What Does the Bible Say about the Age of Accountability?

Are you a fugitive or a follower? Jesus announced several different reasons for coming in the first place, all of which are centered around sin and eternal life. He said things like:

"'The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost,'" (Luke 19:10) to "'give His life as a ransom for many,'" (Mark 10:45) and He encouraged people at the beginning of His ministry that "'The time is come.' 'The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.'" All of these require some sort of personal accountability and realization that we are indeed lost, in need of saving, and must personally turn away from sin and towards God.

So at what point do we or can understand these and make a personal decision to follow God? If you think about this question, it's not one question but a bunch of little ones underneath in leading to this significant conclusion. Here are the four foundational questions we're really asking when we talk about the age of accountability.

Is There a Specific Age When We Are Accountable?

The one is easy enough. The Bible does not have a place to go where we can simply look up at what age we are, and our kids are accountable to God. Depending on someone's denomination background, or even religion, there may be different takes on this (such as the ecclesial expectations of kids in the Catholic Church).

The age of accountability is the idea that there is a certain "age" or time in a person's life where they can understand the state they are in and how their actions reinforce this state. Notice that I'm framing this as a state of being rather than an action. Religion primarily focuses on the activity of individuals, but the Gospel focuses on the state or identity of the individual. Some point to the Jewish practice of becoming a man (Bar Mitzvah), and all the rights entailed to that status as sufficing for an age of accountability, but the New Testament never picks up this idea; instead, the New Testament writers think of identity rather than some specific activity.

Think about it this way: If someone were to break out of prison and be on the run from the law, no matter what action they take, they would still be a fugitive. Even if they were to help someone in need, tell the truth to someone who asked them a question, or were morally helpful to others, it wouldn't change what state they are in - they are a fugitive. Most likely, they would continue to do what fugitives do - break the law, hide, and flee from their justice. But even if they didn't, their identity is that of a fugitive.

Similarly, the first fugitive from God, Adam, set the rest of us on the run from God as fugitives. Paul says as much in Romans 5:12:

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.

All of us are fugitives "on the run" from God if we are not under God's grace. The real challenge with the "age of accountability" argument that seems untenable is that there is a time and state where people aren't accountable for sin. Paul, and especially Jesus, would be opposed to this. Jesus said that not only are we not good but that we must be "born again" (John 3:3) because our first physical birth did us no favors in our standing or identity with God. This new birth into child-like faith must happen because not just children, but adults, have not shown through their activity that they can achieve a "good" status or identity with God. Growing up and being accountable does not gain you the ability to earn your way into God's grace; the opposite is true: in adulthood, we show that we sin not because we're now accountable but because we're far more capable of sin.

What Does the Bible Say We Are Accountable For?

When it comes to accountability for sin, most people think about fairness. If we inherited the state of sinfulness of Adam, that seems unfair. We didn't get a choice in the matter; we weren't there, we didn't get to plead our case before God. We may even think that we would have made a different choice, or we would have listened to God. But would that be the case? The answer is an emphatic no.

Adam and Eve lived in a time without sin, at least for a little while, yet they still sinned. Christians today have the Spirit of God living inside them who draws them away from evil. We have been forgiven of sin, and yet we still sin. This means that there isn't a scenario that we don't need God's grace. Even "innocent" children need God's grace because no one is truly innocent, and no one would have been innocent. And if we think about fairness again, we don't really want God to be fair. We want better than we deserve, which is what we received through Christ:

2 Corinthians 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This isn't fair, right? And that's a good thing! God made us righteous by taking on all sin for all time on Himself. Adam and Eve decided against being good. Children aren't born good; adults don't become good — only Christ is good. No matter how you look at it, we're accountable for our "badness" or sin. We're responsible to God for the fact that no part of us is good, can become good, or will be good without His help.

Do Infants Go to Heaven if They Die Before Accepting Christ?

This is really what we want to know at the end of the day, isn't it? Where do kids go when they die if they haven't made a personal (read "accountable") decision to follow Christ? I believe three Scriptures are incredibly helpful in this regard: Romans 5:6-8, 1 John 2:1-2, and 1 John 4:14-16. It should be said that none of these are definitive in providing an answer but instead point to the character of God.

Romans 5:6-8 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a self-righteous person, though someone might dare to die for a good person. But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 2:1-2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:14-16 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them, and they in God. And so, we know and rely on the love God has for us.

In each of these instances, God's love is first pointed towards us, even in our state of sin. God didn't die for us because we are good, morally right, or decided to choose Him; He died for us because He is good and desires that we choose to follow Him because His kindness leads us to repentance.

The ideal scenario is that someone — regardless of age— chooses to follow God because they 1) know their identity as a sinner without Christ; 2) understand that Christ is the only way to remove their sin and have a relationship with God; and 3) that they make a conscious, intentional choice to go from fugitive to a follower of Christ. In this sense, it's not about age but about understanding. This transcends children to mental, emotional, and spiritual abilities. These Scriptures seem to imply that God died for the world (and not just those who did have the ability to choose Him), but if you can choose to follow Him and don't, you're held accountable for that. God provides the option, but for those who can, we must still opt-in. For those who can't opt-in because they cannot understand their state or how God saves them from it, I believe God's grace and mercy lead the way.

Comforting Truth in the Bible about the Age of Accountability 

As a pastor, I get this question a lot: "Is my _______ in heaven?" This question always comes up right after someone has died, and whoever is left behind isn't sure that the deceased had a relationship with Christ. It seems like a tough question, but I've learned how to answer it over the years, even when it comes to kids who have died way before their time. I usually give the person or person's three definitive statements in one sentence:

1. God always makes the right decisions…
2. Because He knows their heart better than you or I ever could…
3. And there's no one else you would want that decision to be placed in other than God's hands.

This has brought a profound amount of comfort not only to me (because I believe it), but to the people I have said this to. They are reminded of God's immeasurable grace, comfort, knowledge, justice, and mercy. Whether the answer is yes or no, there is no one else who can make a decision better than God; after all, He made way for us to be with Him in the first place.

Related articles:

What Is the Age of Accountability?

Bible Verses about Age of Accountability

Kile Baker is a former Atheist who didn’t plan on becoming a Christian, let alone a Pastor, who now writes to try and make Christianity simple. Kile recently wrote a study guide to help people “look forward to and long for Heaven.” You can get one on Amazon here. He also writes at www.paperbacktheologian.com. Kile is the grateful husband to the incredibly talented Rachel, Dad to the energetic London and feisty Emma and Co-Lead Pastor at LifePoint Church in Northern Nevada. He single handedly keeps local coffee shops in business.