Do Infants Who Die Go to Heaven or Hell?

As we think about a question like this, we first have to check our hearts to make sure our answer is not sentimental but biblical.

I say this up front because of an unhealthy pattern that is present among churches when Christians project their feelings on to God as if he were like them. God is not like us (Psalm 50:21), instead, we are called to be like him. So let’s look at this question from what God has revealed to us in Scripture.

First of all, there is no place throughout the Old and New Testaments where God directly answers this question. Ideally, we would have such a faith in God’s good and sovereign will to trust him with all our losses, as Jesus says;

 Matthew 10:29–31

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

We know that God is responsible for life and death (Deuteronomy 32:39), Jesus holds the keys of death and hades (the realm of the dead) (Revelation 1:18) and he is also the Author of Life (Acts 3:15); God creates every person from the womb (Psalm 139:13–18) and is the one who has numbered all our days (Psalm 139:16); he himself gives all people life, breath and everything else (Acts 17:25), by his will we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28), and in him, all things hold together (Colossians 1:17). So ideally, God’s people would be able to trust him as their only sovereign and Lord (Jude 1:4) with every circumstance of life, including the death of an infant. However, there are a few passages that help us to strengthen our faith in God’s character as we see his justice and mercy more clearly, and these should help us to be at peace when children die in infancy.

Deuteronomy 1
As we follow the history of Israel from Genesis through the first five books of the Bible known as The Torah (or the ‘Books of Moses’), we see God create a people for himself (Genesis), save them from slavery (Exodus), teach them how to live as a nation that is ‘holy to the Lord’ (Leviticus), guide them through the wilderness to the Promised Land despite their rebellion (Numbers), right up to the death of Moses as Joshua is about to lead them through the Jordan River to take possession of the land (Deuteronomy). Because of Israel’s stubbornness and disobedience, God told the generation that he saved from slavery in Egypt that they would all die in the wilderness, except for a faithful few.  It is in this condemnation of the wicked and his mercy to those few that we see God’s attitude toward children. Moses is speaking, and he begins here by quoting God;

Deuteronomy 1:35–40
“No one from this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly. Because of you the Lord became angry with me also and said, “You shall not enter it, either. But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.”

Verse 39 is the key text for our question because it’s there that we see God make a distinction between those who ‘do not yet know good from bad’ and those who have no excuse. This is important because since The Fall in Genesis 3, all people are regarded by God as being sinful and corrupt. David confesses that he was sinful even from his mother’s womb (Psalm 51:5), and the Apostle Paul will make the same point in Romans 5:12, saying, ‘Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way, death came to all people, because all sinned…’ And yet, in Deuteronomy 1:39 God makes a distinction between those who know right from wrong and those who don’t, and we believe this distinction in his judgment on the people of Israel in the Old Testament will be consistent with the way God will judge people through Jesus Christ on The Last Day. We do not know what this ‘age of understanding’ is, but God knows, and that is enough for us.

Romans 1:19–20
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

In this passage from the New Testament written by the Apostle Paul, we see clear reasoning why God is justified in condemning all people, regardless of whether they have heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus or not, because creation itself is enough of a witness to render them inexcusable for their sin. Paul even goes one step further and makes it clear that no one can even claim to be ignorant of God’s presence, power and nature, but are guilty for actively suppressing it. The basis for this condemnation is that God’s invisible qualities ‘have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made’ … and so, ‘people are without excuse’.

As we apply that to the human race it condemns everyone who can see and understand, but it does not include those who cannot. We believe this would include those who are mentally incapacitated, and it would extend to infants who do not yet have the capacity to be held accountable to this accusation. Infants cannot suppress the truth they cannot see in the world that has been made, nor reject the witness of creation they do not yet have the capacity to understand.

2 Corinthians 5:10
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

This passage from the New Testament is an example of the truth that is often repeated that when Jesus returns to judge the world, his judgment will be based on what we have done. There is no place in Scripture where God promises to judge us for ‘original sin’, but always on the basis of what we do and fail to do as we live as responsible moral beings in the world that he’s made.To put that another way, each of us will be held accountable for what we have done; we will not be held accountable for what Adam did. Each person will be judged on the basis of what each person has done (Ezekiel 18:20). As we apply that to infants in light of what God has already said about the culpability of those who know, see and understand, it seems clear that infants are not included among adults when we consider their behaviour.

It is true that even before a child is old enough to know right from wrong, they seem to act in ways that are consistent with their fallen nature, so we are not claiming they are ‘innocent’. However, we do not believe their actions are based on the kind of choices that render adults guilty before God, and so we believe this gives us confidence that God will include them among the righteous who have been cleansed by the blood of Christ.

Luke 18:15–16 (See also Matthew 19:13–15)
“People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the
disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as
these.”

Finally, in the passage above we see Jesus, the Judge of the living and the dead, speak about infants in a way that indicates he is just like his Father who makes a distinction between them and those who are old enough to know good from evil. Jesus’ command to “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them”, is the basis for our ministry to children, seeing it’s the Lord’s will for us to lead them to him. We believe this happens most effectively as we disciple our children in age-appropriate ways so they can know the gospel of the Lord Jesus, trust in him for forgiveness and learn how to live for him as Lord.

But further to that is Jesus’ comment that “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these”. We first want to make it clear that we believe Jesus is using children to demonstrate certain characteristics we must adopt to be regarded as God’s people. We need to become like children in the sense that they are humble and under submission, naturally trusting of their parents, not influenced so much by the world, etc.

However, we also believe that in this, Jesus was demonstrating the way he receives infants in a unique way. Jesus doesn’t require faith, confession and repentance from these children as he does with adults who come to him, instead he receives them as they are and affirms the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like them. And so, although we don’t see an explicit answer to the question of whether infants who die go to heaven or hell, it seems clear from what God has revealed that we can be confident they will be received by Jesus and given eternal life with him. This is not on the basis of their innocence or worthiness, but by God’s grace through the work of Jesus on the cross and the character of God who is sovereign, compassionate, merciful, and always does what is right.