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Bible Question: At
what age is a child responsible for his/her own soul and sins?
Bible Answer:
God
never tells us at what age we become responsible for our sins.
Many teach that we are not responsible at a young age. But there
are no passages in scripture which support this idea other than
David's comments about his dead child. In 2 Samuel 11:27 we
discover that David's new wife Bathsheba gave birth to a little
baby boy. At some later time, God disciplined David by taking
the life of the baby (2 Sam. 12:15-16). After the baby dies,
King David says this about the child,
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And
he said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted
and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the LORD may
be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ But
now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him
back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return
to me.” (NASB) 2 Samuel 12:22-23
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David says that he will see his child in heaven some
day. This means that God did not hold the infant responsible
for his/her sins. We are all born sinners. We sin because we
are sinners.
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Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin
my mother conceived me. (NASB) Ps 51:5
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into
the world, and death through sin, and so death spread
to all men . . . (NASB) Rom. 5:12
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Conclusion:
By
nature we are born sinners and so we deserve death. If David
will see his child some day, this means that God did not hold
the child responsible for his sins. How old was the child? We
do not know, but he must have been in the first or early years
of his life (2 Samuel 12:15-23). |
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