Inspire, Fall 2006

infancy. For the person who has reached moral accountability, salvation is by conscious faith (Eph. 2:8-9). But an infant is incapable of such conscious belief. The key in dealing with the eternal destiny of children who die in infancy is their passivity . This is seen in Romans 5:12-21, where a parallel is established between Adam and Christ. The infant who passively participates in the sin of Adam (5:12, 14) also passively participates in the benefits of Christ’s atonement (5:15, 18-19). Deprivation, an absence of grace to maintain union with God, results in physical death. Each time an infant suffers physical death, this part of the penalty of original sin is exhausted. In the bodily resurrection, this aspect of the penalty of original sin (physical death) is reversed . The resurrection takes place with the same scope as physical death and is totally apart from the will of the individual. As in Adam all die; so also in Christ all shall be made alive (I Cor. 15:22). Depravity, or the corruption of nature, results in spiritual death. The remedy for spiritual death is regeneration, whereby God imparts eternal life. A morally accountable individual is regenerated by the Holy Spirit in response to faith (John 3:3; Titus 3:5). However, in the case of the infant who dies, faith is impossible. While the infant’s nature is corrupt, the infant’s nature is dormant in the sense that it has not yet brought about in that infant the acts of rebellion against God that it has in the morally responsible person. The infant’s guilt is undifferentiated from that of the race by any personal act of his own. Therefore, since the first effect of original sin (deprivation) and its penalty (physical death) are removed from the entire race in Christ, and since there is no obstacle (the unbelief and rejection that are characteristic of morally responsible individuals), it is reasonable that the second half of the consequence of original sin is remitted at the same time that the first half is remitted — at the resurrection. This idea of spiritual life being imparted is supported by the fact that our Lord spoke of the “regeneration” of the world (Matt. 19:28), and Paul spoke of the redemption of creation (Rom. 8:20-21). As the Fall affected the physical creation which passively participated in Adam’s sin, so creation is to be renewed in Christ. Similarly, even though the infant possesses a corrupt nature (depravity), without having personally transgressed and thereby actually concurred in that sin by individual choice, there is reason to believe that the child will be delivered from both effects of original sin at the resurrection. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that nowhere in Scripture is the guilt associated with original sin explicitly stated to bring eternal condemnation apart from acts of sin. At the Great White Throne Judgment, where the unsaved dead are judged (Rev. 20:11-15), the basis of their condemnation is their evil works . It is rejection of the Savior which has kept their names out of the book of life and their works that prove that they deserve eternal condemnation. Once again, passivity is the key. The common requirement for regeneration in both the infant and the adult is passivity. The infant is conceived in this passive condition. The morally accountable sinner has lost his passivity by willfully sinning against God. That person must become passive by choosing to submit to God’s grace in repentance and faith to be saved. Review and Summary Please note that this doctrine does not justify abortion. Abortion is murder, the intentional taking of human life (Exodus 20:13). However, the fact that an infant who dies goes to heaven does bring comfort in that the mother’s sinful choice has not condemned her unborn child to eternal separation from God. This doctrine also does not speak to the issue of those who have never heard the gospel. Those who reach the age of moral awareness will invariably commit acts of sin (Rom. 3:23). Personal sin results in guilt — the person deserves eternal punishment for violating God’s law (Rom. 6:23). The only basis of salvation for those beyond the age of accountability is conscious faith in the substitutionary death and resurrection of Christ (John 14:6; I Cor. 15:1-4). That is why the distinction has been made between infants who are safe prior to the age of accountability and for all others who need to be saved by grace through faith in Christ. In conclusion, all children are included in the great atoning sacrifice of Christ and really belong to Him (they are safe) until they deliberately and consciously sin. Truly the grace of God in Christ is rich in the comfort that it affords upon the death of an infant. I stood beside a death-bed scene, a mother bent and wept, But deep within her breaking heart, a deathless faith she kept: She gazed upon her little one, so beautiful and still, And humbly tried to yield him up unto her Master’s will: She bent and kissed his pallid brow, she joined her hands in prayer, And then I knew the Christian’s hope had surely entered there. —from Thomas Smyth, Solace for Bereaved Parents Inspire 15