Original Post in Chinese: https://henryau.org/2016/03/31/infant_sins/

Question: Are infants/children sinless? Can they commit sins? If they die young, will they go to heaven?

Answer: According to Catholic doctrine (though not formally defined), infants, because of ‘original sin’1 inherited from Adam, cannot enter heaven without baptism. They wouldn’t go to hell but to a place called Limbo, which means ‘the edge of hell,’ where “their fate remains uncertain and only God can judge." Protestant Christianity does not accept this doctrine, and the Bible does not support this concept.

Are infants born with sin? David once said, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."2 However, this is David expressing repentance after his sin, not a doctrinal statement on the sinfulness of infants. Moreover, Ezekiel 18:19-20 clearly states, “The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father," indicating that no one inherits sin from another. Thus, infants are born sinless.

But do infants and children grow up without committing sins? Parents might notice that children as young as two or three can lie or steal sweets. My view is that while they are not incapable of sin, their cognitive abilities do not yet hold them accountable; thus, they are not considered guilty3. Legal systems also treat minors differently from adults for similar reasons. When the Israelites rebelled against God, He did not judge those under twenty years of age 4, describing the younger generation as “having no knowledge of good or evil":

Deuteronomy 1:39 (ESV):

“And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it."

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."5 He also told His followers to “turn and become like children."6 The simplicity and innocence of children (though not implying they do not err) are indeed pleasing to God. I believe that when infants and young children pass away, they go directly into the arms of God.

What age then must children start being accountable for their sins? Is there an “age of accountability"? Some speculate that the “age of accountability" is twenty years based on God’s judgment on those who were under twenty during the Exodus; others refer to the age when Jesus and other Jewish children started learning the law (around twelve to thirteen years). My guess is that the Bible does not specify a precise age, but I think that anyone who begins to discern right from wrong needs to be accountable for their sins7. Those mentally capable of understanding the truth need Christ’s salvation8. The original Greek term for “children" in the cited scripture, παιδίον, generally refers to anyone from infancy to just before adolescence9. However, everyone matures at different rates, and some are born with impairments that mean they will never develop mature reasoning, so I believe the “age of accountability" varies by individual, but generally it would be between 12 and 18 years.

Why hasn’t God specified a precise “age of accountability"? Apart from it varying from person to person, God likely doesn’t want us to wait until that age to start teaching children to follow Him; we should be instructing them in His ways from an early age10. Just as God hasn’t revealed the exact date of the “end times," yet calls us to prepare early11. Additionally, I’ve heard it suggested that if God designated a specific “age of accountability," it might lead some to absurdly consider killing children before this age to ‘ensure their salvation.’ Considering that in the Old Testament, some sacrificed their children to false gods12, this isn’t a baseless concern.

Conclusion: Children are loved by God and belong to the kingdom of heaven. Those who die young return to God. Children are capable of sinning, but their actions are not counted as sin. God hasn’t made it clear when children grow into accountability for their sins, but He calls us to diligently teach them about Him, and Jesus calls us to actively spread the Gospel.

  1. Regarding original sin, another article would be needed to address it fully, but many Christians, including myself, do not accept the concept of original sin. ↩
  2. Psalms 51：5 ↩
  3. Psalm 32:2 (ESV): “Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." ↩
  4. Numbers 14:29 (ESV): “Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and all of your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me,"


    Numbers 32:11 (ESV): “‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me,'"


    Deuteronomy 1:39 (ESV): “And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it." ↩
  5. Matthew 19:14，Mark 10:13-14，Luke18:16 ↩
  6. Matthew 18:2-4，Luke 18:17，Also: 1 Corinthians 14：20 ↩
  7. Romans 2：15 ↩
  8. Ephesians 1：13、2：8 ↩
  9. Danker, Frederick William, Bauer, Walter, A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (University of Chicago Press:2000) , p. 749 ↩
  10. Proverbs 22：6，Deuteronomy 6：5－9 ↩
  11. Matthew 25：13、Mark 13：32、Luke 21：34、1 Corinthians 3：13、1 Thessalonians 5：4 ↩
  12. 2 Kings 16：3、17：17、21：6、23：10 and etc. ↩