The Age of Accountability: The Eastern Orthodox View, Part 2

This post continues our consideration of arguments in favor of infant baptism other than original sin.

Suffer not

Here we need to introduce a statement by Jesus Himself on the subject of children and faith. In Luke 18, some children are brought to Him to receive a blessing. His disciples try to interfere. But Jesus immediately rebukes them, saying, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16). A sentimental reading of this passage tells us that Jesus loves children, and that we should not stop them from trying to ask questions about Him or wanting to pray to Him, or tell them that they are too young to get to know Him. While this is true, no one the Lord is talking to thought differently. These were people, we have to remember, who circumcised their children, included them in the Passover rituals and taught them from a young age about God, Israel and the Prophetic writings. The Jews were fanatical, by our modern standards, in their desire to raise their children in the faith. This is not a Hallmark moment in the Gospels.

Jesus is in fact including children in His Kingdom. And His inclusion of children in the Kingdom includes them in the covenant He establishes in His Name. There is no partial involvement in the Kingdom of Heaven, just as there is no partial inclusion in the covenant. We are either members or not. Jesus is saying that children are in, and there is to be no argument about it. There is absolutely no room here to make an argument that children must wait until some magical age before they too can be included with full rights into the Church and at the altar table.

We must, as always, interpret the passage in context. Why did Luke include the story where he included it in chapter 18?

The account of the children is preceded with —

(Luk 18:10-14 ESV) 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’  14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The lesson, quite obviously, is the necessity of coming to God with humility as a condition to being forgiven, indeed, exalted. The language of “justified” and “exalted” is associated with the Messianic age. This is a kingdom parable, even though the word “kingdom” isn’t used.

The story of the children is followed by —

(Luk 18:18-27 ESV) 18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.  20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'”

21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”

22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.  24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!  25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?”

27 But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.”

While we usually see this as a lesson on greed, we often miss the implication that the rich man’s first sin is pride: “All these I have kept from my youth.” Claim inheritance (kingdom language) by virtue of your good works, and Jesus will certainly humble you. (Compare the rich man to the Pharisee in vv. 11-12: “The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.'”)

The chapter closes with a blind man being healed after crying out,

(Luk 18:38 ESV) 38 And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

The next chapter begins with the story of Zacchaeus. Over and over, the theme is humility. There are other thoughts and lessons brought in, but the dominant theme of the stories is the necessity of humility to enter the kingdom.

And so, how should we read —

(Luk 18:15-17 ESV) 15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  17 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

The lesson is, of course, the lesson that Jesus himself taught: “whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” In fact, Jesus did not say that infants would be in the kingdom. He said, “to such belongs the kingdom of God.” Compare —

• NASB: “to such as these”
• NIV: “to such as these”

Jerome, a contemporary of Augustine who translated the Greek Bible into the Latin Vulgate, explained, “It is not these children, but those who are childlike in character, especially in humility and trustfulness, who are best fitted for the kingdom” (quoted by Norval Geldenhuys in the The New International Commentary).

Although the primary lesson is humility, there is a secondary lesson: if it’s those who are like children who enter the kingdom, children would seem to have a natural advantage. Now, Jesus is plainly not saying that all children are saved, or that humility is enough. Faith surely remains a requirement! The point is that you don’t have real faith if your faith is in yourself — and children are among the least likely to have faith in themselves.

The church as family

The earthly family is an image of the heavenly family, the family of the Kingdom of God. Children born to a Christian family are born again into the heavenly family through baptism. A child baptized in the Orthodox Church belongs to a spiritual family. This family bridges both heaven and earth, stretches backward and forward in time and includes both saints and angels. Children belong to this family exactly as each of my daughters belongs to my family. They know in a profound way that they belong long before they have some kind of cerebral understanding of that belonging.

Our modern world so exults reason and cerebralism that young children are sometimes treated as not fully human, or are at least treated less seriously than adults because they can’t think like we do. The truth is that a child is a full human being. A child of any age is capable of expressing and participating in the glory of God. Christ Himself sanctified every age as God-bearing, since He was as much the perfect Word of God as an infant as when He was a grown man. We must remember that children are not second-class persons. Their baptisms are as significant to them and to God as adult baptisms. Even if they do not cognitively understand what that baptism means, they are certainly capable of intuitively understanding it.

This is a bit of a reach, isn’t it? I mean, a three-year old will have an understanding of family. A 4-week old baby will not. To equate a baby’s understanding of family with faith in Jesus is utterly untenable.

On the other hand, I do agree that we overly individualize our Christianity. We are to have both an individual relationship with Christ as well as a corporate relationship through the church. Family is important. But the church family is more important.

(Mat 10:37 ESV) Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

While our earthly family is an approximation of the church, the church is our true family. We don’t join the church via our families. Rather, we join our true family in the church.

Conclusion

I intend no disrespect for the idea of infant baptism. Many of the greatest theologians in historians have advocated for it — from Augustine to N. T. Wright. But the arguments aren’t convincing. On the other hand, our traditional teaching on the age of accountability has its problems as well. We need to dig deeper.