I John 2:12

I John 2:12: “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.”

This is an interesting verse. Let me say right up front that I do not believe in the age of accountability. That doctrine leads to all kinds of absurdities: it teaches that you start out life saved, then as you grow older you lose your salvation and must get saved a second time. It says that if you die as a child you will go to Heaven, but if you grow into adulthood and never get saved again then you will go to Hell. This implies that if you want to guarantee that your children go to Heaven you should abort them before they are born – which is a horrible, ungodly, abominable idea. But that is exactly where this doctrine leads. If the age of accountability is true then Roe vs Wade has caused millions of people to go to Heaven who otherwise would have spent eternity in Hell. That is preposterous, of course, but is that not the logical outcome?

Besides all of this, the Bible does not teach an age of accountability. You will find no passages that say “You are saved when you are born, but after you turn 16 you will go to Hell if you don’t give your life to Jesus.” There just aren’t any. In fact, the Bible actually says that we are conceived in sin, and if we do not repent we will die in sin. The Bible commands people everywhere to repent and it does not put age limits on it. I have heard many sermons on this topic, but in those sermons the pastors conspicuously avoided using the Bible to back up their point – and I am convinced that is because the Bible doesn’t support them at all. People believe in this doctrine because they want it to be true, not because it is what the Bible actually teaches.

So what does happen to children who die at a young age? Are they saved? Are they lost? How does it work?

The Bible doesn’t spend a lot of time addressing this issue directly. The only verse I can think of that might apply (aside from Romans 9, which is a topic for another day) is this one:

1 Corinthians 7:14: “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.”

Does this mean that if one of the parents are saved then the children are saved, but if neither of them are saved then the children are lost? Maybe – but wouldn’t that imply that if these children grow up and never accept Jesus then they become lost again, which goes right back to the madness of the age of accountability?

What I do know is that the only way you can escape being thrown into the Lake of Fire is to have your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and all of those names were written down before the foundation of the world. Romans 9 tells us that salvation is a matter of divine choice: God chooses who is saved and who is not. We also know that salvation comes only through faith in Jesus. Is it possible for God to regenerate a heart before it is born? I don’t see why not. After all, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit while he was still in the womb. That very strongly implies that salvation can happen before birth. (After all, that’s what happened to him.)

So, when the Rapture happens, will all children disappear? I guess we will have to wait and see. If some children are left behind then that will settle this question once and for all. No saved person will be left behind when Christ returns for His Church.

It is very hard to say anything definitive on this subject because the Bible just does not talk about it – or if it does I have missed it entirely. I don’t know what happens to children when they die, and perhaps that is for the best. What I do know is that, ultimately, God decides their fate – just as He decides the fate of every one of us. I also know that He is just and merciful, full of love and compassion. He will do what is right.

To get back to the verse at hand: despite what it seems, this verse actually does not support the age of accountability. Yes, it does say “your sins are forgiven”. However, the very next verse tells us that their sins were forgiven because these little children have known the Father, which implies that they have a relationship with God. Therefore, this verse is speaking specifically to saved children who know Jesus, not generic random children.