Infant Salvation

February 27, 2023

Infant Salvation: Are all infants saved if they perish?

Abstract

I have heard any infant that perishes goes to heaven but have never heard any scriptural basis for this viewpoint. Our spiritual convictions should be rooted in the Scriptures - after all Sola Scriptura. I do not recall ever explicitly reading an explicit verse calling out this spiritual conviction; so, I set out to investigate this idea for myself, document scriptural evidence for this viewpoint, and document my conclusions.

Introduction

“As for modern Calvinists, I know of no exception, but we all hope and believe that all persons dying in infancy are elect” (Spurgeon 2). Charles Spurgeon says what most of us hope and believe to be true without ever probably thinking about the justification of why we believe what we believe. What scriptural evidence do we have to confirm or bolster this belief that all infants who perish are elect? As I investigated this topic, I mainly relied on two resources: Spurgeon’s Infant Salvation and an online article adopted from Sam Storm’s book, Tough Topics: Biblical Answers to 25 Challenging Questions.

The Main Points in Infant Salvation

Charles Spurgeon’s Infant Salvation is a short and quick read. It’s adopted from a sermon he once preached. Before diving deep into his sermon, he gives an outline of where he plans to spend his time: the way in which we believe infants to be saved, reasons for so believing, and a practical use of the subject. Expounding on his first point of his sermon, he says:

Some ground the idea of the eternal blessedness of the infant upon its innocence. We do no such thing; we believe that the infant fell in the first Adam, “for in Adam all died.” All Adam’s posterity, whether infant or adult, were represented by him — he stood for them all, and when he fell, he fell for them all (Spurgeon 3)

Within this quote, he ended up stating the majority reason I have heard for the belief all infants are saved when they perish - that being upon a baby’s innocence (Spurgeon 3). However, he continued to explain how he is not going to rest on this false premise. He continued to explain the theological truth we are all born into sin from our descendance from Adam. This theological truth is what drove me to investigate this topic in the first place; how can we assume an infant’s salvation given its been natural sin state through Adam? I personally want their salvation to be true, but I also do not feel equipped to adequately explain why this is true from scripture alone. It is in his second point of the sermon, i.e., reasons for so believing, I was able to find his justifications and reasons for believing infants who perish are saved.

First Main Point in Infant Salvation - God’s Goodness

“First, we ground our conviction very much upon the goodness of the nature of God” (Spurgeon 6). Spurgeon’s first point is an inference from the scriptures rather than an explicit verse. Our God is a good god. Our God is a perfect god. Do we believe, after all the good things we read about God in the Bible, he would cast babies into Hell? Spurgeon’s strongest argument related to God’s goodness is found here:

I could not believe it of Jesus, that he would say to little children, “Depart, ye accursed, into everlasting fire in hell!” I cannot conceive it possible of him as the loving and tender one, that, when he shall sit to judge all nations, he should put the little ones on the left hand and should banish them forever from his presence. Could he address them, and say to them, “I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink…sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not?” How could they do it? (Spurgeon 9)

Indeed, how could babies respond? Even though babies inherited a sin nature, those of us who made it past infancy can be held to a higher accountability since we can be asked these questions and be expected to give a response.

Second Main Point in Infant Salvation - Scriptural Evidence

Spurgeon’s first scriptural evidence can be found in 2 Samuel in the story of the death of Bathsheba’s son. David’s servants are confused about David’s sudden emotional reversal after finding out the baby has died. David says, “But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23 CSB). “I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me”… how can David make this statement unless he is convinced of the baby’s salvation.

Spurgeon’s second scriptural evidence is found in Ezekiel 16:21. In speaking to the Israelites about giving up their infants to Moloch, God says “You slaughtered my children and gave them up when you passed them through the fire to the images” (Ezekiel 16:21 CSB). Whose children did the Israelites kill? God says, ‘my children’. Spurgeon expounds on this point, “Those little ones, who died in the red-hot arms of Moloch while babes, God calls ‘my children’"(Spurgeon 13).

Conclusions from Infant Salvation

We can see from Spurgeon’s main points of God’s goodness and scriptural evidence; he was convinced infants who perish are indeed saved. Personally, speaking only from a scriptural standpoint, the scriptural evidence portion of his argument is the most significant evidence for believing infants who perish are saved. God’s goodness is a strong argument, but the scriptural evidence is the strongest to me. Before moving on to Sam Storm’s article, I will leave you with this last point from Spurgeon on infants:

All of them without exception, from whosoever loins they may have sprung, will, we believe, not by baptism, not by their parents’ faith, but simply as we are all saved through the election of God, through the precious blood of Christ, through the regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit, attain to glory and immortality, and wear the image of the heavenly as they have worn the image of the earthy (Spurgeon 14)

Main Points from Do All Infants Go to Heaven

In a Gospel Coalition article, adopted from a book by Sam Storms called Tough Topics: Biblical Answers to 25 Challenging Questions, Sam lays out eight points of evidence he feels is significant enough to believe in the salvation of infants who perish. Upfront, he does acknowledge he believes all infants who perish are saved as well as mentally handicapped people incapable of making an informed choice. Here is a summary of those eight points:

In Romans 1:20, Paul says general revelation leaves people without excuse. From this, could we infer infants could be excused from general revelation since they cannot really receive it nor have the capacity to respond to it? Note, this would not excuse them from their inherited sin nature.
Deuteronomy 1:39 says “Your children, who you said would be plunder, your sons who don’t yet know good from evil, will enter there. I will give them the land, and they will take possession of it.”. The children do not yet know good from evil from this passage. Note, this would not excuse them from their inherited sin nature.
Sam appeals to the story in 2 Samuel 12 as previously mentioned above in Second Main Point in Infant Salvation - Scriptural Evidence.
“There is the consistent testimony of Scripture that people are judged on the basis of sins committed voluntary and consciously in the body (see 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Cor. 6:9–10; Rev. 20:11–12). In other words, eternal judgment is always based on conscious rejection of divine revelation (whether in creation, conscience, or Christ) and willful disobedience. Are infants capable of either? There is no explicit account in Scripture of any other judgment based on any other grounds” (Storms 4). Note, this would not excuse them from their inherited sin nature.
If a child was sent to hell for no other reason than their inherited sin, the divine judgement would be clear, but the child’s mind would be blank as to why they were sent there.
There is scriptural evidence some infants were regenerated in the womb. Supporting texts include Jeremiah 1:5 and Luke 1:15.
Some have read Matthew 19:13–15 to say “…is Jesus merely describing the kind of people who enter the kingdom? Or is he saying these very children were recipients of saving grace? If the latter were true, it would seem to imply Jesus knew that the children he was then receiving would all die in infancy. Is that credible?” (Storms 7).
Appeals to God’s goodness much like Spurgeon.

Sam adds a few additional points to ponder and wrestle with aside from Spurgeon’s points; for me, the strongest additional points were #1 and #4 and 5 taken together.

Overall Conclusions

From reading, reviewing, and thinking over both resources, I am convinced there is enough scriptural evidence to have hope and faith in the salvation of infants who perish. Appeals to God’s goodness, grace, and mercy are also really helpful, but as I mentioned previously, I was looking for scriptural evidence for support. Spurgeon and Sam have both helped me see the scriptural evidence to support this theological position.

P.S. - as a side effect of putting together these thoughts, I do feel like there is even more credence to paedobaptism; however, I would still want a believer’s baptism in addition. I guess that makes me a baptisterian :)