So according to the Calvinistic understanding of the Total Depravity of humanity, every person is completely and full deserving of going to hell right from the very start of their life, and it is only by the goodness and mercy of God that He does not send everyone to hell the very moment they are born.
However, the vast majority of Calvinists that I have heard speak or write on this issue, proclaim that all infants go to heaven. Although, there are some Calvinists that remain tight-lipped on the issue and do not affirm or deny the heavenly destination of infants.
InThe Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Loraine Boettner, we read:
Certainly there is nothing in the Calvinistic system which would prevent us from believing this [that infants who die are predestinated to salvation]; and until it is proven that God could not predestinate to eternal life all those whom He is pleased to call in infancy we may be permitted to hold this view.
But the question has to be asked, why would God show His grace and mercy to all infants if He does not do the same with all adults? I mean, are not all infants (according to Calvinism) equally as deserving of hell as everyone else is?
The only way I could see a Calvinist being consistent in saying that God gives His grace to all infants would be by saying that God also gives His grace to all non-infants. However, I can’t say that I know many universalist Calvinists.
Sure, it sounds all good from the Calvinistic perspective that God would show His grace to infants. I mean, after all, no one wants to be told that their child may be in hell right now if God did not choose to predestinate him/her to salvation.
But, in my opinion, consistent Calvinism would affirm that God predestinates only some infants to salvation and passes over the rest to damnation. Calvinist theology doesn’t have an adequate explanation for why God would predestinate all infants to salvation but not everyone else. The only reason I can see is, as the expression goes, wanting “to have one’s cake and eat it too.”
Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter X: Of Effectual Calling, Paragraph 3:
“3. Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth. So also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.”
1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter X: Of Effectual Calling. Paragraph 3:
3. Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit; who worketh when, and where, and how he pleases; so also are all elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.
I would agree that a universal statement that “all infants are saved” is inconsistent with the doctrine of Total; Depravity. The above confessions are reflective of a consistent Calvinism. Of course, once one says not all infants are saved, the charge of God being unjust almost always is brought up. No, if TD is true, then no injustice would have been done.
See these resources as well:
http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/2005/08/how-wide-is-narrow-roadthe-gospel-of.htm
http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/articles/account.html
Thanks.
“But, in my opinion, consistent Calvinism would affirm that God predestinates only some infants to salvation and passes over the rest to damnation.”
I think this is the view of most mainstream Calvinists, but it is not spoken of in these terms for obvious pastoral reasons, whether that is good or bad is another story.
There is a lonnnnnnnnnnnnng list of Calvinists, most publicly headed by John MacArthur, who, for theological and pastoral reasons, maintain all infants/children/unborn are saved.
I am in your camp with regard to consistent Calvinism (even if one doesn’t agree with Calvinism). I am in the camp that only elect infants/children/unborn are saved.
I just don’t think we have biblical evidence to make the dogmatic, universal statement that MacArthur makes. Sometimes the correct pastoral answer is “I don’t know.”
Thanks.
I’ll take your word on JMac, and I am sure there are others as well, who else are you thinking of?
I am pretty sure that I have heard John Piper say that all infants/children go to heaven.
Piper: http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/2006/1622_What_happens_to_infants_who_die/
Spurgeon: http://reformationfaith.wordpress.com/2005/12/28/more-on-infant-salvation/#more-61
The following quote is from Piper’s article on the issue:
“It is important to emphasize that, in our view, God is not saving infants because they are innocent. They are not innocent, but guilty. He is saving them because, although they are sinful, in his mercy he desires that compassion be exercised upon those who are sinful and yet lack the capacity to grasp the truth revealed about Him in nature and to the human heart. ”
I find that reason to be rather lacking, because I don’t see why it matters that infants did not have the “capacity to grasp the truth revealed about Him in nature and to the human heart.” As even if they did have the capacity to understand, they would still completely reject God, Christ, and the way of righteousness. So why does it matter if they do not have the opportunity to understand God.
This is an interesting dialog but it brings to the surface a larger issue that is not being addressed; Calvinism in its inconsistencies (for this is not the only one) is an artificial construct which has been eisigetically laid upon the scriptures. Note that all of the supporting references refer to creeds, pastors, theologians and not a single verse of scripture.
Since the supralapsarian beliefs of the men listed condemn some to perdition prior to the creation of the world, some infants will be created solely for an eternity of punishment and others to grace. To teach this about adults and not infants is hypocritical to say the least. Pastorally speaking, I would never tell a parent this but neither would I promise them grace that is based on my personal speculation just to make them feel better. Better to search the scriptures and find that double-predestination of the Augustinians and Calvinists is unsupported by the Holy Word.
peace
Agreed. I have to say all elect infants are saved from the wrath of God we all deserve and I leave it in God’s hands to do what He in His infinite wisdom chooses to do.
The flip side is: How do we arrive at a doctrine of Age of Accountability? This, too, seems to be a construct developed to explain the same bitter pill we Calvinists try to explain with our inconsistency.
[...] Age of Accountability? 6 11 2009 In this previous post of mine on Calvinism, here, I discussed an inconsistency I saw in the Reformed position on the salvation of the [...]