The Age of Accountability
Does a
young child have sin? If he dies, does he go to heaven? If there is a certain
age of accountability, what is it? What scriptural basis is there for an age of
accountability?
Deuteronomy
1:39 Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims,
who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I
will give it, and they shall possess it.
The
fulfillment of the promise was held over for the next generation, those who
were still children. These were too young to make responsible choices (they today have no knowledge of good and evil).
Isaiah
7:14-16 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin
shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. 15 Curds and
honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16
For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the
land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.
Jonah
4:11 And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one
hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand
and their left—
It is
generally calculated that the young children of any place are a fifth of the
inhabitants, and consequently the
whole
population of Nineveh would amount to about 600,000.
Matthew
18:2,3 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3
and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as
little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew
19:13,14 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the
disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me,
and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
Luke
18:16,17 But Jesus called them to Him
and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of
such is the kingdom of God. 17 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not
receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
Romans
9:10,11 And not only this, but when
Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even
by our father Isaac 11 for the children not yet being born, nor having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works but of Him who calls,
Romans
5:12-18 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through
sin, and thus 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 to Moses, even over those who had not
sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of
Him who was to come. 15 But the free gift is
not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the
grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded
to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which
came through the one who sinned. For
the judgment which came from one offense resulted in
condemnation, but the free gift which
came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by
the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who
receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life
through the One, Jesus Christ. ) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in
condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came
to all men, resulting in justification of life.