10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
I am including several more verses for context but want to focus on verse 14.
I wrote about verse 11 and a similar verse in Luke in Bible Truth #22 so I won’t go into that here. Verse 14 is a verse that a lot of Christians, mostly Arminians, use for a man-centered doctrine called Age of Accountability. This is the theory that children (and the mentally infirm) are safe from eternal damnation until they reach an age when they can “understand” the idea that every person is conceived in sin, must be redeemed, and needs a Savior. This age is different for each child. Upon reaching this age, they are no longer safe and must be redeemed by accepting Jesus.
Even though a lot of Christians believe this, most will quickly and accurately say that each and every person from birth needs to be redeemed, they are born with the old sinful nature. That in itself contradicts their belief of the Age of Accountability doctrine. Why don’t they say a man needs to be redeemed from the Age of Accountability if they’re safe until then?
The theory of Age of Accountability also presupposes the idea that man must do something to earn eternal life - the man must believe, accept Christ as their Savior, and repent. If it proves anything, this theory proves that the Arminian believes in works. It proves that the lost man, while in his flesh, must DO something before God will save him. But since a zygote, embryo, fetus, baby, or toddler can’t do what first “needs” to be done, they make the claim that the unborn and young children are SAFE until the Age of Accountability. Arminians had to come up with some theory to cover the young and unborn since they can’t “accept Christ.” Sorry, if man must DO something before God grants him eternal life then God is a respecter of persons and I covered that in Bible Truth #24 - God is NOT a respecter of persons.
Another problem is that this theory of Age of Accountability is taught nowhere in Scripture. It’s an idea that runs counter to the sovereignty of God in Election.
A third problem with this theory of Age of Accountability is that Arminians once again miss the truth found in Scripture that regardless of age or maturity, it is impossible for a lost man, woman, boy, or girl to understand the fact that every person is conceived in sin, needs a Savior, and must be redeemed. Spiritual truth is foolishness to them and they will not understand or accept it (1 Corinthians 2:14).
From the moment of conception, not birth, but conception, the human being is Totally Depraved and in need of redemption (Psalm 51:5). There is no point in the life of man when he is “safe,” he is either chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world or not (Ephesians 1:4). Of the billions of children who have died before reaching this mythical Age of Accountability, has God chosen every single one and hence they immediately went to be with Jesus upon their death? I don't think so. All we know is what the Bible teaches and it is certainly not teaching the theory of Age of Accountability.
However, I DO believe Scripture informs us there ARE unborn, infants, and young children, who die, who are saved. They are indeed among God’s Elect. In Psalm 103:17 God states that He extends His righteousness to the children of His children. Once we determine who God’s children are (John 8:44) it is then easy to extrapolate who is identified in this verse. Since only Christians are children of God, I believe that children of Christians who die very young or in the womb are assuredly among God’s Elect, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
Trying to use the passage above as a general rule that applies to every child in the world is not sound exegesis. Verse 14 above is specific - it is not the will of your Father ... that one of these little ones perish. Jesus was referring to the specific child and children present, not every child ever born. If God’s will is that all children are safe from damnation, Jesus could have simply said it is not the will of God that any little ones perish. But consider, Jesus Himself limits or qualifies those about whom He is talking when He said in verse 6: But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me... Did you catch that? The little ones present believed in Jesus. You can't get any more straightforward than that. These children were old enough to understand and believe in Jesus.
Besides Verse 14 above, some also use the passage in Deuteronomy 1:35 and verse 39 to help support the idea that God will not eternally condemn the young. In addition, King David also has some words along this line of thinking. He said of the child conceived as the result of his adulterous affair with Bathsheba, “But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:23) But is this something that he personally believed, was it a truth God gave him about all children, or was it fact that God revealed to him about this particular child? Using these Scriptures along with Matthew 18:14 as proof text for children going to Heaven is really stretching the meaning of the text.
Finally, Jesus said it is not the will of the Father that one of these little ones perish. Speaking of God’s will, He is sovereign and He always gets his way. If He does not want any child to perish, they won’t. God works EVERYTHING in conformity with His own will (Ephesians 1:11). He ALWAYS gets His way. That is the meaning of sovereignty.
The primary purpose of this Bible Truth was to refute the theory of Age of Accountability, not establish if young children who die are chosen or not.
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