Infant Salvation

So it has been a while since I have done a Sunday school, and I wanted to give you check-in on what I am learning in theology two. I will admit that Sunday school is an entirely different animal than preaching and requires a different skillset for a Biblical teacher. Some of the topics and ideas that I have learned are confusing and are entirely different from the ideals of what the world thinks is correct and what we know is right. One of the confusing topics that I was faced with and one that every human being deals with is losing a relative or loved one who was too young to lose their life.

One of my required readings for my class was The Spiritual condition of infants by Adam Harwood. If you want a book to make your head hurt, then this is the book for you. We first must understand that the point at which a human being is a person and not just some point of cells. The secular world would tell you that a baby is life after 16 weeks. Yes, that is correct, 16 weeks or four months inside the womb of their mother. In my honest opinion, this is completely and utterly ridiculous. Because you have laws that state that you are attaching the woman and the unborn child if you attack a pregnant woman. They are not counting the weeks but the state of the condition that there is a thriving life and has a combination of cells from the father and the mother.

Why does the world call a baby in the womb a fetus?

If you call an unborn baby something else, you have no regrets about ending the pregnancy if you do not want the life. You are shifting the guilt or the blame from the fact that it is human life that God has given you and is something you can get rid of like an old piece of lunchmeat. Here is something else that is utterly crazy because even science has stated that life begins from the very beginning. The process of conception and that this child inside feels pain, emotion, stress and requires comfort and nutrition from the mother. The world wants to do whatever they want, so they call the child something else. We have proof and evidence that the Baby inside the mother can feel pain at four weeks of life. This is even before most women know that they are carrying a life inside of them. If the world tells us that a child is something else and cannot feel any pain, emotion, or anything until 20 weeks, we can kill the child with no remorse. * okay, I will get off my soapbox*

Therefore, we have those in our fellowship who work so hard to fight this and show those in the struggle the ultrasound and life inside. They can count the fingers and toes inside and see the miracle of life from the very beginning of life, where they have been formed in the womb. Mr. Harwood includes the age of infants to go to the first year of life, so few are looking at traditionally til the first three months after birth.

Now that we have set the record straight and know when life begins, what is the growing boy or girl called home? Do they go into Heaven, or are they thrown into Hell? They have not walked this earth, so they have not even had a chance to have a sinful nature. I know that no one wants to think of the thought of Hell when thinking about a small child or infant. Nevertheless, we have learned here: we do not sugarcoat the truth and let God's word speak for itself. We do not add our spin or flavor to it. We do not change it because we do not like what it says. However, that is precisely what the world has decided to do when changing a baby's name to something scientific as an embryo or a fetus.

So here is a question to wake us all up and get our brain cells going. What is the difference between sinful nature and sinful action?

They both involve Sin, right, but by what account are they different, and what are they. Before we dive deep into the difference, we have to understand the basics of both of these terms.

For us to understand these terms, we have to ask what Sin is?

Some might say murder or lying, but according to the Lexham dictionary, it is.

Sin is any deviation from a divinely revealed will. According to the Scriptures, it is the source of evil, corruption, and death and is what humanity and all of creation must be saved from.[1]

There are at least 400 mentions of Sin in the Bible, according to Google. What does it mean when God keeps repeating something over and over? (just like our parents beating our head against the wall) This is something essential and something that we need to get a grasp of.

We all know that Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden. This is considered the first Sin that started everything. The desire to sin or to do what the world wants us to do is sinful nature. We are born with this nature and not something we can remove or add to the equation. Now, this is not an excuse or a get out of jail free pass to sin and do whatever you want.

Mr. Harwood shows us the example through

Romans 5:12-21

Romans 5:12-21

Romans 5:12–21 ESV

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We carry the weight of the actions that happened thousands of years ago in the garden. We carry the Sin that fractured the relationship with our heavenly father and what ultimately led to Jesus dying on the cross to cover up our transgressions. IT was all planned before the foundation of the earth but still we caused the crack in the relationship with our Creator.

The thought of this would mean that even infants with their facilities challenges are worthy of death because they carry the weight of Sin from the very beginning, even when they are harmless with smelly diapers and spit up from their mothers' milk.

Of course, the infant did not sin in their mother's womb, but they still are faced with the consequence of Adam's Sin from the beginning. Sinful nature is something we must keep in the back of our minds. "Mr. Murray in states that we all have sinned just by our existence into this world."[3]

Now that we have dealt with the topic of the sin nature, then we have to tackle the other side of the coin. Sin action?

Sin action is the actual process of sinning. I know that sounds pretty self-explanatory, but how many times have you thought that you had a get-out-of-free jail pass?

Well, it was a white lie; I just lied to my parents to spare their feelings. It did not hurt anyone, so I should be good. Well, unfortunately, there is no such thing as a good lie and a bad lie. There is levity or room given. If I run a solid red light, I broke the law. I did not kind of break the law, and the red light was still solid right. There was no tint of yellow in it.

Psalm 51:5

Psalm 51:5 ESV

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

and we also see something in Ephesians

Ephesians 2:3-5

Ephesians 2:3–5 ESV

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Ephesians 2:3-5 states that we have a need to be saved by the mercy of our Heavenly Father by his son Dying on the cross.

We have faced the challenge of the heart and with our relationship with our Heavenly Father. If a two-month-old dies, do they go to Heaven, or do they go to Hell?

MR. Wayne Grudem, in the textbook, states that if an infant or child is too young for his transgression, he must be judged by the sinful nature that they get from the first Adam.[6]

Another viewpoint is that I have learned from Thomas Crudum that states that infants are too young and unable to have the ability to sin because they do not understand the concept. They are merely acting on the basis that is needed for their survival.

We have to ask ourselves at what age are we morally accountable or know that we are sinning?

Does a baby know that they are sinning or a toddler when they are naughty? Furthermore, if so, then are they responsible for their Sin and transgressions towards their Heavenly Father. Does the child know that they are fracturing the relationship with their Creator?

Before we get too deep, we have to remind ourselves that there are many different views. Mr. Harwood presents the examples of Elizabeth and Zariah's birth announcement.

Luke 1:11-13

Luke 1:11–13 ESV

And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

Luke's presentation shows that there is a soul in the unborn child. The unborn child we see right now is John the Baptist, who leaped for joy when Jesus was in the womb of Mary.

Now back to the question at hand about at what age. Does a child know that they are sinning? We do not have a. Specific verse that tells us indefinitely, but we do have the story of David and Bathsheba.

2 Samuel 12:15-23

2 Samuel 12:15–23 ESV

Then Nathan went to his house. And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick. David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

David did not say precisely much, but he was mourning, and later that he hoped he would meet up with his child again.

The critical thing we have to understand is that we do not know exactly know that we have a merciful and awesome God that loves us. We do not know many things and will not know until we are in Heaven partying with Jesus. However, we give comfort to those that have lost a child that they have the mercy of our Father in Heaven to save them.

[1]David J. Sigrist, “Sin,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014). t Gen. 2:17; 3:6; 1 Cor. 15:21, 22; [ver. 15–17; ch. 6:9; Ps. 51:5] u ch. 6:23; James 1:15 v [ver. 14, 21; 1 Cor. 15:22] 5 The Greek word anthropoi refers here to both men and women; also twice in verse 18 w Eph. 2:3 x See ch. 3:20 z 1 Cor. 15:45 a [Matt. 11:3] bver. 19; Isa. 53:11 c1 Cor. 11:32 dver. 18 eRev. 22:5 6Or the trespass of one 7Or the act of righteousness of one fSee John 12:32 g[2 Cor. 10:6] hHeb. 5:8; [Phil. 2:8] iGal. 3:19; See ch. 3:20 j1 Tim. 1:14 k[ver. 12, 14] lSee John 1:17 [2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 5:12–21. [3] The spiritual condition of infants by Mr.Adam Harwood. Chapter four fRom. 5:12, 19; Eph. 2:3; See Job 14:4; 15:14 [4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ps 51:5. oGal. 5:16 1Greek flesh pSee Ps. 51:5; Rom. 5:12 q[2 Pet. 2:14] 2Greek like the rest 3Or And rver. 7; Titus 3:5; See Rom. 2:4 sSee John 3:16 tver. 1; [Rom. 5:6, 8, 10] uCol. 2:12, 13; [John 14:19; Rev. 20:4] vver. 8; See Acts 15:11 [5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 2:3–5. [6] Systematic theology 496-500 l[1 Kgs. 21:27] mch. 13:31 nRuth 3:3 oJob 1:20 p[Jonah 3:9] qJob 7:8–10 [7] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 2 Sa 12:15–23.