Bible Truth #395 - Psalm 58:3

Psalm 58:3

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

Notice the Psalmist did NOT write, “Some are estranged from the womb and become wicked when they go astray...” Please accept the truth found in the plain language of this psalm. The wicked are born ALREADY wicked - in fact, we all are. This is proof that every baby is not Elect at its birth - that many or even most are destined to remain wicked. But it still does not prove, one way or the other, that every baby who dies is Elect.

We look at a newborn baby, or even one who has not yet been born, as pure and innocent. NOT in God's eyes. That child, like every child, is conceived a sinner (Psalm 51:5), is conceived unredeemed, and consequently his spirit is dead until God quickens it. An unredeemed human being, one whose spirit is dead, regardless of age, in God's eyes is as wicked as the most evil, vile, criminal on death row anywhere in the world (Romans 3:23).

What makes someone wicked? What makes ANYONE wicked? Is it something they do? Is it sin they commit? No! Sin is a work of the flesh and man is not a sinner because he sins, a man sins because he is a sinner. As we are not saved by works, neither do works condemn us. The natural state of man is corrupt, totally depraved, and wicked. Every man is wicked because every man’s progenitor is Adam (Romans 5:12). This is why the Psalmist identifies them as wicked even at birth! I say again, the Psalmist did NOT write, “Some are estranged from the womb and become wicked when they go astray...” They go astray because they are conceived wicked and born wicked.

Those babies who will survive childhood and reach maturity, and NEVER be saved are, even in the infancy, wicked. That is why they go astray. Just as a man sins because he is a sinner, so too a man goes astray because he is wicked (Isaiah 53:6). It is NOT a man is wicked because he goes astray. Now let’s take these facts to their logical conclusion: since it is a fact that most people are not saved it stands to reason that most babies are wicked.

But the fact that the psalmist wrote “...the [wicked] go astray” implies that there are those who aren’t wicked. I contend that there are those whom God has already quickened and need only to reach the point in their life where God draws them and grants them belief (John 6:29; Philippians 1:29) and repentance (2 Timothy 2:25). Then and only then will they believe, repent, and follow Jesus. Only then will they come to the Light (John 6:37), only then are they able to please God, and only then are they able to understand.

We become children of God NOT by human decision (John 1:13).