He demands atonement for such sin. We saw in Leviticus 5:17 that ignorance of the law is no excuse, and guilt is incurred where sins were committed in ignorance.
Paul makes it clear in the New Testament in Romans 2:12 – all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law….
Paul goes further that before the law, sin was in the world (Romans 5:13).
Romans 5:12-14 – 12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the trespass of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
Jeremiah 4:22 – “For My people are ignorant fools, They know Me not; They are simple-minded children And have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they do not know.”
Here of course, God is not speaking about actual children, but he does compare them to children knowing how to do evil, but not good. If children were innocent of evil, why/how could such a comparison be made? And it is clear, despite the simple-minded and child-like minds of Israel,God still holds them accountable for their sin.
Thus we see, not knowing good or bad, does not lessen culpability, nor does it establish a state of sinlessness. In fact as seen earlier in Leviticus 5:17, ignorance of the law is no excuse.
1 Corinthians 14:20 – Brothers, do not be children in your thinking; rather in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
In a seemingly contradictory statement Paul here is exhorting believers to be like infants when it comes to evil. Like Jeremiah, Paul is writing to adults, not children. Here he is saying that infants are unfamiliar with evil, they do not recognise it. Not that they do not commit.
It is often stated by those who deny that infants may be judged, that since infants do not know the law, they cannot be judged. In a prophecy about Christ’s early life, Isaiah states: For before the boy will know to refuse evil and choose good…. – Isaiah 7:16
They go on to cite Romans 3:20 – ….by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
While it is true that by the law comes the knowledge of sin, it is also true according to Romans 2:12 – all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law….
Romans 2:24-15 (14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law naturally do the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they demonstrate the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.) that the law is written on their hearts with their conscious.
Isaiah 54:13 – “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.”
1 John 2:13 – I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father.
Deuteronomy 1:39 (NIV):
“And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.”
1 Corinthians 4:4 – For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted. But the one who examines me is the Lord.
This verse undercuts arguments that an infant will be unable to know of any sin they committed and are therefore innocent. Whether they are conscious of sin or not does not make them not guilty.
1 John 1:8,10 – If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us….If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
Believing you have not sinned, i.e., you have not sinned consciously, not only shows that you are self-deceived, but also you are found to be a false witness and liar about God. Unconscious sin also incurs wrath and judgement.
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Romans 5:12-13 – Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
This is the best case to aruge that infants are without sin. Sin is in the world, but without knowledge of the law it is not imputed to them.
Should this verse be understood that until the giving of the 10 commandments
There are difficulties with this. 1. death is the result of sin, and death existed long before the 10 commandments were given.
God says he writes it on our hearts. 2. God says he will teach the children
1 Timothy 1: 9 – knowing this, that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and godless, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,
Sin is not imputed without law
God uses the conscions to judge a person -and he doesn’t use their conscience
Deuteronomy 1:39 (NIV):
“And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it.”
Isaiah 54:13 “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.”
Is there an age of accountability?
General Revelation leaves you without excuse
Romans 1:20 – For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Here God, through creation reveals his atributes, but reveals nothing of the nature of salvation or of his Son. In Romans 2:12, Paul explains that these people will perish.
Romans 2:13-16 – 13 For it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law naturally do the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they demonstrate the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
When does the light of God shine into a person’s heart, such that the Law can be considered to be written on their hearts?
In 2 Kings 2, young children taunted Elisha, and said, “go on up baldy”. The passage makes it clear they are young children. Obviously old enough to talk, and have time with friends. But they are young children. For their actions, the sin of not respecting their elders etc, God sent 2 bears to maul them. Perhaps they did not die, but God clearly judged them guilty.
It should be noted here that “having an excuse” does not equal justification and innocence, but rather they cannot even plead ignorance. But when does this work of God on their conscience even start? What passage says that God withholds this work on the conscience until a certain age?
God ordered babies to be killed
1 Samuel 15:3 – Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
Exodus 23:23 – For My angel will go before you and bring you in to the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I will annihilate them.
Psalm 137:9 – Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did… How blessed will be the one who repays you for what you dished out to us! How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies and smashes them on a rock!
Ezekiel 9:4-6 – ”And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity. Kill old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women, but touch no one on whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the house.“
Romans 14:10-12 We all stand before God to be judged”
Romans 2:12-16 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
This verse makes it clear that people do sin without the law, and they will perish apart from the law.
Early Chrurch views
Does God forgive some unilaterally, even without sacrifices, yes (FIND VERSE ON GOD overlooking SIN).
Romans 3:19 (ESV):
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.”
INNOCENT BLOOD
There are a a couple of passages that talk about sons and daughters as being innocent.
Psalm 106:38 – 38 And they shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with the blood.
Jeremiah 19:4 – 4 Because they have forsaken Me and have made this a foreign place and have burned incense in it to other gods, that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal…
Jeremiah 2:34 – Also on your skirts is found The lifeblood of the innocent needy; You did not find them breaking in.
There are some challenges to understanding that the use of the these passages to prove that children are innocent of all sin.
- These passages don’t detail the age of the children. If we consider the age of the children in 2 Kings 2, as little children, and yet God had them mauled by bears for their sin, these children may not be innocent of all sin.
- The term innocent is used of people, not that they are guiltless of any sin, but rather that they are not worthy to receive the punishment they received. In fact we see this in Jeremiah 2:24 where God effectively says the are being punished unjustly.
The term “innocent” is not used exclusively in Scripture to say that someone was without sin, but rather they are being hurt or punished unjustly: Deuteronomy 19:10-14; Deuteronomy 27:25; 1 Samuel 19:5; 2 Kings 21:16; 2 Kings 24:4; Proverbs 1:11; Proverbs 6:17; Isaiah 59:7; etc.
As a result, it is easy to say that the infant is innocent of the death penalty, it is not so easy to use these verses to say they are innocent of all sin.
ADDRESS verses here
PROVISIONIST ARGUMENTS
I want to take a moment to address specific arguments:
Provisionists argue that infants haven’t sinned. If this is the case, infants don’t need atonement.
They argue that infants are not “guilty” (don’t inherit Adam’s sin), and therefore also do not need atonement.
They argue that infants are not separated from God by reason of anything that requires atonement.
It is on this basis, that they have not sinned, and are not guilty of sin, provisionists argue that babies go to heaven. Their entire argument is that infants don’t need Christ.
To come to this position, Provisionists must reinterpret, or ignore passages that directly state that infants are sinners, and sin, from birth. They must assume that God withholds his law from their hearts (that God says he gives to all) so they remain innocent. They deny that sin occurs unknowingly, despite Scripture not only describing this, but God also prescribing how to atone for such sins. This and many other such Scriptures do they ignore. I even had a Provisionist state that the words of David in the Psalms saying infants sin, that these were not the inspired words of God.
Provisionists also argue that an infant cannot reason and give an account to God. If God weighs the spirit (Hebrews 4:12), and allows their thoughts and conscience to accuse and defend them (Romans 2:15), no person needs to be able to speak, in fact we will not (Romans 3:19, Isaiah 53:7). But since God gives rocks and earth the ability to cry out, in ways we do not understand (Genesis 4:10; Luke 19:40; Psalm 19:1-4), does this not this show that God can hear the infant, the mute, the mentally compromised?
None of this says that infants do not go to heaven, but that the reasoning of the Provisionist is anti-gospel, anti-Christ, and against the clear nature and abilities of God.