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Merry Christmas!
Blogging is not generally a forum for a long or exhaustive presentation and I can write on similar topics in posts over time. Sunday after church, a discussion arose concerning the salvation of children, in other words non-adults, or persons that do not have the mental competence of an adult.
Erickson
Millard Erickson, a Baptist and Calvinist theologian within the Reformed tradition, explains the doctrine of original sin, based on Romans 5:12-19. Paul is arguing that death in the human race is the consequence of the sin of Adam. Erickson (1994: 636). This is universal and for all humankind. Erickson (1994: 636). Grenz, Guretzki, and Nordling describe original sin as the state in which all human beings are born. The first humans became unrighteous because of sin against God. Grenz, Guretzki, and Nordling (1999: 87). Erickson explains that infants begin life with a corrupted nature and guilt as a consequence of sin. Erickson (1994: 637). He cautiously reasons that they are not condemned to everlasting hell since they never reach a level of moral competence. Erickson (1994: 638). He writes that Jesus did not regard children as basically sinful and guilty as they were held out as examples of the type of people that would inherit the Kingdom of God, as in Matthew 18:3, 19:14. Erickson (1994: 638). Erickson deduces that children are not under God’s condemnation for sin until attaining an age of responsibility in moral and spiritual matters. Erickson (1994: 638). If the child dies he/she would be regenerated, as all believers need to be from his/her sinful state. The child will experience the same future existence as others that reached the age of moral responsibility and received salvation. Erickson (1994: 639).
For deceased children and those who are persons that are mentally deficient, it can be deduced that since they do not arrive at a reasonably competent point of consciously rejecting God, and reasonable understanding of the punishment for this rebellion, they may be regenerated by God and included within the culminated Kingdom of God after death. I would view this as reasonable speculation. Biblically persons appear to be judged for sins, which result from a sinful nature, and not for the sinful nature itself. In Revelation 20:12, those persons who are thrown into the lake of fire are judged for their deeds, and therefore persons are judged for deeds and not nature. Mounce states here that no one is so important to be immune from judgment, and no one is so unimportant to make judgment inappropriate. Mounce (1990: 365). A non-regenerated child or mentally deficient person would still have a corrupt nature unacceptable for God’s presence, but I speculate that a certain mental capacity is required to be everlastingly punished for sinful deeds.
Those within Reformed Covenant theology traditions, Presbyterians, Baptists, and others, often hold to concepts that children of believers are saved, if they die before the age of accountability. G.N.M. Collins writes that Reformed confessions believe in the possibility of infants being saved. Collins (1996: 560). There is the understanding that all elect children will be saved, despite the incapability of response. Collins (1996: 560). The children have no claim to salvation themselves, but receive the same sovereign grace as elected adults. Collins (1996: 560).
In contrast
I have previously presented this contrasting view within the comments of the Infant Baptism article. It could be stated within Reformed tradition, at least, that children and the mentally deficient outside of the New Covenant of Christ, could be everlastingly separated from God and judged according to deeds within their limited knowledge. Since children and all persons have corrupt natures, they do sin, and therefore could be everlastingly judged for these deeds and a nature which opposes God's, without having a competent understanding of God they are rejecting and the punishment they are receiving. It is possible that their punishment shall be at the level of limited understanding. I view this as a theological possibility that cannot be overlooked. But, the concept of everlasting separation in the New Testament appears to be one of God separating those from his presence that embraced their sinful nature and committed sinful deeds with a definite, competent and not largely deficient understanding. My personal deduction is that when persons with normal mental abilities reach adulthood, or the age of adult like mental competence, they are candidates for God’s judgment. This age of accountability could occur at an earlier age, but I reason that most persons are generally still rather childlike in the early teens.
COLLINS, G.N.M. (1996) ‘Infant Salvation’, in Walter A. Elwell (ed.), Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Books
ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.
GRENZ, STANLEY J., DAVID GURETZKI AND CHERITH FEE NORDLING (1999) Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, Downers Grove, Ill., InterVarsity Press.
MOUNCE, ROBERT H. (1990) The Book of Revelation, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
http://satireandtheology.blogspot.com/2007/12/blue-santa.html
