Will%20Infants%20Who%20Die%20Go%20to%20Heaven?

1
Will Infants Who Die Go to Heaven?

• An Overview of the Claims, Options, Possible
  Solutions, Implications, and Concluding
  Biblically Theologically Coherent Support for
  the Doctrine of Infant Salvation.
• Material adapted from Robert P. Lightners, The
  Death Christ Died (Grand Rapids Kregel, 1998)
  Norman L. Geislers Bakers Encyclopedia of
  Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids Baker,
  1999) Earl Radmachers Salvation (Nashville
  Word, 2000) W.H. Griffith Thomas, Principles of
  Theology (London Church Book Room, 1951).

2
Infant Salvation

• I. Is infant salvation justified from
  Scripture?
• II. 10 Views on Infant Salvation.
• III. Possible Solutions and Implications.
• IV. Conclusion.
• V. Appendix Heathen Salvation

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I. Is Infant Salvation Justified from Scripture?

• Since there is no absolutely clear exegetical
  proof that firmly presents infant salvation, is
  there warranted theological proof from Scripture
  that correlates with biblical, systematic
  theology, or is our justification, as
  well-intentioned as it may be
• Psychological (e.g., comforting, feelings)?
• Religious (e.g., tradition, erroneous
  interpretation, pastor/priest, statements that
  minister, etc)?
• Sociological (subculture, parents, or friends)?

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A. Consider the following quotes

• Undoubtedly, many infants get there heaven by
  death. The high infant mortality in many
  countries of the world now and in past centuries
  suggests that numerous young children are in
  heaven. Jesus statement, however, should not be
  understood as meaning that all children,
  regardless of their age, are members of Gods
  kingdom. Other children, who live several years
  beyond infancy and then receive Christ as their
  Savior (receiving the kingdom as a child Mark
  1015 Luke 1817), go to heaven when they die.
  Having been regenerated by their faith in Christ,
  they obviously belong to the kingdom of God (John
  33). They are among those little ones who
  believe in me, as Jesus said (Matt. 186).
• Dr. Earl Radmacher, Salvation, 229.

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• John Newton, the hymn writer of Amazing Grace,
  wrote that the number of infants in heaven
• so greatly exceeds the aggregate of adult
  believers that, comparatively speaking, the
  kingdom may be said to consists of little
  children. The apostle speaks of them as not
  having, sinned after the similitude of Adams
  transgression Rom. 514, that is, with the
  consent of their understanding and will. And
  when he says, We must all appear before the
  judgment seat of Christ, he adds, that every
  man may give an account of what he has done in
  the body, whether it be good or bad 2 Cor.
  510. But children who die in their infancy
  have not done anything in the body, either good
  or bad.

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• It is true they are by nature evil, and must if
  saved, be the subjects of a supernatural change.
  And though we cannot conceive how this change is
  to be wrought, yet I suppose few are so rash as
  to imagine it impossible that any infants can be
  saved. The same power that produces change in
  some, can produce it in all and therefore I am
  willing to believe, till the Scripture forbids
  me, that infants, of all nations and kindreds,
  without exception, who die before they are
  capable of sinning after the similitude of Adams
  transgression, who have done nothing in the body
  of which they can give an account, are included
  in the election of grace.
• The Works of John Newton, 3 rd., 6 vols, 4552-3.

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• Charles Spurgeon once wrote
• I rejoice to know that the souls of all
  infants, as soon as they die, speed their way to
  paradise. Think what a multitude there is of
  them!
• Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon at His Best, 95.

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• Dr. Norman Geisler writes
• Many critics have impugned the justice of God
  because of the status of the unborn. Belief is
  considered necessary condition for salvation
  (John 318-19 Acts 1631), and yet innocent
  young children have not yet reached the age at
  which they can believe. But it seems eminently
  unjust to condemn innocent infants who have not
  yet committed a sin nor are even old enough to
  believe and be saved. Christians have struggled
  with the issue of the eternal status of infants.
  Yet nowhere does the Bible directly treat the
  issue. Hence, we are left to arguments based on
  general principle and inference from Scripture.
• Bakers Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics,
  360.
• .

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• Dr. Robert P. Lightner writes
• Not once in all the references to infants is
  there os much as a hint that they will ever be
  damned to eternal perdition after death. In many
  contexts where the words are used we would not
  expect a statement about their eternal destiny.
  Yet there are instances, such as when God ordered
  the destruction of all the Amalekites, including
  infants (1 Sam. 153), when it would have been
  appropriate to speak of their damnation. But not
  once, even when reference is made to the death of
  children, is there so much as a hint that any
  would suffer eternal separation from God (see for
  example Ex. 1229-30 and Matt. 216).
• Sin, Savior, and Salvation, 184.
• .

10

• The idea of meeting his child in the
  unconscious grave could not have rationally
  comforted him nor could the thought of meeting
  him in hell have cheered his spirit but the
  thought of meeting him in heaven had in itself
  the power of turning his weeping into joy.
• R. A. Webb, The Theology of Infant Salvation,
  20-21.

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• R.C. Sproul, who criticized Billy Graham for
  saying in the memorial service of the more than
  one hundred people, including a number of young
  children, who died in the bombing of the federal
  building in Oklahoma City in 1995, that the
  innocent children who died in the bombing are in
  Gods arms in heaven, by writing that all of
  those who died without receiving Christ as
  Savior, whether adults or children
• are experiencinganguish and torment in hell.
  However, he did admit, though, that we cannot
  say for sure what happens to young children who
  die.
• R.C. Sproul, Jr., Comfort Ye My People,
  World, May 6, 1995, 26.

12

• Pelagius, who reacted against Augustines view
  that since children are born within the fall,
  infants inherit real depravity, so that the wrath
  of God abides on unbaptized babies, stated
• Where they are not, I know where they are, I
  know not John Sanders, No Other Name, 292.
• Pelagius later embraced limbo position.

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B. Consider the following passages

• When the newborn baby of David and Bathsheba
  became ill, David prayed and fasted for his
  healing, lying in anguish on the ground in each
  night. But a week after the baby became sick, he
  died (2 Sam. 1215-18). Then David told his
  servants, I will go to him, but he will not
  return to me (1223).
• Was David referring only to his own death?
• Was David referring to being in conscious
  fellowship with his son after death?
• Is there any comfort in Davids saying he would
  die too?

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B. Consider the following passages

• The kingdom of heaven or of God belongs to
  such as these (Matt. 1914 Mark 1014 Luke
  1816). The context indicates that adults who
  are like children in acknowledging their lowly
  and helpless condition will enter Gods kingdom.
• Does this Greek word, toiaute (of such as
  these) indicate that children too are in Gods
  kingdom?
• How does this compare to Luke 1815-17? As Luke
  wrote, does this passage include infants?

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B. Consider the following passages

• Your Father in heaven is not willing that any of
  these little ones should be lost (Matt. 1814).
• If contextually Christ sets before the disciples
  as patterns for imitation, will these children
  perish?
• What does the word lost or perish mean and
  how does this word relate to the context?

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II. By what means will deceased infants go to
heaven?10 Views of Infant Salvation

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10 Views of Infant Salvation are

1. Universalism
2. Born without Sin
3. Second Chance View
4. All Infants are Elect View
5. Infants of Saved Parents are the Elect View
6. Infant Regeneration View
7. Redemptive Work of Christ View
8. Infant Water Baptism View
9. Catholic Limbo View
10. Foreknowledge View

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1 Universalism

• All children who die as infants are taken to
  heaven because of the doctrine of universalism.
  That is, since everyone will ultimately be saved
  and no one will be in hell, infants will
  naturally be in heaven, even though they had no
  opportunity to believe.
• Critique direct opposition to Scripture that
  affirms the eternal damnation of the unsaved
  (e.g., Matt. 2546 John 316, 18 336 Rev.
  2015). And yet this is not to deny the heavenly
  home of dead infants. It simply means that
  universalism is not the basis of their salvation.

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2 Born Without Sin

• There is a heavenly destiny for infants because
  they are born without sin. As Clifford Ingle, a
  Southern Baptist seminary professor writes.
• a child does not inherit lostness from Adam
  he chooses it. All persons, Ingle writes
• are born with a tendency toward sin all are
  destined to sin. However, this individual is not
  responsible for the sins of the human race or
  his inherited nature. He becomes an actual
  sinner in the eyes of God when, as a morally
  responsible person, he chooses sin and rebels
  against God. Thus there is a time between birth
  and moral accountability when the child is not
  guilty for sin.
• Moving in the Right Direction, in Children
  and Conversion, ed. Clifford Ingle (Nashville
  Broadman Press, 1970), 153-54.

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2 Born Without Sin

• John Inchley believes that children are not in
  a state of being lost from God, and that until
  they deliberately refuse Christ, they belong to
  him.
• John Inchly, Kids and the Kingdom (Wheaton
  Tyndale House, 1976), 14, 33.
• Marlin Jeshke writes, to place the human race
  into only two classes, the saved and lost. We
  are required to recognize also a third class, the
  innocent.
• Believers Baptism for Children of the Church
  (Scottsdale, Penn. Herald Press, 1983), 104.

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2 Born Without Sin

• Critique
• This view that children are born innocent and
  without an inherited sin nature is in direct
  conflict with Scripture For both adults and
  infants, and all who cant believer, are still
  under the curse of Adams sin
• 1. In Adam all die (1 Cor 1522).
• 2. God told Noah after the flood that he would
  bring about another flood of that magnitude
  event though every inclination of mans heart
  is evil from childhood (Gen. 821).
• 3. Solomon wrote, Folly is bound up in the
  heart of a child (Prov. 2215).
• 4. David said he was born sinful at birth (Ps.
  515), and that even birth the wicked go
  astray (Ps. 583).
• 5. Paul affirmed, There is no one righteous,
  not even one (Rom. 310).
• 6. All are under sin (39) and under Gods
  wrath (John 336) and that includes children.

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2 Born Without Sin

• Everyone is born with a sin nature, from Adam,
  because all humanity in Adam sinned as clearly
  stated in Romans 512.
• Adam sin plunged the entire human race into a
  stance of guilt before God, because all sinned
  in Adam (whether federal or seminal).
• Therefore, people sin because they are sinners
  it is not that they become sinners by sinning.

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2 Born Without Sin

• Therefore, in light of passages like Rom. 323
  and Rom. 512
• 1. all infants come with a sin nature, they
  are all lost and condemned.
• 2. To say infants are neutral or innocent
  with respect to sin, and that they are not
  sinners until they knowingly commit acts of
  sin, overlooks the universal passages
  regarding the intrinsic sinfulness of humanity
  in both O.T. and N.T.
• A theology of childhood salvation must be some
  reason with the point that all people, including
  children are sinful and in need of redemption.
  Perry G. Downs, Child Evangelization, Journal
  of Christian Education 3 (1983) 10.

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3 Second Chance View

• When infants die they immediately mature and are
  then provided an opportunity to receive the gift
  of salvation in Christ
• 1. First proposed by Gregory of Nyssa, 4th
  Century, builds this view on the conviction that
  faith is necessary for salvation. It has also
  found support among those in the Catholic Church.
  See George J. Dyer, The Unbaptized Infant in
  Eternity, Chicago Studies 2 (1963) 147 John
  Sanders, No Other Name (Grand Rapids Eerdmans,
  1992), 289.
• 2. Somewhat related, Oliver Buswell suggests
  that immediately before death the intelligence of
  the infant is enlarged so that the child can
  accept Christ as Savior A Systematic Theology of
  the Christian Religion, 2 vols (Grand Rapids
  Zondervan, 1963), 2 162.

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3 Second Chance View

• When infants die they immediately mature and are
  then provided an opportunity to receive the gift
  of salvation in Christ
• Critique
• 1. No biblical support.
• 2. If infants immediately before or after death
  are given the opportunity to be saved, this
  implies that some will go to heaven and others
  will not.
• 3. If this enablement to believe occurs after
  death, then where is the child while he is
  confronted with the claims of Christ?
• 4. This view wrongly suggests a neutral state
  after death, before ones final destiny in
  heaven or hell.

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• All infants who die will be in heaven because
  they are elected by God.
• 1. Ulrich Zwingli asserted that all children of
  believing parents are among the elect, and
  therefore, will be saved, and that probably
  dying infants of non-Christian parents are also
  among the elect.
• 2. Charles Hodge based the belief that all who
  die in Infancy are saved on Romans 518-19

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• B. B. Warfield
• 1. He defends this view by pointing out that for
  infants Gods electing grace supersedes their
  inborn sin nature because God has chosen them.
  See The Development of the Doctrine of Infant
  Salvation, in Studies in Theology (New York
  Oxford University Press, 1932), 438.
• 2. Westminster Confession says, Elect infants,
  dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by
  Christ through the Spirit Chap. 10, sec. 3.
• This statement does not explicitly affirm that
  all dying infants are elect since the words
  elect infants leave the question open.
  However, many Presbyterians affirm that all
  infants who die are in fact included among the
  elect. See Thomas Smyth, Opinions on Infant
  Salvation, in Children in Heaven, 34 Roger
  Nicole, cited by Ronald H. Nash, in What about
  Those Who Have Never Heard? Ed. John Sanders
  (Downers Grove, Ill InterVarsity Press, 1995),
  119-20.

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• Romans 518-19
• Consequently, just as the result of one
  trespass was condemnation for all men, so also
  the result of one act of righteousness was
  justification that brings life for all men. For
  just as through the disobedience of the one man
  the many were made sinners, so also through the
  obedience of the one man the many will be made
  righteous.
• Hodge also cites Rom. 520, But where sin
  increased, grace increased all the more.

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• Critique
• 1. How does election reconcile original sin,
  freedom from guilt, or personal rebellion? The
  election view does not really solve the problems
  of sin, freedom from guilt, and rebellion
  against God.
• a. Infants come into this world with results of
  Adams sin in them.
• b. Infants are involved in the inherent sin of
  the race whether in terms of federal or
  seminal.

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• Critique
• 1. Debasing Effects of Sin (Rom. 121-32).
• 2. Judicial Effects of Sin (Rom. 512-21).
• 3. Corrupting Effects of Sin (Rom. 310-18 Eph.
  21-3).
• 4. Deceiving Effects of Sin (Jer. 179).
• 5. Debilitating Effects of Sin (Jer. 179).
• 6. Blinding Effects of Sin (2 Cor. 44).

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• Critique
• 3 . This view minimizes the necessity of faith
  because
• a. Claims that Christs salvation is not
  potential but actual for infants.
• b. Sin of infants are imputed to Christ.
• As Lewis S. Chafer observes, The word whosoever
  is used at least 110 times in the New Testament,
  and always with the unrestricted meaning
  Systematic Theology, 278.

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• Critique
• 4. The best foundation for reconciling total
  depravity, the necessity of faith for salvation,
  an election is to believe in the unlimited of
  Christ rather than the election view for infants
• A. It accounts for total depravity and
  election.
• B. It allows the necessity of faith to be
  exempted on the basis of unlimited
  atonement but not for those who are
  consciously aware of their sin and need to
  receive Jesus Christ as personal Savior.
• C. It accounts for passages that explicitly
  declare unlimited atonement

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• Case for Unlimited Atonement is both negatively
  and positively affirmed in Scripture
• Negatively, nowhere in Scripture does it ever
  say that Christ did not die for all people
• Positively we passages that imply if not declare
  the extent of the atonement such as
• John 129 Behold the Lamb of God,
  which takes away the sins of the world.
• John 316 For God so loved the world.
• John 317 For God sent not his Son into the
  world to condemn the world, but that the world
  through him might be saved.

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• John 442 This is indeed the Christ, the
  Saviour of the world
• 2 Cor. 519 To wit, that God was in Christ,
  reconciling the world unto himself.
• 1 John 414 .the Father sent the Son to be
  the Savior of the world.
• John 316 That whosoever believes in Him
  should not perish, but have everlasting life.
• 1 Tim. 26 Who gave Himself a ransom for
  all, to be testified in due time.

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• Acts 221 Whososever shall call on the name
  of the Lord shall be saved.
• Acts 1043 Through his name whosoever believes
  in Him shall receive remission of sins.
• Romans 1013 For whosoever shall call upon the
  name of the Lord shall be saved.
• Revelation 2217 And whosoever will, let him
  take the water of life freely.
• Romans 56 ...Christ died for the ungodly.

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4 All Infants are the Elect View

• Critique
• As W.H. Griffith Thomas, co-founder of Dallas
  Theological Seminary, writes
• So that we can say of infants, By the
  righteousness of One the free gift came upon all
  men to justification by Him. We must not forget
  that infants come into a world of grace as well
  of sin, and the two parallel lines can never be
  overlooked. While there is, of course, no
  definite declaration in regard to the salvation
  of infants dying in infancy, all that we can
  infer from Scripture supports the view that they
  are saved on the ground of the Atonement of
  Christ, and this because although they were born
  in sin they were not actual transgressors of the
  Divine Law Principles of Theology, 506.

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5 Infants of Saved Parents are the Elect.

• Related to the last view is that the infants of
  saved (or elect)
• parents are saved.
• Canon of Dort godly parents ought not to doubt
  the election and salvation of their children whom
  it pleased God to call out of this life in their
  infancy (art. 17).
• Observations
• 1. There is no biblical support.
• 2. Does not account for sin or guilt problem.
• 3. Offers no hope for parents who are unsaved.
• 4. Does not harmonize with passages that teach
  unlimited atonement.
• 4. Does not reconcile with passages such as 2
  Peter 39 cf. 1 Tim. 24.
• If God really desires all to be saved, and it
  is possible to save some infants from their
  personal faith, then why does he not elect all of
  them to salvation?
• 5. Problem of Gods unmerciful and/or unjust in
  not choosing to save all.

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5 Infants of Saved Parents are the Elect.

• Observations
• 1. There is no clear biblical support.
• 2. Does not account for sin or guilt problem.
• 3. Offers no hope for parents who are unsaved.
• 4. Does not harmonize with passages that teach
  unlimited atonement.
• 4. Does not reconcile with passages such as 2
  Peter 39 cf. 1Tim. 24.
• If God really desires all to be saved, and it
  is possible to save some infants from their
  personal faith, then why does he not elect all of
  them to salvation?
• 5. Problem of Gods unmerciful and/or unjust in
  not choosing to save all when He is able to do
  so. In other words, while there is nothing in
  fallen humans that merit salvation, there is
  something in an all- loving God that prompts Him
  to save all, namely, His infinite love (John
  316 Rom. 56-8 1 Tim. 24).

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5 Infants saved by the Baptism of Desire View

• Infants can be saved by the baptism of desire,
  that is, if they desired baptism but were unable
  to obtain it before they died, they would go to
  heaven.
• 1. This view held in 9th Century by Hincmar of
  Rheims. See Warfield, Studies in Theology, 415.
• 2. Martin Luther applied the idea of baptism of
  desire to Christi parents, saving that their
  desire for their childrens baptism, even if not
  carried out, guarantees their offsprings
  salvation.

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5 Infants saved by the Baptism of Desire View

• Critique
• 1. It is not biblical.
• 2. How can an infant desire baptism?
• 3. How does a parents mere desire substitute
  for a childs salvation?
• 4. This view does not address the question of
  infants of unsaved parents, who may not desire
  salvation for their young or may know nothing of
  salvation and baptism. This implies that
  salvation for those infants are not available
  and that they are lost forever.

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6 Infant Regeneration View

• All infants who die will be regenerated because
  they have not willfully rejected Jesus Christ
• 1. Only those who consciously reject Christ are
  condemned to hell.
• 2. Infants cannot knowingly turn from Christ.
• 3. Therefore, all dying infants will be in
  heaven, event though they are born sinners and
  do not exercise faith.
• See Neal Punt, Whats Good about the Good News?
  (Chicago Northland, 1988), chap. 11.

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6 Infant Regeneration View

• All infants who die will be regenerated because
  they have not willfully rejected Jesus Christ
• Critique
• 1. It makes eternal damnation dependent on a
  willful refusal to believe in Jesus Christ.
• a. If that is the basis of divine judgment in
  hell, how can those who never heard of
  Christ be condemned.
• 2. The basis of condemnation is not rejection of
  Christ, but ones inherited sin nature. In
  Adam all die (1 Cor. 1522 cf. Rom. 512).
• 3. Paul reasoned in Rom. 1 that all are under
  guilt of sin and the wrath of God because of
  their sin. Therefore, only Gods grace can
  atone for the sin of infants.

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6 Infant Regeneration View

• As Dr. Robert Lightner states
• Total depravity means that man possesses
  nothing nor can he do anything to merit favor
  before God. Scripture is abundantly clear on
  this point. According to the Word of God, this
  condition affects not only every man but also
  every part of every man (Rom. 1-3). All unsaved
  men are viewed by God as lost (Luke 1910),
  condemned(John 318), under the wrath of God
  (John 336), dead in trespasses and sins (Eph.
  21-2) and as possessing a heart that is
  desperately wicked (Jer. 179) The Death
  Christ Died A Biblical Case for Unlimited
  Atonement (Grand Rapids Kregel, 1998), 38.
• 3. Paul reasoned in Rom. 1 that all are under
  guilt of sin and the wrath of God because of
  their sin. Therefore, only Gods grace can atone
  for the sin of infants.

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7 Redemptive Work of Christ View

• All infants enjoy heavenly bliss because of the
  redemptive work of Christ on the cross
• 1. Like everyone, infants need salvation and
  salvation is only through Christ.
• 2. Therefore, even though infants others who
  cant believe, ie., severely mentally
  handicapped cannot exercise faith in Him, He
  can remove their depravity.
• The great atoning sacrifice of Calvary included
  unconscious childhood as well as conscious
  manhood and womanhood in the wondrous efficacy
  and blessing all children are included in the
  great atoning Sacrifice, and really belong to the
  Lord Jesus Christ until they deliberately and
  consciously refuse to Have Him as their personal
  Savior and King.
• W. H. Griffith Thomas, The Catholic Faith A
  Manual of Instruction for Members of the Church
  of England, rev. ed. (London Church Book Room
  Press, 1952), 110 263.

45
7 Redemptive Work of Christ View

• All infants enjoy heavenly bliss because of the
  redemptive work of Christ on the cross
• If they be saved, it must be entirely by the
  sovereign mercy and positive operation of
  God.All redeemed sinners owe their salvation to
  sovereign gracebut the salvation of infants is
  with peculiar circumstances of Gods favour.
• David McConoughy, Are Infants Saved? in
  Children in Heaven, 60.
• Spurgeon writes that infants enter heaven,
• as a matter of free grace with no reference to
  anything that have done Come Ye Children
  (reprint, Warrenton, MO. Children
  Evangelization Fellowship, n.d.), 39.
• See also Perry G. Downs, Child Evangelization,
  Journal of Christian Education 3 (1983) 10
  Lightner, Heaven for Those Who Cant Believe,
  14-15 Herbert Lockyer, All the Children of the
  Bible (Grand Rapids Zondervan, 1970), 97.

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7 Redemptive Work of Christ View

• All infants enjoy heavenly bliss because of the
  redemptive work of Christ on the cross
• 3. The basis for judgment for the unsaved is
  that they did not receive Jesus Christ as
  personal Savior. Thus, all unregenerate will be
  judged according to their works at the great
  white throne judgment (Rev. 2011). However,
  those who died without ever being able to believe
  will not be there. They have no works they
  have not done either good or evil.
• As Dr. Lightner states
• Since those who died before they could believe
  have no works, we may be sure that they will no
  works, we may sure that they will not appear
  before the Great White Throne. And since all the
  unsaved will appear there, we may also be sure
  that those who cannot believe are not unsaved.
  If they are not among the unregenerate and will
  not appear before God at this time, we conclude
  happily that they are among the redeemed.

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7 Redemptive Work of Christ View

• All infants enjoy heavenly bliss because of the
  redemptive work of Christ on the cross
• Critique
• 1. It is inconsistent to claim that God
  salvation is by faith alone yet claim that there
  is an exception for infants who cannot exercise
  faith (See Sanders, No Other Name, 304).
• a. Responses Even though infants cannot
  hear the Word, and, therefore,
  cannot exercise faith (Rom. 1017), God need not
  be limited, as Calvin noted, because He
  works in ways we cannot always perceive, and
  He can still bestow His grace Radmacher,
  Salvation, 235. See also Calvin,
  Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. John
  T. McNeill, 2 vols. (Philadelphia
  Westminster Press, 1960), 4.16.17 4.16.19.
• b. In the case of infants and those who cant
  believe, God by His mercy applies the
  benefits of salvation in view of unlimited
  atonement (John 316-17, 1015 2 Cor. 519
  Eph. 525 2 Pet. 21 1 John 22, 414).
• c. It harmonizes with the infant election view
  if this is a valid view.
• d. It coheres with biblical passages we have
  considered already.

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7 Redemptive Work of Christ View

• Critique
• 2. This view will open up Pandoras Box and
  exceptions could be provided to other situations
  as wellthose who never heard the gospel of
  Jesus, trans-dispensationalism (though faith is
  always the means of salvation, the content of
  salvation in any of Gods economies or
  dispensations is sufficient for salvation See
  Tony Evans, Total Salvation, appendix article
  for support of this view), and some form of
  qualified universalism.
• Response
• a. This is not necessary because we arent
  saying anything more than what Scripture
  presents. We must accept the mysterious
  relationship between passages that imply infant
  salvation and salvation by faith alone. If
  someone goes beyond Scripture, such as
  trans-dispensationalism or qualified
  universalism, they are outside of biblical,
  theological coherence and must whole
  heartily be rejected.

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7 Redemptive Work of Christ View

• Critique
• 3. This view is based upon unlimited view of the
  atonement which is debatable among Christians.
• Response
• a. There is a stronger cumulative biblical and
  theological case for unlimited atonement
  that is reasonable to believe over and
  against limited atonement.
• b. Just because something is debatable, does
  not make it biblically or theologically
  unjustifiable.

50
8 Infant Water Baptism View

• Infants qualify for entrance to heaven by virtue
  of their having been water baptism.
• 1. Roman Catholicism asserts that infant baptism
  removes the stain of original sin.
• Baptismsignifies that by the power of the
  Holy Ghost all stain and defilement of sin is
  inwardly washed away, and that the soul is
  enriched and adorned with the admirable gift of
  heavenly justification. Catechism of the
  Council of Trent, 144, cited by J.C. Macaulay,
  The Bible and the Roman Church (Chicago Moody,
  1949), 81. Also see Gunter Koch, Baptism, in
  Handbook of Catholic Theology, ed. Wolfgang
  Beinert and Francis Schusler Florenza (New York
  Crossroad, 1995), 43.

51
8 Infant Water Baptism View

• Infants qualify for entrance to heaven by virtue
  of their having been water baptism.
• 1. Roman Catholicism asserts that infant baptism
  removes the stain of original sin.
• Through Baptism we are freed from sin and
  reborn as sons of God we become members of
  Christ, are incorporated into the Church and
  made sharers in her mission Baptism is the
  sacrament of regeneration through water in the
  word Catechism of the Catholic Church (New
  Hope, N.Y. St. Martin de Porress Community,
  1994), 1213.
• Since the sacrament of infant baptism is
  necessary for salvation, infants must be
  baptized in order for them to qualify for heaven.

52
8 Infant Water Baptism View

• Infants qualify for entrance to heaven by virtue
  of their having been water baptism.
• Critique
• 1. It is unsupported and contradictory to clear
  exegesis of Scripture.
• 2. It is contrary to the biblical doctrines of
  soteriology.
• 3. By implication of this view, unbaptized
  infants do not enter heaven.

53
8 Infant Water Baptism View

• Infants qualify for entrance to heaven by virtue
  of their having been water baptism.
• Critique
• 1. It is unsupported and contradictory to clear
  exegesis of Scripture.
• 2. It is contrary to the biblical doctrines of
  Soteriology.
• 3. By implication of this view, unbaptized
  infants do not enter heaven.

54
8 Infant Water Baptism View

• Consider these quotes
• The wrath of God abides on them, they remain
  in darkness, and they are eternally doomed,
  though their punishment is less severe than that
  of others. St. Augustine, On the Merits and
  Forgiveness of Sins and on the Baptism of Infants
  1.21, 28, 33-35,in Philip Schaff, ed. A Select
  Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of
  the Christian Church (New York Charles
  Scribners Sons, 1908), 522-23, 25, 28-29.
• According to the Roman Catholic Catechism of the
  Council of Trent, Infants, unless regenerated
  unto God through the grace of water baptism,
  whether their parents be Christian or infidel,
  are born to eternal misery and perdition
  Sanders, No Other Name, 292.

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8 Infant Water Baptism View

• Notwithstanding
• Notwithstanding, a number of church leaders
  believed that unbaptized infants do go to heaven
  including Victor, John Wycliffe, the Lollards,
  and John Calvin.
• For example, Calvin wrote, infants are not
  excluded from the kingdom of heaven, who happen
  to die before they had the privilege of baptism
  Institutes, 4.15.22.

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9 Catholic Limbus Infantum View

• To soften the Augustinian position, the Roman
  Catholic Church developed the idea of Limbo
  (limbus Infantum), a neutral place for infants
  who die unbaptized. In this place between heaven
  and hell, children experience neither bliss nor
  torment.
• See Joseph Finkenzeller, Limbo, in Handbook of
  Catholic Theology, 433-35 Zachary Hayes,
  Limbo, in The Modern Catholic Encyclopedia
  (Collegeville, Minn. Liturgical Press, 1994),
  511 P.J. Hill, Limbo, in New Catholic
  Encyclopedia, 18 vols (New York McGraw-Hill
  Book Co., 1967), 8 762-63, 765.

57
9 Catholic Limbus Infantum View

• Observations
• 1. It is not admitted or denied as official
  dogma by Catholic Church.
• 2. If Water Baptism is essential for salvation,
  many infants will not be in heaven.
• 3. The Roman Catholic position limits salvation
  as being obtainable not by faith but by a
  sacrament or a work.
• 4. Condemning many infants to limbo obliterates
  the view that Christs atonement work removes,
  by His grace, the guilt of original sin for all
  infants and others who cannot believe.
• 3. It is entirely extra-biblical which entirely
  justifies the dismissal of this view.

58
10 The Foreknowledge View

• God, as an omniscient Being, foreknew which
  infants would have believed if they had lived
  long enough. Thus, God saved those infants.
  Thus, the rest are lost, since they would not
  have believed if they had lived long enough to
  do.
• Observations
• 1. Ascribes the omniscience view of God (Rom.
  829 Psalm 1391-6).
• 2. Avoids criticism of God being unmerciful or
  unjust.
• 3. Accounts for the need for faith as a
  condition for salvation (John 316-19). In
  other words, it avoids the criticism that God
  saves some apart from their willingness to
  receive salvation.
• 4. Emphasizes the omni-benevolence of Gods love.

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10 The Foreknowledge View

• Critique
• 1. It lacks biblical support.
• 2. Gods foreknowledge is based on human free
  will rather than in Himself as the Sovereign
  God. In other words, God saves these infants
  because of foreseen faith. However, this is
  contrary to the unmerited grace of God who acts
  solely out of the good pleasure of His will
  (Eph. 15) and not on anything we do (Eph.
  28-9). In fact, God chose the elect before the
  foundation of the world (Eph. 14 cf. Rom.
  829 916 Phil. 129).
• 3. One can reject foreknowledge as based on
  anyones free choice, but simply, as the
  Scriptures say, in accord with
• it (cf. 1 Peter 12). In other words, they are
  simply coeternal acts of God with no dependence
  of God on anything we do.

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Possible Solutions Implications

• All views have difficulties.
• If faith is not absolutely essential, then a
  distinction needs to made between innocence and
  conscious rejection by adults. If so, it is more
  reasonable to speak of all infants being saved.
• If faith is an absolute essential for salvation,
  and numerous passages affirm that it is, there is
  no heaven for those who cant believe.

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Possible Solutions Implications

• 4. If 3 is correct, then all must believe to
  enter. In this case, belief that infants will
  mature in heaven and be given a chance to
  believe may be more plausible. But this is not
  biblical.
• 5. If God does not offer a real opportunity to
  believe, then the views that affirm only
  baptized or elect infants go to heaven may seem
  more reasonable to believe. However, the sin
  problem still remains.
• 6. But if the Bible says that God genuinely
  offers salvation to all then it would follow
  logically that those would believe, if they die
  before they can, will be given a chance after
  they die with the reason being that Gods love
  and/or justice would seem to demand that this be
  so. But this is not biblical either.

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III. Possible Solutions Implications

1. If innate radical depravity is inherited from the
   womb, then it would seem that only baptized
   infants or elect infants might go to be with God.
   However, if ones personal decision in rejecting
   Gods message is needed before one goes to hell,
   then they lose plausibility.

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IV. CONCLUSION

• Therefore, of the options we have explored, the
  case for the redemptive work of Christ view best
  biblically, theologically coheres and accounts
  for the following passages
• 1. Inherent sin and guilt
• 2. unlimited atonement of Christ
• 3. divine election
• 4. Love and justice of God
• 5. Infant salvation.

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Appendix 1 Heathen Salvation

• By implication this study helps in our
  understanding of heathen salvation
• 1. God is just, benevolent, and loving
• 2. Since one cannot be saved without the
  Gospel, and many heathen lands have not had the
  gospel, it is reasonable to infer that Gods
  elect will be taken from every tribe, kindred,
  and tongue in view of the infants who die.
• 3. Since it is estimated that in heathen
  countries one-half of the babies born die before
  the age of accountability, then it follows that
  there will be innumerable heathen infants in
  heaven, i.e., all the infants who die before
  they could hear understand the Gospel of Jesus
  Christ.