his is a question that can unsettle and disturb Christians as well as those outside of the church. We all know of people who have tragically lost a child in infancy. I personally know women who have lost children through miscarriage, stillbirth, and illness in early the early stage of development within the womb.
This seems so unfair and so unjust. Many people question what happens to babies or young infants when they die. All of us would like to believe that infants that die would immediately receive eternal life in heaven. We would want to imagine that each child would get the chance of life that they did not get on the earth.
Almost every Christian I know has had to wrestle with this question at some point during their spiritual journey with Christ. I don’t believe that there is an easy and straightforward answer that can be extracted from what the Bible says.
There are different views amongst Christians as to what the answer is to this question. I would tend to side with Christian pastors like John Piper and John MacArthur. These pastors teach a certain viewpoint that sits comfortably with what I understand from the Bible and what I know of God’s character. I also think it is the most compassionate and loving view and offers the most comfort and hope to those who have lost children in infancy.
This view is that all children who die in infancy are saved and are eternally united with God and alive in heaven. This view is actually the most common amongst Christians in the world today. Although the Bible is not explicit in its’ writings on what happens to children when they die in infancy, we can deduce a lot from the study of relevant passages in Scripture.
There is a story in the Old Testament in 2 Samuel chapter 12 where famous King David, who followed God lost a baby that died. David was devastated to lose the baby boy. In verse 23 of this chapter in the Bible, David says of the baby; ‘Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.’ Here David assumes that the baby has gone to be with God in heaven and that he will not see him again until he goes to join him in death. So the Bible seems to suggest that babies that die are immediately transferred into the presence of God in heaven.
The view that all children who die in infancy will be saved is supported by many people who are in the Evangelical and Reformed Christian tradition.
This view teaches that God, in his grace, chooses to save all who die in infancy and bring them into eternal life in heaven. This view does not undermine the seriousness of original sin which all children inherit when they are born, but it teaches that God extends special grace to infants who die at an early age.
All people inherit sinful traits when they are born, because we are all descendents of Adam and Eve who committed original sin in the Garden of Eden when they rebelled against God and sinned against Him by disobeying Him. Since then, all people born on the earth inherit sin because sin entered the human race at the beginning of its’ creation.
Many people have a problem with the view that children are sinners, or capable of doing wrong. However, consider for a moment children around the age of 2 who begin to enjoy saying ‘No’ to everything. Consider children of a young age who are cruel to their younger siblings of who seem hell bent on rebelling against their parents. It is obvious to me that children display signs of rebelliousness, selfishness and sin even from an early stage.
The Bible supports this view, and in Psalm 51, King David writes: ‘Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.’ So the Bible suggests that all children are sinful and flawed even from conception because they inherit a sinful nature from their ancestors, Adam and Eve.
Romans Chapter 5 verse 1 also explains this, ‘ 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—
But God has offered the solution to the inherently sinful nature that we inherit as human beings. He has given Jesus Christ and has shown His grace and mercy through doing this.
Romans 5:15 says: ‘But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man,(Adam) how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!’
So children are born sinners and inherit a sinful nature as all human beings do. However, they do not have the intellectual capacity to see this sin, and repent of it. They are too young to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to turn to God in repentance and faith and seek to change their attitudes and actions.
Sproul, a Christian writer says that infants who die are given a special measure of the grace of God. Therefore, it is not by their innocence but by God’s grace that they are received into heaven. Sproul writes that sinful nature, is not sufficient reason for God to condemn the child, for where salvation is by grace, damnation is by works.
John MacArthur, in his book Safe In The Arms of God, points out that the Bible consistently refers to those who occupy hell as being those who intentionally commit sins and rebellion. He is convinced that God does not condemn infants because: they have no willful rebellion or unbelief; they have never intentionally suppressed the truth about God; they have no understanding of sin’s impact or consequences; they have no debased behavior; and they have no ability to choose salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. MacArthur concludes that there is no place in Scripture in which a person suffers the judgment of damnation on the basis of anything other than sinful deeds, including the sinful deed of disbelief, which is a conscious, willful, intentional choice to disbelieve. Since infants do not have the intellectual capacity to commit the sin of disbelief, they will be received into heaven because of the mercy and grace of God.
John Piper, after acknowledging the presence and importance of original sin, says that if a person lacks the natural capacity to comprehend the revelation of God’s will or God’s glory then that person’s sin would not count against them. God would not bring the person into final judgment for not believing what he had no natural capacity to see. An infant has no capacity or ability to fathom the existence of God and the implications of this for their life. They do not have the ability to recognise that God created the world through the evidence in nature, and they do not have the opportunity to see that God is speaking to them as a moral judge through their own consciences.
John Piper, the famous American Pastor and Bible teacher wrote:
“The point for us is that even though we human beings are under the penalty of everlasting judgment and death because of the fall of our race into sin and the sinful nature that we all have, nevertheless God only executes this judgment on those who have the natural capacity to see his glory and understand his will, and refuse to embrace it as their treasure. Infants, I believe, do not yet have that capacity; and therefore, in God’s inscrutable way, he brings them under the forgiving blood of his Son.”
So if you were to ask me what happens to babies or infants when they die, I would have to answer that I believe they are immediately embraced by the loving arms of God in heaven. God is merciful, God is kind and He has a particular passionate concern and love for children. We need only look at the life of Jesus to see that He had a particular love for children. He said that little children should not be hindered in any way from coming to Him. He healed children who were suffering from sickness and even raised one little girl from the dead. He said that in order to perceive the Kingdom of God, we must come to Him with the same humility and simple faith of a little child. Christ had a special love for children and even said that children have guardian angels in heaven. It is true to say that God must have a very special place in His heart for children.
If you have lost a baby or a young child, be assured that they are most likely more alive than you are right now. If you turn to Christ and receive the forgiveness and grace of God for yourself, you too can be in heaven forever, and can know in your heart that you will see the dear child that you have lost once more in God’s glorious presence.
