Why We May Hope That Babies Who Die Will Go To Heaven

This is an emotionally charged issue, because many have been
affected by the death of a baby, and no one wants to think such a
one could possibly go to hell. The question then, is not what do
we want to think, but what does the Bible actually teach about
the subject?

1) All Are Born With Inherited Sin:

A) Adam was made in the image of God:

Genesis 1:27 NIV
(27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
created him; male and female he created them.

B) The fall changed Adam's nature:

Genesis 2:17 NIV
(17) but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

Spiritual death came with the fall of man.

C) After the fall, it is said that Adam's children were born in
Adam's image:

Genesis 5:3 NIV
(3) When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own
likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

D) Ephesians confirms the spiritual death from which God has to
save men:

Ephesians 2:1-3 NIV
(1) As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
(2) in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this
world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who
is now at work in those who are disobedient.
(3) All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the
cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and
thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

E) The Psalms show men receive that sin nature at the moment of
conception:

Psalms 51:5 NIV
(5) Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother
conceived me.

Psalms 58:3 NIV
(3) Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are
wayward and speak lies.

Inherited sin is passes on from the moment of conception, which
is why no one is born in a condition that makes him worthy of
entering heaven.

2) Imputed Sin

Romans 5:12-14 NIV
(12) Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man,
and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men,
because all sinned—
(13) for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin
is not taken into account when there is no law.
(14) Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the
time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a
command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

God directly imputes the sin of Adam to all men, and this is
evident by the fact that even though sin is not taken into
account where there is no law, death reigned from the time of
Adam and Moses, when there was none.

Hebrews shows that Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek, by virtue of
being present in his loins at the time Abraham did so:

Hebrews 7:9-10 KJV
(9) And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed
tithes in Abraham.
(10) For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec
met him.

Thus, imputed sin passes directly to all men, and God counts them
guilty of the sin of Adam.

3) You must be born _"again"_ to enter the kingdom of God

John 3:5-6 NIV
(5) Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the
kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
(6) Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to
spirit.

Flesh cannot give birth to "spirit". Salvation requires being
born twice. First of the flesh, then of the Spirit. Men are not
saved simply by being born of the flesh.

4) Eternal Security

Romans 8:30-31 NIV
(30) And those he predestined, he also called; those he called,
he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
(31) What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for
us, who can be against us?

God glorifies everyone whom He saves (justifies) in the first
place. You can't have a person starting out justified, who then
is not also glorified, because God has sovereignly predestined
everyone whom He chooses to save, to glory.

To claim that babies start out in a saved condition, then lose
that at some "age of accountability", implies not only that
babies are born in a sinless AND meritorious condition, but that
they then lose that salvation based on their own merits, which
makes salvation depend not on a sovereign and merciful God, but
on man's merits. If salvation depends in the the least upon
man's merits, rather than God's sovereign mercy, then NO ONE
could EVER be sure they're going to heaven.

5) The direct statement of Scripture:

Romans 9:11-16 NIV
(11) Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good
or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand:
(12) not by works but by him who calls—she was told, "The older
will serve the younger."
(13) Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
(14) What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
(15) For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
(16) It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort,
but on God's mercy.

This chapter labors to show, by many examples, that salvation
does not depend on the "will or effort" of men, but on God's
sovereign purpose and mercy. For those who want salvation to be
a reward for man's innocence or merit, we are shown the example
of twins, before they were born, or had done anything good or
bad. Even in such a case, salvation is shown to depend not on
man's innocence or merits, but on God's sovereign purpose. Thus
there is no room for man to bask in the glory of his own merits
or "innocence", and all glory must go to God alone.

6) Objections answered:

Romans 9 anticipates the objection that if God is sovereign in
the salvation of men, then why does He find fault, since who has
resisted His will? The answer it gives is

A) God is not unjust:

Romans 9:14 NIV
(14) What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!

B) The glory of God's sovereign mercy is more important than our
glory or salvation:

Romans 9:15-18 NIV
(15) For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
(16) It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort,
but on God's mercy.
(17) For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for
this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that
my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
(18) Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and
he hardens whom he wants to harden.

C) A creature doesn't have any standing or right to call a
sovereign God to account:

Romans 9:19-21 NIV
(19) One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame
us? For who resists his will?"
(20) But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is
formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"
(21) Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same
lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

7) Practical problems:

If all babies who die before the "age of accountability" are
guaranteed salvation, but could then possibly lose their
salvation if they live to reach that certain unknown age, the
only way to insure their salvation would be the insane,
incorrect, and dangerous idea that they must die before that age.
That kind of reasoning would make abortion more effective than
proclaiming the gospel, as a way to insure the salvation of
children, which is totally insane idea with potentially
catastrophic ramifications.

8) Conclusion:

The answer to the question seems clearly defined in Romans 9.
Whether or not babies go to heaven when they die depends not on
man's "innocence", merits or will, but on whether or not God has
elected him to salvation. For me, this Scripture definitively
answers the question. Elect babies go to heaven if they die, and
non-elect babies do not. Since we can't possibly know whether a
baby was born elect, we have a basis for hoping that all children
who die could have been one of God's elect.

--
Have you heard Christ died for our sins, and God raised Him
from the dead? Did you know God saves you from hell and
gives you eternal life through faith in this finished work alone,
not your merits (Jn. 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-3; Eph. 2:8-10; 2 Thess.
1:8-9)? This is so man cannot boast, and God alone gets the
glory (Eph. 2:8-9).
______________________________________________
www.faithguard.org
www.twitter.com/faithguard
www.facebook.com/faithguard
______________________________________________