Each of these three differences has implications about children. Babies are born without knowledge, with hearts that need shaping, forming and training. Their situation is well described by Deuteronomy 1:39, “Your little ones… have no knowledge of good or evil.” Isaiah 7:16 speaks about a time “before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.” Being unable to comprehend, newborns lack the writing of God’s laws on their minds and hearts. For some time, they are not in a position to be taught to “know the Lord.” Therefore, as babies, they cannot fit Hebrews 8’s description of those in the New Covenant where all “from the least of them to the greatest” know God. Whoever is “the least,” that person certainly must be old enough to take God’s will to heart.
In the New Covenant even “the least” knows God.
That is why, in the New Testament, there is no baptism of small children. Babies cannot fulfill the conditions for receiving baptism (Matthew 28:19; Acts 8:12, 35-39; 10:34-38; 16:30-34; 18:8; Colossians 2:12; 1 Peter 3:21).
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:16)
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. (Acts 2:38)
According to Jesus and His apostles, belief and repentance precede baptism. They lead into baptism. But babies have no ability to believe or disbelieve, much less change their hearts for a life-time commitment.
These New Covenant facts shock some people. They think that a child who dies without baptism will suffer some sort of limbo or hell. They forget that the Bible never uses the term “limbo.” That term is a human invention without any hint of biblical basis. The Bible speaks of hell, but never assigns children there. Indeed, the Bible defines sin and judgment in terms that cannot apply to babies (2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 John 3:4). Jesus Himself speaks positively of little ones.
Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:4)
Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 19:14)
Rather than seeing children as evil, Jesus lifted them up as models of humility, similar to citizens of God’s kingdom. Jesus evidently knew them to be safe in God’s eyes. Certainly, when Jesus spoke about saving people, He required responses that babies could not fulfill. He called for conscious decisions involving…
- Faith (John 3:14-18; 8:24; 20:31)
- Humility (Matthew 5:3; 18:3-4)
- Change of heart (Luke 5:32; 13:3, 5)
- Counting the cost (Luke 14:25-28)
- Denying self and giving up all (Luke 9:23; 14:33)
- Carrying one’s cross (Matthew 10:37-38; 16:24-25)
- Following Him (Matthew 16:24-25; 19:21; 28:19)
All of these involve choices that only responsible people can make.