Bible Question:
Does the Bible say anything about being too old to father children? If a direct answer isn't in the Bible, are there passages of the Bible that might help me?
Bible Answer:
When is a man too old to have children?
A question that couples often ask when the husband is significantly older than a wife is, “When is a husband too old to have children?” Is a man too old to have children when he is older than 60, 70, or 80 years but his wife is still able to become pregnant? There are two common concerns. One is biblical and the other is medical.
Biblical Perspectives
There are three biblical reasons that help give us part of the answer to the question. First, God has told husbands and wives to be frutiful and multiply in Genesis 1:28.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28 (NASB)
The command to have children adds that humans are to fill the earth. That is, God wants a husband and a wife to have multiple children.
Second, the Bible never prohibits a husband from having children at any age. The Scriptures have two examples where God enabled couples to have children when they were no longer of child bearing age. The first example is Abraham and Sarah. They had a child named Isaac when Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 99 years old (Genesis 17:15-17; 18:11; 21:5; Romans 4:19; Hebrews 11:11). It was God Himself who announced the birth of Isaac. That is, God wanted Abraham and Sarah to have this child. Then after Sarah died, Genesis 25:1-11 reveals that Abraham married Keturah, and she bore him children multiple times. He was able to do this somewhere between the age of 100 years and 175 years, when he died.
Another couple who gave birth when they were past the child-bearing age was Zacharias and Elizabeth. Luke 1:7-18 states that Elizabeth was barren and had no children. Also, Zacharias and Elizabeth were too old to have children, but the angel Gabriel announced they would have a child in response to their prayers (Luke 1:13). Once again, we are given the message that God does not consider any married biological make and female too old to have children, even if the man is hundred years old or more.
Therefore, the message is that God has not set any age limits for when men and women should have children. So, a husband of any age can father a child with his wife at any age, if they are medically able. God never set any limits on the age of a father.
Medical Perspectives
There are also medical and biological issues to consider. First, a husband may not be able to make his wife pregnant due to sterility issues. There are many barren women in the pages of Scripture (Genesis 11:30; 25:21; 29:31; Judges 13:2; 1 Samuel 1:2-21; Luke 1:7), even though Scripture does not specifically call out examples of sterile men. In Genesis 25:21, we discover that God intervened and helped barren Rebekah to have a child. 1 Samuel 1:5-6 says that God closed the womb of Hannah, and then 1 Samuel 1:2-21 states that God helped Hannah have a child even though she had been barren. The message is that God can enable a woman to conceive and enable a husband to make his wife conceive.1 This is a biological or medical issue.
A second medical issue is that it has been discovered babies can sometimes have mental health disorders if the father is an older man.2
Third, the UT Southwestern Medical Center reports,
A father’s age can also affect a baby’s health at birth and later in life. One study revealed that babies who are born to men 45 or older were 14% more likely to be admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), 14% more likely to be born premature, 18% more likely to have seizures, and 14% more likely to have a low birth weight.
The same study also found that pregnant women whose partners are 45 or older are 28% more likely to develop gestational diabetes, which can lead to a larger baby, low neonatal blood sugar, premature birth, and increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.3
These are medical concerns about which a medical doctor can assist. Therefore, it is recommended that a couple consult with their doctors initially.
Conclusion
In summary, God encourages married couples to have numerous children. There are no biblical prohibitions for older men to become fathers. At the time of Abraham, Rachel, and Hannah, genetic defects would have been less of an issue than they are today. Even though there are medical risks for both the mother and the baby as a man grows older, that does not mean any medical issues will actually occur.4 We must remember that God is in total control. A couple should pray and ask God for guidance.
The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” Exodus 4:11 (NASB)
References:
1. Sabrina Felson. “Is It Too Late to Have a Baby for a 60-Year-Old Man?” WebMD. April 26, 2025. (www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/too-late-to-have-baby-60-year-old-man)
2. Ibid.
3. Leen Al-Hafez and Heather Fisher. “How does a father’s age affect fertility and a baby’s health?” UT Southwestern Medical Center. October 13, 2023. (utswmed.org/medblog/older-fathers-fertility/)
4. Ibid.
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