What Is the “AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY”?

All people born into this world since Adam & Eve were born with a sinful nature (Romans 5:17), which explains why David said “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). The “age of accountability” addresses the age that God begins holding people accountable to their sin.

Think about it like this: Would you hold your child responsible for something they did wrong even though they weren’t mature enough to be adequately aware it was wrong? Obviously not. Similarly, the LORD does not hold children accountable to sin until they reach the age of accountability, which is implied in this passage:

14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. 15He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, 16for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

Isaiah 7:14-16

Spiritual Life / Spiritual Death and the Age of Accountability

Children are spiritually alive before the age of accountability, but eventually experience spiritual death in their adolescence, which ultimately ties into the age of accountability (although they’re not synonymous). What do I mean by “spiritually alive”? Being spiritually alive simply means one’s spirit is alive to God whereas being spiritually dead means your spirit is dead to God (Romans 8:10 & 1 Corinthians 6:17). Paul notes here that he was spiritually alive at one time:

Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

Romans 7:9

Paul obviously wasn’t referring to physical death in this verse, but rather spiritual death. Before knowledge & awareness came to him of what was right and wrong (in this case, through the moral law of the Old Testament), Paul was “alive” — meaning he was spiritually alive — but, once he became aware of what was right and wrong, his flesh “sprang to life” and lured him to willingly commit the transgression in question; and sin produces death (Romans 6:23 & 7:13). Thus he died spiritually.

Unlike Paul, non-Jews don’t have the moral law of the Old Testament, so how does this apply to them? Simple: The moral law is written within them via their God-given consciences (Romans 2:14-16). As they grow through adolescence they become increasingly aware of universal morality and inevitably choose the wrong — i.e. they sin (Romans 3:23) — and thus they die spiritually.

Have you ever run into a family where the parents are heavily involved in sin, like drugs & crime or severe sexual immorality, but their kids are bright-eyed & bushy-tailed? Regardless of the moral degeneracy of their parents, the kids have the sparkle of life in their eyes! It’s incredible. Why is this? Because they’re spiritually alive.

This reminds me of when I was 11-12 years old and the teacher I had in 6th grade. The next year I switched to junior high at a facility about five miles away. The summer in between, I got involved with alcohol, drugs and delinquency, hanging around the wrong crowd (as it is written: “Bad company corrupts good character” – 1 Corinthians 15:33). When I was 13, I ran into my former 6th grade teacher outside the school one day and I didn’t even acknowledge him. He looked at me and recognized me, but I looked totally different. I was now a lil’ drug-obsessed wannabe punk-hoodlum. It was like day and night. What happened?

I had died spiritually.

At What Age Do People Enter the Age of Accountability?

Answer: It depends. I said that I experienced spiritual death when I was 13 years-old. The age when one undergoes spiritual death is not the same as the beginning of the age of accountability, although there’s an obvious correlation between the two. Let’s just say that sometime after spiritual death the age of accountability will begin. When that technically occurs depends on the individual.

For instance, say a boy grows up in a loving Christian home that’s part of a healthy local assembly. In his teens and early adulthood he has the knowledgeable moral foundation to make wise decisions. Compare this to a boy who grows up in a grossly dysfunctional pagan family who’s been fed LIEberal misinformation all his life. He understandably makes foolish decisions because he has a faulty moral foundation. The age of accountability would obviously begin at an earlier time for the first boy compared to the latter. Christ himself plainly acknowledged how knowledge & awareness factor into personal guilt (John 9:40-41, John 15:22 & 15:24).

To complicate matters, growing up in what appears to be a healthy Christian home & church assembly, doesn’t guarantee that a youth will choose the LORD as an adult. Most of us know this. When I was young I became friends with a 16-17 year-old girl. She was a sincere Christian and a powerful witness at her school, pure and devout. Then she went off to (secular) college and some bad things went down, not to mention a couple of tragedies occurred in her family, like her parents divorcing due to the father — an impressive deacon in the fellowship — committing adultery. When she got back from college prematurely, she was hardened and wouldn’t even speak of God. It’s a sad story. (Hopefully she later reconciled with the Lord, but I don’t know what happened to her).

A Biblical Example of the LORD Holding People Accountable Based on Age

When the Israelites stubbornly rebelled against the LORD in the wilderness after they were miraculously freed from bondage in Egypt (Numbers 14:1-11), God judged that all those 20 and over would die in the desert over the course of the next 40 years, except for faithful Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14:26-35).

Only those 19 and younger would be allowed to live and enter the Promised Land.

How is this relevant to our topic? Simple: the LORD made a stern judgment against the Israelites for their transgression, but only held those over a certain age accountable. Those under that age were not held responsible.

Of course this does not mean that God only holds people 20 and over responsible for their sins, whether today or any era in the past. Again, that would depend on the individual and his/her unique circumstances. But this at least shows us that our Creator deems the age of 20 a good demarcation line for being responsible concerning moral decisions. In short, by that generous point in time blame falls on the individual (which does not mean other people aren’t partially responsible).

Do Those Who Die Before the Age of Accountability Have Eternal Life?

The above explains why most theologians believe children go to Heaven when they die, including non-Christian children, which makes sense. However, this is different than saying that they’re assured eternal life. Let me explain.

The first thing we must establish is that God is absolutely just and fair when it comes to making eternal judgments of people:

righteousness and justice are the

        foundation of His throne.

Psalm 97:2b

   for He comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

    and the peoples with equity.

Psalm 98:9

When God makes an ultimate judgment on a person we can be certain that the divine judgment will be righteous and just. This is the LORD’s very nature. The second verse says that God will judge people with equity. This means to be completely fair, ethical and impartial.

Now let’s relate this to children or youths who die before the age of accountability. Since they physically died before they were adequately conscious of morality and the negative consequences of immorality, they will have to be exposed to some kind of simulation where God can properly verify if they would receive the gospel of reconciliation or reject it in favor of sin. Such a “simulation” would be a reproduction of life on Earth. The people who would qualify for such an enactment would include those who died as kids because they never had the chance to experience the trials & temptations of life and therefore never had the opportunity to reject their Creator for sin. After all, it wouldn’t be fair that such people would attain eternal life when, in fact, they would have rejected God & reconciliation if they had actually lived and were given the opportunity. Are you following?

For those who argue that such a simulation is incredulous, remember that God is the Almighty who can do anything. It would be nothing for our Creator to put people through such a simulation.

Also keep in mind that making a judgment regarding a person’s eternal destiny is of paramount importance. If God doesn’t have enough information to properly make that decision then the LORD will have to get it; and conducting some kind of simulation is a likely possibility.

Why am I complicating the topic with this point? Because the idea that anytime a child dies they’re guaranteed eternal life is a dubious doctrine at best. As noted above, because children are still spiritually alive they’ll go to Heaven if they die as a kid, but this is different than saying they’re assured eternal life. The false notion that kids are guaranteed salvation from everlasting destruction in the Lake of fire has motivated some mentally questionable parents to kill their kids to save them. Andrea Yates is Exhibit A.

This is a wake up call to such misguided parents.

What is Conscience?

Universalism, Inclusivism, Restrictivism, Purgatory and the Judgment Seat of Christ

Spiritual Growth — The Four Stages

God Deals with People According to the Light they Have

Spiritual Growth is Like Climbing a Mountain

The Seven Keys to SPIRITUAL GROWTH

Does God Reserve All Judgment until the End of the Age?

Accountability — the Good, the Bad and the Eye-Rolling

Human Nature — Spirit, Mind & Body

The Fall of Man (Humanity) and Slavery to Satan

REDEMPTION — God’s Plan of Liberation for Humanity & Creation