NOTICE: Below is a study Pastor Alvin shared to help a dear soul seeking instruction on the "age of accountability." I share it here by permission given by Pastor Alvin of GospelOrder.com.
Please find below Bible references regarding the Age of
Accountability taking special attention to the experience of the Jews prior to
entering Canaan, the promised land.
These texts show that “children” are not fully able to
differentiate between good and evil, and are not mature enough to know how to
refuse evil and choose good.
Deuteronomy 1:39 “Moreover
your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your
children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil,
they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and
they shall possess it.”
Isaiah 7:16 “For
before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the
good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.”
In addition, Numbers 14:29, along with Deutoronomy 1:39,
show that God will not hold children to account when He passes judgment
on sin.
Numbers 14:29 “Your
carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you,
according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward,
which have murmured against me,”
In short, a child is a person who is aged 19
or younger. In other words, those persons who are 20 and older are held
accountable for sin as what Numbers 14:29 just concluded.
To elaborate, when the Jews sinned against God because of
their rebellion at the boundary of Canaan, God punished them and they wandered
in wilderness for 40 years. As a result, those who were 20 years old and above
were held accountable and died; they were not permitted to enter Canaan except
Joshua and Caleb. But their “little ones” or “children” who were not fully able
to differentiate between good and evil, (Deuteronomy 1:39; Isaiah 7:16) who
were 19 years old and below, were not held responsible and were permitted to
enter Canaan, which was the promised land.
However, parents who have children are admonished by God to
train up their children in the way of the Lord while still young and while
there is hope. Because of our sinful nature and the natural and hereditary
tendency of the child, his or her ways are always in the opposite direction,
that is, opposing God.
For example, a child needs to be taught to keep and obey the
law by telling the truth. But a child doesn’t need to be taught to break and disobey
the law and to lie because it comes naturally because of sinful nature. Yes,
when parents fulfill their God-given duty faithfully to train up their children
in God’s way while there is still hope, the seeds have been planted in their
hearts. So, when they reach the age of accountability these children shall not
depart from the truth. But again, it is not a guarantee that good parents will
have a good child or the opposite; for it is possible to be a good parent and
have an evil child, and an evil parent to have a good child. Like for example,
a good Adam had an evil son named Cain; and an evil King Saul had a good son
named Jonathan.
Texts for human nature as sinful:
Psalms 58:3 “The
wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born,
speaking lies.”
Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I
was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Romans 3:23 “For all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
Texts for training children while young:
Proverbs 22:6 “Train
up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not
depart from it.”
Proverbs 19:18 “Chasten
thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.”
Ephesians 6:4 “And,
ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 “And
these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of
them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
Deuteronomy 11:19 “And
ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when
thou risest up.”
Matthew 18:6 “But
whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me,
it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he
were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Matthew 18:10 “Take
heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in
heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 21:15 “And
when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the
children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David;
they were sore displeased,”
2 Timothy 3:15 “And
that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to
make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 6:4 “And,
ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
1 Samuel 2:18 “But Samuel
ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.”
Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Remember
now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not,
nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;”
2 Kings 22:19-20 “Because
thine heart was tender, and thou [King Josiah] hast humbled thyself before the
LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the
inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast
rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the
LORD. 20
Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt
be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see
all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word
again.”
I hope and pray this helps in your study. God bless!
Yours in Christ,
Brother Alvin
