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INFANT SALVATION

Do all babies who die go to heaven?

The message of the gospel is that we are lost, in bondage to sin, and in need of forgiveness. We receive that forgiveness when we embrace Christ as Savior and Lord. Romans tells us that we are without excuse because we know of God from creation and have an internalized sense of right and wrong; we have all acted against our own conscience despite knowledge of a holy God. But what can we say of those who die before ever developing a conscience, or consciousness itself? The Bible does not directly address the fate of those who die before reaching moral awareness. Christians of all stripes have struggled with the issue. The majority answer from most Protestant systems is that all those who die in infancy are saved, but some are content to say, "I don't know."

Readers familiar with this site are aware that I agree with the basic tenets of Calvinism as they relate to salvation. Many Arminians have charged that Calvinists reject infant salvation and teach that all or the great majority of infants are non-elect and are therefore sent to hell. (They suppose that Calvinists believe God would have allowed the infants to grow up and embrace Christ if they had been elect.) The Canons of Dort record the Catholic charge that Calvinists believed "many children of the faithful are torn, guiltless, from their mothers' breasts, and tyrannically plunged into hell so that neither baptism nor the prayers of the Church at their baptism can at all profit them."

Because of the biblical near-silence concerning this issue, few if any major confessions make infant salvation an article of faith. But the predominant view of Calvinists is that all who die in infancy are elect, redeemed, and given eternal life. In fact, they would argue, infant salvation is inherently Calvinistic since it rests entirely on the grace of God and cannot depend on the cooperation of the infant. Calvinists who have spoken in defense of infant salvation include Charles Hodge, B. B. Warfield, John Newton (composer of "Amazing Grace"), Augustus Toplady (composer of "Rock of Ages"), Charles Spurgeon, John MacArthur, John Piper, and Al Mohler. The best treatment I've seen is by Ronald Nash (When a Baby Dies; Zondervan, 1999).

My conviction is that infants, the unborn, and those who throughout life suffer severe mental handicaps are saved, based partly on Luke 18:15-17. People were bringing babies (Gk. brephe, infant/baby) to Jesus, and He insisted on accepting them, "for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." This especially hits home when you consider the infant mortality rates, abortions, and miscarriages, compared to the percentage of believers in each generation. Children may, in fact, make up the majority of those who spend eternity with Christ. (That doesn't mean they'll still be babies in heaven; I believe we'll all be humans in their ideal state, whatever that looks like? John 3:2.)

Infant Salvation under Calvinism

How does this work with Calvinism? First, election is not a problem. Election is God the Father's choice of who would be His people; He "chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4), and not based on anything we do (or would have done) in this life (Rom. 9:11). This is why we call it unconditional election. God is as free to elect infants as He is to elect older children and adults to be His people.

What about original sin? We are all conceived in sin (Psa. 51:5), and so even the unborn are tainted. But if Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins, and we stand before God justified because of Christ's righteousness, we believe the same holds true for infants. If Jesus died for us while we were considered sinners (Rom. 5:8), how much more could He die for those who had committed no actual sins?

The other major "hurdle" is regeneration, what Jesus calls being born again (John 3:7), and what Paul often refers to as being "called." Calvinists believe this is a free act of the Spirit of God. The Spirit comes to a sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, and makes that sinner alive in Christ. The sinner now has a will inclined toward God and responds in faith and repentance. Since this is a spiritual matter, then if infants have souls (as they obviously do), nothing prevents the Spirit from regenerating them, too. The difference is that they do not yet have the understanding to make the usual faith/repentance response and thus give us evidence of their salvation. But the Lord knows who are His (2 Tim. 2:19). (Some have worried what happens if an elect person dies before being regenerated; however this cannot happen, since the God who elects and regenerates is the same God who holds life and death in His hands. He does not make such mistakes.)

So in the Calvinist system, God is free to choose infants for His people. They are elected by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and regenerated by the Spirit. They are predestined, called, justified, and glorified according to the formula of Romans 8:30. The Bible gives indications both of the salvation of infants (2 Sam. 12:23; Lk. 18) and of their relative innocence (Deut. 1:39); nowhere in the Bible do we find any hint of infant damnation. My conclusion (and that of most Calvinists) is that all those who die as infants are saved.

A review of the five points of Calvinism:

• Total depravity - we can't choose Christ by ourselves (how much more true for infants!)
• Unconditional election - God chooses us without regard for our works (how much more true for infants!)
• Definite atonement - Christ's death redeemed us, not conditioned on our choosing Him (how much more true for infants!)
• Irresistible grace - the Spirit's regeneration guarantees our salvation (how much more true for infants!)
• Perseverance - the Spirit keeps us from falling away throughout our lives (how much more true for infants!)

Infant Salvation under Arminianism

As you can see, Calvinists can support infant salvation easily. It's Arminians who have the problem. For Arminians, first of all, election is based on "foreseen faith." God knows who will choose Him, and elects those people because of their future faith. But since infants can't have faith, Arminians have to suppose either that God elects them unconditionally (i.e., Calvinistically), or else that God elects them based on what they would have chosen had they lived. One problem with this is that this would also apply to adults who would have embraced Christ but died too soon, or who never heard the gospel. Classical Arminians also believe that God only knows our actual future decisions, not what we would have done if circumstances had been different.

The Arminian view of Christ's atonement is difficult, because Christ by His death only made salvation possible. Christ's payment is like a gift that isn't any good unless we unwrap it, or a check we have to deposit in our account. Infants don't have the ability to choose to accept this gift, or to ask Christ's forgiveness. If the atonement guaranteed the salvation of all for whom it was intended, then all would be saved, since in the Arminian view it was intended for everyone. So Christ's atonement for infants' original sin would have to be of a different type than His conditional atonement for everyone else.

Arminians also have difficulty with infant regeneration. For Arminians, the Spirit makes us "born again" after we choose Christ by faith. This enables us to live for Christ, but we had the ability to choose one way or the other. Arminians often say that "God rapes the life of no man"; He will not save us without our consent. As in the famous painting, He stands at the door and knocks, but there is no doorknob on the outside. We must open the door. But again, infants cannot choose Christ, so the Spirit does not have their consent to regenerate them.

Arminians have therefore had to propose a different way for infants to be saved. Some have said that infants who are baptized, or who have Christian parents, are saved on that basis. Others believe infants have a chance to accept Christ after they die ("post-mortem evangelism"). Still others suggest that God simply overlooks their sinful nature and doesn't require them to be born again like everyone else. Most Arminians do believe in infant salvation, but I don't think it's as consistent with their understanding of salvation as a whole.

A review of the five points of Arminianism:

• Limited depravity - we can all choose Christ (except for infants)
• Conditional election - God chooses people based on their foreseen faith (except for infants)
• Indefinite atonement - Christ's work is only effectual when actively accepted (except for infants)
• Resistible grace - the Spirit's work can always be rejected (except by infants)
• Apostasy - anyone might lose their salvation (except for infants)

Conclusion

In short, we can be confident that those we lose in infancy or earlier are secure in Christ. Keep in mind that we who are old enough to sin willfully cannot claim infant regeneration in order to deny our own need for conversion. There is only one example in the Bible of someone regenerated before birth: John the Baptist, who was "filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb" (Luke 1:15). Obviously this was a special case. For the rest, once we are old enough to commit "sins done in the body" (2 Cor. 5:10), we are liable to judgment. I've learned from psychology that we reach the age of critical thinking (an internalized sense of right and wrong) and the age we can have a concept of God at about the same time. For most of us, between ages five and seven we can understand enough about God and sin to be culpable. We can also understand enough about Jesus and salvation to be saved if we are properly evangelized. Gifted children develop more quickly and can reach this stage by age four or even (in extreme cases) three. Severe mental handicaps may prevent some people from ever reaching this understanding, and so a few adults might still be under this "age of accountability."

We should also be careful not to stretch this sort of salvation to include all who have never heard the gospel. Romans 1:18-21 and 2:15 specifically say such people are "without excuse" because they know enough about God and about right and wrong to be guilty. This does not apply to those of unaccountable age, but is relevant to everyone else. Those who are old enough to sin are old enough to die without Christ. This is why it is so important for us to be involved in missions and evangelism, and in sharing the gospel with our own children. They will not believe unless they hear the gospel from us who know it (Rom. 10:9-15).

Finally, if a non-Christian ever wants to make questions such as these a point of argument, this whole matter probably won't make much sense to him. Some may not have heard, or may not be able to choose, but you can assure him that he has heard and has his own choice to make. As for those who've lost a child, the greatest tragedy is if the infant, having died, is saved, but the parents are not. In that case, there will be no reunion. Thus, those of us with young children should be especially diligent to test ourselves and ensure that we are in the faith.

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