THE FALSE DOCTRINE OF "THE AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY"

[Eddie Ramos]

It's interesting that this is another widely held doctrine by Christians, yet no one has ever put forth an actual age from the scriptures where children are not accountable for their sins. The fact is that when God looks at a human being, he looks at their heart and sees either righteousness or unrighteousness. If righteousness, then that means that Christ's atoning work has been applied to your life. At which point he has given that person a new and perfect heart that is free from sin, and has raised their dead soul to eternal life. If God sees unrighteousness in their heart, then it means that Christ's atoning work has not (or not yet) been applied to that individual and that individual is still in his or her sins. This applies from the moment of conception.

Psalm 51:5 (KJV 1900)
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity;
And in sin did my mother conceive me.

Can something conceived in sin be pure and clean in the eyes of God? The Bible says, no.

Job 14:4 (KJV 1900)
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.

So, how does God view a child conceived and still unsaved? The same way he views a grown up who is still unsaved, as wicked.

Psalm 58:3 (KJV 1900)
The wicked are estranged from the womb:
They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

Most will say, "babies can't speak, so this can't be referring to babies". Yet this is parabolic language (as is the whole Bible) which is speaking of the spiritual condition (as viewed by God) of mankind who was yet in his sins.

When the Bible as a whole is taken into acount, it absolutely contradicts and therefore rejects such doctrine of any age of accountability. But why then was it invented? Because it was build upon another false doctrine, the free will doctrine which states that a person must make an informed choice if he is going to accept Christ. And since babies can't do that, they had to find a way to make them exempt. But this goes to show what happpens when someone tries to build upon a crooked foundation, everything else they build on that foundation will also be crooked.

My question for anyone who hold to this doctrine is, can you show me how the scriptures you use to support such doctrine agree witht he above Bible verses provided? Because if we isolate passages from the Bible as a whole, then we can make them say anything we want.

[2timothy316]

[Replying to Eddie Ramos in post #1]

“For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in relation to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in relation to the brother; otherwise, your children would really be unclean, but now they are holy.”​—1 Cor. 7:14.

However,

"Children, be obedient to your parents in union with the Lord, for this is righteous." - Eph 6:1

These scriptures show there is just the accountability of children to their parents. There is no magic age when children are considered accountable. They are accountable as soon as they understand Eph 6:1. Yet the Bible is clear at 1 Cor 7:14, a person that serves the True God in true worship brings a measure of protection to the children in the household, even if one parent is an unbeliever.

[onewithhim]

[Replying to 2timothy316 in post #2]

Might I add that there is no set age, as you said, timothy, and that it all depends on when the child can understand the gravity of the issues involved.

[myth-one.com]

My question for anyone who hold to this doctrine is, can you show me how the scriptures you use to support such doctrine agree with the above Bible verses provided?

Although that doctrine is invalidated under the New Testament Covenant, here is its scriptural justification:

Sin is the transgression of God's laws, or commandments:

For sin is the transgression of the law. (I John 3:4)

However, for a sin to be imputed, or counted against someone, that someone must first recognize that the act is a sin:

To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)

For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Romans 5:13)

Babies do not understand the law. The same case can be made for mental incompetents and the insane. The "not guilty by reason of insanity" defense is based on the same rational.There is also biblical evidence that this innocence of children even applied to Jesus Christ:

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 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. (Isaiah 7:14-16)

Suppose that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are eating breakfast and Joseph instructs Jesus to stop playing with His food. If Jesus continues playing with His food, He has violated one of the Ten Commandments:

Honor thy father and thy mother... (Exodus 20:12)

However, if Jesus is six months of age at the time, it is not counted against Him as a sin because sin is knowingly transgressing one of God's laws. Since a six-month-old baby does not understand His father's request, it is not counted as a sin.

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Nonetheless, the age of accountability doctrine no longer applies under the New Testament Covenant, as under that covenant sin no longer controls our salvation:

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

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The New Testament indicates that every person who dies as a nonbeliever in Christ will be resurrected as humans a thousand years after the Second Coming and choose to accept or reject Jesus as their Savior at that time.

Nonbelievers who died as babies will be resurrected at that time to grow, hear the good news of the gospel, and make their choice between everlasting life or everlasting death at that time.

[Eddie Ramos]

[Replying to Eddie Ramos in post #1]

“For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in relation to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in relation to the brother; otherwise, your children would really be unclean, but now they are holy.”​—1 Cor. 7:14.

However,

"Children, be obedient to your parents in union with the Lord, for this is righteous." - Eph 6:1

These scriptures show there is just the accountability of children to their parents. There is no magic age when children are considered accountable. They are accountable as soon as they understand Eph 6:1. Yet the Bible is clear at 1 Cor 7:14, a person that serves the True God in true worship brings a measure of protection to the children in the household, even if one parent is an unbeliever.

Regarding the children being "holy". 1 Cor 7:14 needs to be understood in light of the way God uses the word "holy" in the scriptures as wellas the whole of the scriptures. WHile the word "holy" means that someone has been made free from ther sins (meaning saved), it's also used to speak of those who only represent something. Israel was called "holy" nation. Yet this doesn't mean that they were set free from their sins.

Exodus 19:6 (KJV 1900)
And ye (Israel) shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

But they were called this because they represented the true Israel of God made up of true children of God from every tongue, tribe and nation of the world.

Revelation 5:9–10 (KJV 1900)
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

1 Peter 2:9 (KJV 1900)
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

So, when God tells us that the married couple who stays together are an earthly representation of the holy sanctity of marriage, therefore the children that they conceive are an heritage of the Lord. It's in this capacity only that the children are seen as holy, but if divorce or separation takes place then that earthly representation has been changed into something which is not representative of God's holy union of marriage, which is why the children (who were once considered holy) are now considered unclean.

1 Corinthians 7:13–14 (KJV 1900)
And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else (meaning, if one leaves) were your children unclean; but now (because you have remained together) are they holy.

And, accountability to ones earthly parents when a child reaches a level of understanding does not equate to the same accountability which God places on sin. When God looks on mankind (at any stage in life) he either sees righteousness (meaning saved) or unrighteousness (unsaved), clean (saved) or unclean (unsaved), a perfect heart (saved) or a heart that is not perfect (unsaved).
God looks at the spiritual condition of every individual and judges accordingly and righteously. This is because there was only ever salvation program from the beginning of time. That is that God saved whosoever he chose to save at whatever stage of their life each person was in. Whether just conceived (like saving (loving) Jacob but not Esau (he was hated)), whether a few months in the womb (like John the Baptist), whether the last hour of someone's life (like the thief on the cross), etc. Salvation was never dependant on an age or level of comprehension of the gospel, only the spiritual hearing of it.

Romans 10:17 (KJV 1900)
So then faith (which is a fruit/result of having the Spirit of God/being saved) cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

This is also why God gave us the account of the flood of Noah's day. The ark typified salvation for the 8 souls within it. What happened to the childrenand babies outside the ark who were destroyed? Did they go to heaven as well? That would teach that "the door" to the ark by which Noah and his family entered is not the only way to become saved, which of course contradicts the scriptures. It would also contradict the passage that tells us that the rest of the world was condemned. And condemnation is only the result of sin.

Hebrews 11:7 (KJV 1900)
By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

[Eddie Ramos]

[Replying to 2timothy316 in post #2]

Might I add that there is no set age, as you said, timothy, and that it all depends on when the child can understand the gravity of the issues involved.

Please see post #5.

[Eddie Ramos]

My question for anyone who hold to this doctrine is, can you show me how the scriptures you use to support such doctrine agree with the above Bible verses provided?

Although that doctrine is invalidated under the New Testament Covenant, here is its scriptural justification:

Sin is the transgression of God's laws, or commandments:

For sin is the transgression of the law. (I John 3:4)

However, for a sin to be imputed, or counted against someone, that someone must first recognize that the act is a sin:

To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)

For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Romans 5:13)

Babies do not understand the law. The same case can be made for mental incompetents and the insane. The "not guilty by reason of insanity" defense is based on the same rational.

The doctrine of the age of accountability is invalidated by the scriptures as a whole. In your scriptural justification, first you took James 4:14 out of context and gave it your own meaning.

James 4:13–17 (KJV 1900)
Go to now, ye that say (mental incapability is not in view), To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. 17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Therefore, to him that boasts about his life as if though he was in control of guarranteeing himself just one more day of life, rather than acknowledging that God is the one in control of that (knowing to do this good), to him that does this (the former), it is sin. So, that application to an innocent mind has no application.

And regarding Romans 5:13, the not imputing of sin where there is no law is also taken out of context (but not just by you). Let's see what we can learn from the context.

Romans 5:12–14 (KJV 1900)
Wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

This agrees with Romans 3:23.

Romans 3:23 (KJV 1900)
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Before we get to the verse you quoted in Romand 5:13, we can see that because of Adam's sin, sin and death passed upon mankind, meaning that since thebeginning ALL are guilty of sin which is punisheable by death. Then we read that until God gave the Levitical law, that sin was indeed already in the world which God (over and over) punished by death.

Romans 5:13-14
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 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.

Until the levitical law was given, people were not held accountable for breaking any of those laws, like sowing 2 diferent seeds in the same field. But death still reigned from Adam to Moses because of Adam's sin. This means that the not imputing of sin where there is no law has nothing to do with one's mental capacity for understanding a particular law, it had to do with God not giving those specific laws yet. Nevertheless, mankind was still guilty of sin in the eyes of God. This includes everyone, nomatter the age or mental capacity to understand anything.

Romans 3:9–18 (KJV 1900)
9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth (lack of understanding applies to all those who are still in their sins, not just babies), there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

If you notice the language of verse 13, God likens the unsaved to having poisonous lips like that of a serpent, and interestingly enough, God uses the same language in Psalm 58 to ddescribe the same type of people and take this wickedness back to the womb.

Psalm 58:3–5 (KJV 1900)
3  The wicked are estranged from the womb:
They go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4  Their poison is like the poison of a serpent:
They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
5  Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers,
Charming never so wisely.

[myth-one.com]

The doctrine of the age of accountability is invalidated by the scriptures as a whole.

For sin is the transgression of the law. (I John 3:4)

To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)

For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Romans 5:13)

At some point in their lives most individuals understand and recognize good from evil. That point is the age at which they become accountable for their actions.

Thus it is their "age of accountability."

[Eddie Ramos]

The doctrine of the age of accountability is invalidated by the scriptures as a whole.

For sin is the transgression of the law. (I John 3:4)

To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)

For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Romans 5:13)

At some point in their lives most individuals understand and recognize good from evil. That point is the age at which they become accountable for their actions.

Thus it is their "age of accountability."

Looks like you skipped over post #7 where I showed you from the Bible what those scriptures are referring to and that there is no such doctrine from the Bible that teaches an age of accountability because ALL have sinned. Please take a look at my previous post.

[myth-one.com]

The doctrine of the age of accountability is invalidated by the scriptures as a whole.

For sin is the transgression of the law. (I John 3:4)

To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)

For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Romans 5:13)

At some point in their lives most individuals understand and recognize good from evil. That point is the age at which they become accountable for their actions.

Thus it is their "age of accountability."

Looks like you skipped over post #7 where I showed you from the Bible what those scriptures are referring to and that there is no such doctrine from the Bible that teaches an age of accountability because ALL have sinned. Please take a look at my previous post.

Of course, all have sinned. So what?

Sin is not imputed against someone who does not understand that what they did was indeed a sin.

And the wages of sin do not apply to sin which is not imputed against someone.