I have always been taught and believed that God instantly ushers babies and people with mental disabilities into His arms when they die. That’s been quite a solace for my family, who have two siblings with mental disabilities.
Yet I realized while researching this article that orthodox Christians have varying opinions on this subject. None can absolutely claim they have the complete answer because the Bible gives no clear, explicit statement about babies and heaven. Like many other topics, the Bible provides hints here and there.
I know this is a sensitive subject, so I will share what I’ve found in the Bible and from pastors and theologians, leaving it to you to ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom about God’s character, love, and justice.
Does the Bible Say Anything About Babies Going to Heaven?
For Garrett Kell, Senior Pastoral Assistant at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, this subject is near and dear to his heart.
(Transcript of the video above, edited for readability)
“This is part of my own testimony with some of the things that the Lord has brought into my life and my life with my wife and I. We’ve had a number of miscarriages, so we’ve had to consider this question. One of the things is when you look through the scriptures, especially in moments like this, you’re looking for an answer, and what you don’t find is any clear teaching in the Bible about what happens to a child when they die or some other situations that are similar to this. So in moments like this, then what do you do? Is God completely silent? And I don’t think so.
So a verse that is good for my heart is Genesis 18:25, which says, ‘Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is right?’ This is the conversation that God’s having with Abraham. Abraham recognizes that God is, because he’s good, that we can trust him. And, oftentimes, in situations where there’s pain like this, we’re wondering, ‘Lord, what do you have to say?’
Now, I think along with that, there’s some other places in the scriptures that can give us great hope.
In 1 Kings chapter 14, around verse 13, there’s a story of a day in wicked Israel where Jeroboam was king, and it says that his child was taken to death. It says that because the Lord found something good in that child, He took him home to be with Him. And exactly what that means, I don’t know, but there’s a little glimmer of hope.
And then later on, or actually earlier in 2 Samuel 12:23, David has just lost his child that was conceived with the adultery with Bathsheba, and he had been weeping, praying for the Lord to rescue this child and to raise him up. But the Lord said no. And David said, ‘I will weep no longer. He will not come to me, but I will go to him.’ He seemed to have the hope that when he died, he would go to be with his child. And he certainly had the hope of being with the Lord when he passed away. Also, Jesus and the way that he speaks about children.
Matthew chapter 19, you’ve got the scene where the disciples are shooing away the children, and Jesus says, ‘Hold up, fellas.’ He says, ‘These are the kind who are received into the kingdom of heaven.’
So when you look through the scriptures, the testimony of children is lifted up highly as an example of humility in all these things. I know there’s a lot of questions theologically that we have to import about what about Adam’s sin and the imputation of sin and all these things?
What I fall back on continually is that in Christ, God can do amazing things, and He can extend mercy. He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy, and He will have compassion on whom He will have compassion. So, the way that I have and my family has dealt with these situations is to come back to that Genesis 18 [passage’ and say that, will not the just judge of all the world do what is right? There’s some things in this life we just don’t know. We just don’t know the answers for. But what we do know is the one who holds all things. And I think in these situations, we’ve got to put our heart in His hands and trust Him.”
(“Do All Babies Go to Heaven When They Die?” published on Christianity.com on December 12, 2016)
The verses Kell mentions are not the only ones relevant to this question. Other verses to consider include:
- “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10)
- “And Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’” (Acts 2:38-39)
- “So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 18:14)
- “And they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’” (Acts 16:31)
These verses provide comfort. Still, none explicitly say that infants and the disabled will be taken by God to heaven when they die.
Do Christians Have to Believe Babies Are Born with Original Sin?
The concept of original sin began not in the Bible but with third-century theologians, later popularized by fourth-century bishop Augustine of Hippo. Original sin means that with the first sin of Adam, evil entered the world, and every generation born after Adam and Eve began, and continues to begin, in sin. Under that concept, every child is born with the stain of sin.
Since sin separates us from God, we need a Savior to restore us to a right relationship with God. The Holy Spirit draws us back to that right relationship, but because of the free will that God affords us, we need to choose to believe and follow that Savior.
Paul underlines how belief in Jesus (and what we need to believe about him) in his letter to the Romans:
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10)
So, if babies are indeed born with original sin, and Romans indicates that everyone must believe and confess to be saved, then deceased babies’ spirits cannot go directly to heaven. They do not have a chance to believe and confess.
Consequently, Catholics and some denominations baptize infants, believing this is the same as a confession of faith on the child’s part, that the child will be “safe” if they die before a certain age of understanding.
How Does Believing in Original Sin Apply to Babies Going to Heaven?
Joel Beeke summarizes a key biblical passage about babies in the afterlife and applies his beliefs on original sin to the topic:
Christianity.com: When infants who die, before they are mentally capable of following Christ, do they go to heaven?-Joel Beeke from christianitydotcom2 on GodTube.
(Transcript of the video above, edited for readability)
“Infant mortality is a very serious, grave concern, and problem, and sorrow. When people lose babies, it’s a very sad time in their lives. And so when it comes to infant salvation, there’s something inside of all of us that wants to say immediately, ‘Of course, all babies go to heaven. How could God do anything differently?’ That tugs at our heartstrings.
The difficulty with this question of infant salvation is that the Bible doesn’t speak a whole lot to the question. We do know some encouraging things. We do know, for example, that God is a covenant-keeping God, and therefore He tends to work along covenantal generational lines, fulfilling His grace from generation to generation.
And so when parents, who are believing parents, have children, it’s going to be natural for God, it’s going to be the norm for God, to save those children. No, not necessarily when they’re infants, but God knows when He is going to take them out of this life. So most theologians who’ve studied the Bible would say that in terms of believing parents, the norm is that God would bring all of their children to glory. And that’s why the Canons of Dort had one article—17 in the Dutch Reformed tradition—says that parents who are believing need not worry about where their children will be when they’re taken away from them in infancy.
Now, we garner a bit of support for that from the different case studies in the Bible. The best being David, who lost a child. And you remember how David was mourning as the child was in the throes of death, and the child died, and he washed himself, and the people around him said, ‘David, what are you doing now? The child died. You should be sad.’ ‘Well,’ David said, ‘No, the child won’t return to me, but I will return to the child.’ Implying, ‘The child went to glory, and I’m going to meet him one day there.’
The more difficult theological question is, what happens to infants who die of unbelievers? Now, some people, like Charles Spurgeon, a great Baptist theologian, have said they all go to heaven as well because God is a merciful God. Other people have said, ‘We feel more uncomfortable with that position because that doesn’t leave any room for the sovereignty of God.’ Because every child, don’t forget, is stained with original sin, and therefore, to be saved, every child needs to be born again. There also needs to be the seed of regeneration put into that child’s soul by the Holy Spirit.
Now, my own personal view is that it would be God’s norm to do that as well with the unregenerate children, but it’s hard to base it on one or two texts from the Bible, because the Bible is quite silent about the seed of unbelievers. So we have to be careful not to make blanket statements that would circumscribe God’s sovereignty here. What we have to maintain is that every child is born in sin, every child needs to be born again, and that God is a merciful, yes, but also a sovereign God. And when we maintain that framework, I think we can say that it’s God’s normal way to save infants who die in infancy. But let’s not bind God to one mode or one method. He would be perfectly just to take an infant that’s stained with sin and to reject that infant.”
(“When infants die before they are mentally capable of following Christ, do they go to heaven?” published on Christianity.com on November 13, 2012)
I appreciate Beeke’s perspective. Yet I come back to the fact that God’s covenant through Jesus is that we are separated from God based on our sin and reconciled based on whether or not we accept or reject Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.
When some spit in the face of God by hearing the good news of Jesus Christ and saying no to it, how could that compare to someone who doesn’t have the mental capacity to ascent to God’s offer of salvation?
It’s one thing to say, “How could God allow this child to die?” It’s quite another to say, “How could God separate Himself from this child for eternity?
How Can We Help Families Who Have Experienced Miscarriages?
In her article, “What Does the Bible Say About Miscarriage,” Anna Oelerich references verses about how God feels about children.
“One of the greatest testaments to children’s inherent value is Jesus Himself. God could have sent His Son Jesus to earth as a man, but instead sent Him as a baby. He would be the ultimate child through whom God’s power would be perfected in weakness. During His short ministry on earth, Jesus calls us to come to Him as children, saying in Matthew 18:4, ‘Whoever humbles himself like this child . . . is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’”
For the family who has experienced miscarriage, we can remember these truths and those above that were a comfort to Garrett Kell and his wife. And we, as in all things, need to trust that our sovereign, loving, merciful, compassionate, and just God always does what is best. We do best when we learn more about him, so it is easier to trust and obey whatever He calls us to experience.
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/izzzy71
Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).
