What happens to children who die before they can believe?
The Bible never states a formula in either direction, and it never names an age. What it does give is a principle: guilt tracks knowledge, so the little ones who cannot yet refuse the evil and choose the good are not the ones the warnings are aimed at. Jesus took children in His arms and blessed them, and told us that the will of the Father in heaven is set against any of them perishing. But Scripture will not let us call them innocent either. It calls them children of Adam, and it saves them the way it saves anyone: by the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
This question arose from studying Does everyone deserve God's judgment?.
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What the Scripture says
The ones who cannot yet refuse the evil
Scripture draws a line at knowledge, and it draws it in the plainest places. Barring a whole generation from the land for unbelief, God names the one group who still goes in: 'your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there.' Isaiah dates a child's moral awakening the same way, saying of the promised son that he will 'eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good,' and that before that day comes, two kingdoms will fall. Jonah ends with God measuring a city by the same clock, sparing Nineveh partly because it holds 'more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can't discern between their right hand and their left hand.' None of these is a doctrine of infant salvation, and none of them mentions death. All three assume the same thing: there is a season of life that judgment does not treat the way it treats the rest of us.
Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be captured or killed, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and I will give it to, and they shall possess it.Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.
Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?”And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
Sin is not charged where there is no law
Paul says something in Romans 5 that is easy to read past. Having claimed that death passed to all men because all sinned, he adds a qualification in the very next verse: 'sin is not charged when there is no law.' Death still reigned, he insists, even 'over those whose sins weren't like Adam's disobedience,' but charging is another matter. He describes his own boyhood the same way: 'I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.' Jesus makes the principle explicit. The servant 'who didn't know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes,' because responsibility is measured by what was given. He tells the Pharisees, 'If you were blind, you would have no sin,' and then turns the blade: their claim to see is what leaves their sin in place. He says of the nations, 'If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin.' And James states the rule plainly: 'To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.'
For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
but he who didn’t know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
The Father does not will that they perish
Jesus put a child in the middle of the room and made that child the standard: 'Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.' Then He warned that whoever causes 'one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble' would be better off at the bottom of the sea, and added, 'See that you don't despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.' The paragraph closes on the sentence this whole question turns on: 'Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.' Be honest about the grammar. The little ones in view here are the ones who believe in Him, so this is a promise about disciples who are childlike before it is a statement about infants. But it tells us what the Father's will is like, it is the clearest sentence in Scripture on the subject, and it exists in order to deny that these little ones perish. Mark's account shows the same heart with no argument attached. Jesus was moved with indignation at the disciples and said, 'Allow the little children to come to me! Don't forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these,' and then 'took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.'
and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea.But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.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.
Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
David went to him
One place in Scripture lets us watch a father lose a child and say out loud what he expects. David fasted and lay all night on the ground and would not eat, and when the child died he washed, worshiped, and ate. His servants could not follow the logic, and his answer is the line this whole conversation rests on: 'I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.' He is not speaking in the abstract. He is refusing to grieve as a man with no hope, on the ground that the road between them runs one way and he is already on it. There is a second witness in 1 Kings 14. Jeroboam's whole house is under sentence, and of that house only one boy comes to a grave, 'because in him there is found some good thing toward Yahweh.' And Jeremiah answers Rachel, who refuses to be comforted for her children, with a command and a promise: 'Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded... and your children shall come again to their own border.' Matthew takes that same Rachel and sets her weeping at Bethlehem over the slaughtered infants, and calls it fulfilled. Be careful here: narrative is not a formula, and none of these texts was written to settle a doctrine. But they are the shape Scripture keeps making around a child's death, and it is never the shape of despair.
David therefore begged God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night on the earth.David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Yahweh’s house, and worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he ate.Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.
But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”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.
All Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.
Thus says Yahweh: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says Yahweh; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your latter end, says Yahweh; and your children shall come again to their own border.Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border.
“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more.”In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
Not innocent, but Adam's and Christ's
Here the honest answer has to resist the sentimental one. Scripture does not call children neutral. David says, 'Behold, I was born in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.' Paul says that we all 'were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.' And the sentence that makes infants a problem in the first place is Adam's: 'through one trespass, all men were condemned.' So the hope for a child who dies cannot rest on that child's innocence, and any account that builds the hope there will collapse the moment it is pressed. It rests on the second Adam instead. 'For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.' The Lamb of God 'takes away the sin of the world,' and John says He is 'the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.' Whatever else that means, it means the supply is not the bottleneck. The question was never whether the cross is sufficient for a child. It is whether the cross is applied to a child, and there Scripture gives us one sure ground and no arithmetic.
Behold, I was born in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
What Scripture does not give
Scripture never names an age, and it never states the doctrine. Anyone who tells you otherwise is adding to the text. What it does give is the character of the God who decides. He announces Himself as 'Yahweh, Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.' He swears that He takes no pleasure in anyone's death: 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.' He says His will is the opposite of perishing, 'not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,' and Paul says He is the One 'who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.' He denies that He wounds for its own sake: 'he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.' And when He speaks of children being burned in the fire, He says it is a thing 'which I didn't command, nor did it come into my mind.' Now weigh the conclusion. If guilt is charged against knowledge, if the Father's will is set against their perishing, if the Judge of all the earth does right, and if Scripture never once says of a dead child that the child is lost, then the burden of proof runs the other way. We are not asked to be certain about what God has not told us. We are asked to trust Him about it, and to stop treating a child's death as the one subject on which the Bible has no mercy.
Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind.And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
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For whom did Christ die?→Jesus Christ trail“I am the good shepherd.The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”Will I actually see them again, or just know they're safe?→Grief & Loss trail“After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God, Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.”We haven't written this one yet. Take it to your church or small group: the Word answers it wherever it is asked. If we study it here later, all the better.
We haven't written this one yet. Take it to your church or small group: the Word answers it wherever it is asked. If we study it here later, all the better.
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Verses to meditate on
Moreover your little ones, whom you said should be captured or killed, and your children, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and I will give it to, and they shall possess it.Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”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.
Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
He took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands on them.And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law.(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
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