The purpose of this article is to investigate what the bible has to say about children, specifically their membership in the Kingdom of God, and how this impacts the way we grow and develop their understanding of Jesus their saviour; both at home and as members of a church community. Throughout this article I will refer to this concept of children being members of God’s eternal kingdom as ‘Kingdom Kids’.
While children are mentioned throughout scripture God has not neatly bundled his thoughts on their salvation and kingdom membership into one passage. I will reference a variety of OT and NT scripture. My aim is to draw from them a way of thinking theologically about children that is both consistent with God’s revealed character and his gospel of grace through Jesus.
The Gospel of Jesus
Salvation into God’s eternal kingdom is only possible by Jesus’ death on the cross for sin, and His resurrection to eternal life. All have sinned against God and are deserving of His judgement and wrath (Rom 3:9-18). God’s wrath has been poured out on Jesus in our place so that those who trust in Jesus are granted an undeserved life and relationship with both God and Jesus (Rom 3:23-26). Those to whom God has gifted this faith are sealed with the Spirit of God (Eph 4:30). This grace - escaping God’s judgment and the gifting of eternal life - cannot be earned or deserved but only gifted through faith in Jesus.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. Eph 2:8-9
We are all fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:13-16) in the image of God (Gen 1:27), and while newborn children have not had the chance for conscious and rebellious sin, all humanity has inherited a sinful nature from Adam and Eve’s original sin (Romans 5:12-17). That is what makes Jesus’ grace so amazing,
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! (Rom 5:17)
It is worth noting there is no free-pass into God’s Kingdom for children. Parents and primary care-givers, while having great responsibility for the children God has given them, cannot follow a formula or even pray enough to guarantee their child’s Kingdom membership. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, that any of us are afforded such a privileged status, kids included. This is not to say that parents and primary care-givers can wash their hands of any responsibility or influence in the eternal Kingdom Membership of their kids. Just as church leaders will stand before God and give an account for those they are watching over (Heb 13:17), so too will parents give an account for those God has placed in their care to watch over and point to their true saviour, Jesus.
God’s posture towards children
God’s character throughout scripture reveals a heart that yearns for children to know Him and His commandments (Deut 4:9, 6:4-9), and to know all He has done to save His chosen people (Josh 4:1-7). Children were included in God’s covenants with His chosen people - as part of the Israelite nation through the covenant of promise and circumcision (Gen 12:1-3,17:9-14). Jesus ushered in a new covenant to replace the old covenant (Heb 10:9). The gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke all include Jesus’ statement to “let the little children come to me”. God and Jesus’ desire has consistently been for children to know God and trust Jesus as their Lord and saviour, that they too would be gifted a faith in Jesus - to be Kingdom Kids.
When, however, should we consider them to be Kingdom Kids? From the day they are born, or when they can verbalise and “declare with [their] mouth, “Jesus is Lord’” and believe in [their] heart that God raised [them] from the dead, [they] are saved”? (Rom 10:10-11) If it is from birth, is it for every child, or just those with Kingdom Parents?
Let’s take a closer look at children having a faith of their own. Paul describes Timothy as knowing the Holy Scriptures from infancy, making him “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus“ (2 Tim 3:15). His Grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice are both described as having a sincere faith (2 Tim 1:5). With such a merciful, generational understanding of the gospel I can easily imagine a parenting priority of passing the gospel on to Timothy too. Young children can and do indeed declare the gospel with their lips, not just parroting what they’ve heard but with a sincerity of heart that has been filled by the Spirit and moved by the gospel. We have the joy at HBC of seeing such spirit-filled joy in adults with limited cognitive abilities too, so I think this principle can be extended beyond chronological age. I am certainly hesitant to assume limits of any sort of our Triune God - including age or function.
Ask any parent however and they will tell you that even children who make such declarations with their mouths can still be pretty naughty - surely Kingdom Kids would be good kids, wouldn’t they? All Christians are still wrestling with sinful desires and temptations. Children praising King Jesus one minute will display actions and attitudes that are contrary to the gospel the next. Do these mean they are not saved? If we were to judge each other’s salvation state by our actions then we have already forgotten about the cross. Just as adult Christians need to be pointed back to Jesus, so do children - time and time again - so that grace abounds in our homes and church communities. Whether these declarations are copying others or indeed spirit-prompted outpourings will become evident by the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ in their lives (Gal 5:22-23).
While ever children are declaring Jesus as King, it seems right then to consider them Kingdom Kids, while still discipling them to a deepening understanding of the gospel and obedience to God’s commands.
What about children so young they cannot speak? Newborn babies are barely conscious of their surroundings and have little control over anything. They’ve done nothing wrong to deserve God’s wrath and judgement, surely they’re all Kingdom Kids, right?
Let’s start by looking at children born unto Kingdom Parents. In the old testament, children born into an Israelite family were part of the Israelite nation, included as God’s chosen people and recipients of the blessings of the old covenant. As the head of his family, Joshua made the declaration that “he and his household” would serve the Lord (Josh 24:15) - and for the boys, this would have included circumcision at the age of 8 days old as sign of the convenant that was given to the Israelite nation (Gen 17:12). Similarly in the new testament, when a whole household came under the new covenant of grace, whole households were baptised and considered members of God’s kingdom. (Acts 16:33-35, John 4:43-54). It seems consistent with scripture to consider children born into households with believing parents as Kingdom Kids, even if it is only one parent who believes.
“For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.” 1 Cor 7:14
In both situations our roles as biological/step/adoptive parents and as a church family is to “fan into flame the gift of God” (2 Tim 1:6) in children - to help them know their Heavenly Father, show them God’s plan of redemption through Jesus and to help them live with Jesus as their king through prayerful dependence on Him; and obedience to Him, remembering that it is only through repentance and grace that any of us have forgiveness in Jesus and can consider ourselves as members of God’s Kingdom. Parents who are convinced their son or daughter is a child prodigy surround them with experiences, people and opportunities to see them fulfil their potential. Kingdom Kids, gifted the Holy Spirit to teach them all things and remind them of everything Jesus has done to secure this membership and identity (John 14:26), need to be immersed in scripture, surrounded with Christian brothers and sisters and given every opportunity to realise their eternal reality that awaits. This is the wonderful privilege and responsibility given to parents and church families that will bring far more joy than seeing a child being the best [insert achievement here], one that will ring out through eternity forever.
This ringing out through eternity is why Christian parents grieving the loss of a child can be hopeful of seeing their child again in eternity. It is not a salve for the understandable pain and grief of years untouched, but a right application of Kingdom membership regardless of when we are called home.
What about children in families where there are no believing parents? What hope might they have in times of such grief? I first want to acknowledge the immense heartache and pain of not seeing the full person and personality God made them to be - to not know their passions, talents and hobbies; to forget (or never hear) the sound of their laughter. This is a shared pain for families regardless of their kingdom membership. I can completely understand the desire for hope in an awful situation. Here it is helpful to return to Ephesians 2:1-10 where Paul reminds us that anyone living outside of grace is deserving of God’s judgement and wrath, just as those saved were before God. Sadly this seems to include children who are part of families outside of grace, just as it has been - first for every child born outside of the Israelite nation (Gen 21:12) - and now for every man, woman and child outside of grace. Thinking that newborn children who haven’t had a chance to ‘sin’ yet deserve to be considered a Kingdom Kid unfortunately doesn’t fit with scripture. Rather, as already mentioned, scripture reminds us that we have all inherited a sinful nature (Doctrine of Original Sin) from Adam. King David recognised this when he included the line ‘Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.’ (Ps 51:5) It may not sit well with us, but even if things seem unfair to us we still need to let God be God. The truly lamentable aspect when anyone outside of grace dies is the lost opportunity to hear of salvation through Jesus.
“[Salvation] does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? Rom 9:16-21
God’s Sovereignty
Having segued into this section from Romans 9, what about kids/teens that seem to fall away, were they ever Kingdom Kids?
Only God knows whose names are written in the Book of Life (Rev 20) to escape eternal judgement. In God’s sovereignty he also holds the timing of revelation of this grace. This is why Paul, to whom Jesus said, “why do you persecute me” (Acts 9:4-5), could later write in Galatians 1, “God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me…”. We don’t know God’s timing of revelation of His grace to these children, even those who appear to reject Him. If God set Paul apart before birth to not only be saved by grace, but to be an apostle of Christ, then He can bring back to himself those who are currently rejecting him - in His timing. Now this isn’t to say that He will bring about this gospel revelation, but we can’t say that He won’t, or that these children/teens/adults who grew up in a family with believing parents are lost from Him forever. It does mean however, we might not see them in God’s eternal kingdom on that last day - a thought that ought to drive every parent in earnest prayer for God to take away anything and everything these children/adults/teens are clinging to for hope and identity, so they can see their true and only hope in Jesus.
God’s sovereignty means we need to trust Him in His decision and timing of revelation to our kids. To expect otherwise is at best demanding something from God that is not ours to demand; at worst putting ourselves above Him, thinking we know better. God can reveal the truth of Jesus and gift faith to young children, but He might not too. Either which way, we need to remember that God loves our kids more than we ever will; they are His creation, not ours; He is God and there is no other. Trusting God in his sovereignty means we must also let him be sovereign in his mercy (Rom 9:16-21). In the meantime, there is every reason to ‘bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord’ (Eph 6:4) as if they are Kingdom Kids, taking seriously this command from God to all parents throughout time.
Just as God made and loves all people, not all children born (even to Christian households) can be guaranteed Kingdom membership. This comes through, and is only known by Jesus. In the meantime, for those of us to whom faith has been given, whether we have biological or adoptive children of our own, or even as part of a church family where there are children, it seems right to consider them as Kingdom Kids until such time as their heart and actions indicate otherwise. Let’s do all we can, with a louder ‘voice’ than what they are hearing from the world, that their identity has been won by Jesus. “Then [they] will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, [they] will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” Eph 4:14-16