may have sent this to wrong group.
Came Across this in my files
Hope one can use.
Do Infants who Die Go to Heaven
Comment on News and Issues by R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
The Salvation of the 'Little Ones': Do Infants who Die Go to Heaven?
by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. and Daniel L. Akin
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
The death of an infant or young child is profoundly heartbreaking -
perhaps the greatest grief a parent is called to bear. For Christian
parents, there is the sure knowledge that our sovereign and merciful God is
in control, but there is also a pressing question: Is our baby in heaven?
This is a natural and unavoidable question, calling for our most
careful and faithful biblical study and theological reflection. The
unspeakable anguish of a parent's heart demands our honest and humble
searching of the Scriptures.
Some are quick to answer this question out of sentimentality. Of
course infants go to heaven, they argue, for how could God refuse a precious
little one? The Universalist has a quick answer, for he believes that
everyone will go to heaven. Some persons may simply suggest that elect
infants go to heaven, while the non-elect do not, and must suffer endless
punishment. Each of these easy answers is unsatisfactory.
Mere sentimentalism ignores the Bible's teaching which bears on the
issue. We have no right to establish doctrine on the basis of what we hope
may be true. We must draw our answers from what the Bible reveals to be
true.
Universalism is an unbiblical heresy. The Bible clearly teaches that
we are born in sin and that God will not tolerate sinners. God has made one
absolute and definitive provision for our salvation through the
substitutionary atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation
comes to those who believe on His name and confess him as Savior. The Bible
teaches a dual destiny for the human race. The redeemed - those who are in
Christ - will be raised to eternal life with the Father in Heaven. Those who
have not believed in Christ and confessed Him as Lord will suffer eternal
punishment in the fires of Hell. Universalism is a dangerous and unbiblical
teaching. It offers a false promise and denies the Gospel.
The Bible reveals that we are born marked by original sin, and thus we
cannot claim that infants are born in a state of innocence. Any biblical
answer to the question of infant salvation must start from the understanding
that infants are born with a sin nature.
The shifting of the focus to election actually avoids answering the
question. We must do better, and look more closely at the issues at stake.
Throughout the centuries, the church has offered several different
answers to this question. In the early church, Ambrose believed that
baptized infants went to heaven, while unbaptized infants did not, though
they received immunity from the pains of hell. His first error was believing
in infant baptism, and thus in baptismal regeneration. Baptism does not
save, and it is reserved for believers - not for infants. His second error
was his indulgence in speculation. Scripture does not teach such a half-way
position which denies infants admission to heaven, but saves them from the
peril of hell. Augustine, the great theologian of the fourth century,
basically agreed with Ambrose, and shared his understanding of infant
baptism.
Others have taught that infants will have an opportunity to come to
Christ after death. This position was held by Gregory of Nyssa, and is
growing among many contemporary theologians, who claim that all, regardless
of age, will have a post-mortem opportunity to confess Christ as Savior. The
problem with this position is that Scripture teaches no such post-mortem
opportunity. It is a figment of a theologian's imagination, and must be
rejected.
Those who divide infants into the elect and non-elect seek to affirm
the clear and undeniable doctrine of divine election. The Bible teaches that
God elects persons to salvation from eternity, and that our salvation is all
of grace. At first glance, this position appears impregnable in relation to
the issue of infant salvation - a simple statement of the obvious. A second
glance, however, reveals a significant evasion. What if all who die in
infancy are among the elect? Do we have a biblical basis for believing that
all persons who die in infancy are among the elect?
We believe that Scripture does indeed teach that all persons who die
in infancy are among the elect. This must not be based only in our hope that
it is true, but in a careful reading of the Bible. We start with the
biblical affirmations we have noted already. First, the Bible reveals that
we are "brought forth in iniquity,"(1) and thus bear the stain of original
sin from the moment of our conception. Thus, we face squarely the sin
problem. Second, we acknowledge that God is absolutely sovereign in
salvation. We do not deserve salvation, and can do nothing to earn our
salvation, and thus it is all of grace. Further we understand that our
salvation is established by God's election of sinners to salvation through
Christ. Third, we affirm that Scripture teaches that Jesus Christ is the
sole and sufficient Savior, and that salvation comes only on the basis of
His blood atonement. Fourth, we affirm that the Bible teaches a dual eternal
destiny - the redeemed to Heaven, the unredeemed to Hell.
What, then is our basis for claiming that all those who die in infancy
are among the elect? First, the Bible teaches that we are to be judged on
the basis of our deeds committed "in the body."(2) That is, we will face the
judgment seat of Christ and be judged, not on the basis of original sin, but
for our sins committed during our own lifetimes. Each will answer "according
to what he has done,"(3) and not for the sin of Adam. The imputation of Adam's
sin and guilt explains our inability to respond to God without regeneration,
but the Bible does not teach that we will answer for Adam's sin. We will
answer for our own. But what about infants? Have those who die in infancy
committed such sins in the body? We believe not.
One biblical text is particularly helpful at this point. After the
children of Israel rebelled against God in the wilderness, God sentenced
that generation to die in the wilderness after forty years of wandering.
"Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I
swore to give your fathers."(4) But this was not all. God specifically
exempted young children and infants from this sentence, and even explained
why He did so: "Moreover, your little ones who you said would become prey,
and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter
there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it."(5) The key
issue here is that God specifically exempted from the judgment those who
"have no knowledge of good or evil" because of their age. These "little
ones" would inherit the Promised Land, and would not be judged on the basis
of their fathers' sins.
We believe that this passage bears directly on the issue of infant
salvation, and that the accomplished work of Christ has removed the stain of
original sin from those who die in infancy. Knowing neither good nor evil,
these young children are incapable of committing sins in the body - are not
yet moral agents - and die secure in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
John Newton, the great minister who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace was
certain of this truth. He wrote to close friends who had lost a young child:
"I hope you are both well reconciled to the death of your child. I cannot be
sorry for the death of infants. How many storms do they escape! Nor can I
doubt, in my private judgment, that they are included in the election of
grace."(6) The great Princeton theologians Charles Hodge and B. B. Warfield
held the same position.
One of the most eloquent and powerful expressions of this
understanding of infant salvation came from the heart of Charles Spurgeon.
Preaching to his own congregation, Spurgeon consoled grieving parents: "Now,
let every mother and father here present know assuredly that it is well with
the child, if God hath taken it away from you in its infant days."(7)
Spurgeon turned this conviction into an evangelistic call. "Many of you are
parents who have children in heaven. Is it not a desirable thing that you
should go there, too? He continued: "Mother, unconverted mother, from the
battlements of heaven your child beckons you to Paradise. Father, ungodly,
impenitent father, the little eyes that once looked joyously on you, look
down upon you now, and the lips which scarcely learned to call you father,
ere they were sealed by the silence of death, may be heard as with a still
small voice, saying to you this morning, 'Father, must we be forever divided
by the great gulf which no man can pass?' Doth not nature itself put a sort
of longing in your soul that you may be bound in the bundle of life with
your own children?"
Jesus instructed his disciples that they should "Permit the children
to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as
these."(8) We believe that our Lord graciously and freely received all those
who die in infancy - not on the basis of their innocence or worthiness - but
by his grace, made theirs through the atonement He purchased on the cross.
When we look into the grave of one of these little ones, we do not
place our hope and trust in the false promises of an unbiblical theology, in
the instability of sentimentalism, in the cold analysis of human logic, nor
in the cowardly refuge of ambiguity.
We place our faith in Christ, and trust Him to be faithful to his
Word. We claim the promises of the Scriptures and the assurance of the grace
of our Lord. We know that heaven will be filled with those who never grew to
maturity on earth, but in heaven will greet us completed in Christ. Let us
resolve by grace to meet them there.
Endnotes:
1.. Psalm 51:5. All biblical citations are from the New American
Standard Bible.
2.. 2 Corinthians 5:10
3.. Ibid.
4.. Deuteronomy 1:35
5.. Deuteronomy 1:39
6.. John Newton, "Letter IX," The Works of John Newton (London,
1820), p. 182.
7.. Charles H. Spurgeon, "Infant Salvation" A sermon preached
September 29, 1861. Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit (London, 1861), p. 505.
8.. Mark 10:14
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is President and Professor of Christian
Theology.
Daniel L. Akin is Vice President for Academic Administration, Dean of
the School of Theology, and Associate Professor of Christian Theology.
© R. Albert Mohler, Jr. - All Rights Reserved
Fidelitas may be reproduced in whole or in part, but must include the
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