The purpose of this article is to investigate what the Bible has to say about children, specifically their membership in the Kingdom of God. This understanding profoundly impacts how we, as parents and church communities, nurture their relationship with Jesus their Saviour. Throughout this article, I'll refer to children as members of God’s eternal kingdom as ‘Kingdom Kids’.
While children are mentioned throughout Scripture, God hasn't neatly bundled His thoughts on their salvation and kingdom membership into one passage. Therefore, I’ll reference a variety of Old and New Testament scriptures. My aim is to construct a theological framework for thinking about children that's consistent with God’s revealed character and His gospel of grace through Jesus.
The Foundation of Salvation: Grace Through Faith Alone
Before we dive into children specifically, it's crucial to lay the foundation of evangelical Christian salvation. Entrance into God’s eternal kingdom is solely by God's grace, received through faith in Jesus Christ's atoning death on the cross for sin and His victorious resurrection (Rom 3:23-26, Eph 2:8-9). All humanity stands condemned under God's righteous judgment due to sin (Rom 3:9-18). It's only by God's merciful provision of Jesus as a substitute for our sin that we're granted undeserved life and a relationship with Him. Those gifted this faith are sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30).
We're all fearfully and wonderfully made in God's image (Ps 139:13-16; Gen 1:27). However, even newborn children, who haven't yet committed conscious, rebellious acts, aren't exempt from humanity's fallen state; all humanity has inherited a sinful nature from Adam and Eve's original trespass (Rom 5:12-17). This inherited sin underscores the profound wonder of Jesus’ grace:
"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)
Crucially, there's no "free pass" into God’s Kingdom for children, or for anyone else. Parental effort, prayers, or formulas can't guarantee a child's Kingdom membership. It's by grace alone, through faith alone, that any of us—including children—receive this privileged status. This truth, however, doesn't diminish the immense responsibility of parents and primary caregivers. Just as church leaders will give an account for those they oversee (Heb 13:17), so too will parents give an account for pointing their children to Jesus, their true Savior.
God’s Consistent Heart for Children: Old and New Covenants
Scripture consistently reveals God’s yearning for children to know Him and His commandments (Deut 4:9, 6:4-9), and to understand His saving acts (Josh 4:1-7). A key aspect of this posture is children's inclusion in God’s covenants. Under the Old Covenant, children were part of the Israelite nation through the covenant of promise and circumcision (Gen 12:1-3; 17:9-14).
With Jesus, a New Covenant was inaugurated, replacing the Old (Heb 10:9). Significantly, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record Jesus’ explicit command: “Let the little children come to me.” This consistently demonstrates God and Jesus’ desire for children to know Him, trust Jesus as Lord and Saviour, and be gifted with faith – thereby becoming Kingdom Kids.
When Do We Consider a Child a 'Kingdom Kid'?
This leads us to the central question: At what point should we consider a child a 'Kingdom Kid'? Is it from birth, or only when they can consciously verbalise and "declare with [their] mouth, 'Jesus is Lord'" and "believe in [their] heart that God raised [him or her] from the dead," thereby being "saved"? (Rom 10:9-10). If it is from birth, does this apply to every child, or specifically to those with believing parents?
Children Who Profess Faith
Scripture affirms that children can indeed possess genuine faith. Paul noted that Timothy knew the Holy Scriptures "from infancy," making him "wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 3:15). This was undoubtedly fostered by the sincere faith of his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice (2 Tim 1:5). It's reasonable to imagine a family priority of passing the Gospel to Timothy from a very young age.
We observe that young children can and do declare the Gospel with their lips, often with a sincerity of heart moved by the Spirit, not merely parroting what they've heard. At HBC (our church community), we have the joy of witnessing similar spirit-filled joy in adults with limited cognitive abilities, strong evidence that God's work of salvation extends beyond chronological age or cognitive function. We should be hesitant to assume limits of any sort on our Triune God.
A common concern arises: "Surely Kingdom Kids would be 'good' kids, wouldn't they?" Any parent knows that even children who make genuine declarations of faith can still be "naughty." This reflects the ongoing struggle with sinful desires and temptations that all Christians face, regardless of age. Children praising King Jesus one minute may display attitudes contrary to the Gospel the next. Such actions don't automatically negate their salvation. If we judged anyone’s salvation by their actions, we would have forgotten the cross entirely. Just as adult Christians need to be continually pointed back to Jesus, so do children, time and time again, so that grace abounds in our homes and church communities.
The genuineness of a child's declarations—whether copying others or truly Spirit-prompted—will become evident over time by the "fruit of the Spirit" in their lives (Gal 5:22-23). Therefore, while children are declaring Jesus as King, it seems right to consider them Kingdom Kids, while still diligently discipling them to a deepening understanding of the Gospel and obedience to God’s commands.
Children of Believing Parents: Covenant Membership
What about children so young they can't speak or consciously articulate faith? Newborn babies have little control or conscious awareness. They may seem to have done "nothing wrong" to deserve God's wrath, leading some to assume they are all 'Kingdom Kids'. However, we must ground our understanding in God's revealed Word.
Let's first consider children born into households with believing parents:
Old Covenant Parallel: In the Old Testament, children born into an Israelite family were inherently part of the Israelite nation, included as God’s chosen people and recipients of the Old Covenant's blessings. Joshua’s declaration, "as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Josh 24:15), encompassed his children, and for boys, circumcision at eight days old served as a sign of the covenant (Gen 17:12).
New Covenant Continuity: Similarly, in the New Testament, when entire households 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). Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 7:14 further supports this: "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." This suggests a corporate, covenantal holiness for children within a believing household, even if only one parent believes.
Given this scriptural pattern, it seems consistent to consider children born into households with believing parents as ‘Kingdom Kids’ from birth. We understand this as a covenantal presumption of membership, which requires ongoing nurture and a future individual embrace of faith.
Parental and Church Responsibilities for Covenant Children
In both Old and New Testament contexts, our role as biological, step, or adoptive parents, and as a church family, is profound. We are commanded to "fan into flame the gift of God" (2 Tim 1:6) in these children. This means:
Helping them know their Heavenly Father.
Showing them God’s plan of redemption through Jesus.
Guiding them to live with Jesus as their King through prayerful dependence and obedience.
We must always remember that forgiveness and Kingdom membership for any of us come only through repentance and grace in Jesus. Just as parents cultivate a child prodigy's potential by surrounding them with opportunities, so too should we immerse our 'Kingdom Kids' (who are gifted the Holy Spirit to teach them all things and remind them of Jesus' work, John 14:26) in Scripture, surround them with Christian brothers and sisters, and provide every opportunity to grasp their eternal reality. This is the wonderful privilege and responsibility given to parents and church families, promising a joy that far surpasses any earthly achievement, and one that will resonate through eternity.
This "ringing out through eternity" provides Christian parents grieving the loss of a child with a profound hope of seeing their child again. This hope isn't merely a salve for the understandable pain of loss but a right application of the understanding of Kingdom membership, regardless of when one is "called home."
Children of Unbelieving Parents: A Question of Hope and Heartache
What about children in families where there are no believing parents? This is a question that weighs heavily on the hearts of many, especially when considering the profound grief of losing a child, or for those who long for the salvation of their friends' and neighbors' children. It's a deeply sensitive area that touches on immense heartache—the crushing reality of not seeing the full person God made them to be, of not seeing their passions and talents or the joy of hearing their laughter. This grief is profound and shared by all families, regardless of their spiritual standing. I deeply understand the human desire for hope in such an awful situation.
The Scriptures clearly teach that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, and that all humanity, due to inherited sin, is born in a fallen state. However, the precise application of these truths to the eternal destiny of infants or young children who pass away without a conscious profession of faith, particularly those outside of a covenant household, is a complex and often painful area of theological discussion.
While I stand firmly on the Bible's teaching regarding humanity's inherent sinfulness and the necessity of God's grace for salvation, the pastoral implications of these truths for children who die in infancy or before the age of accountability can be very tender.
For those grappling with these profound questions, or for parents navigating the grief of such a loss, I strongly encourage you to speak directly with a church pastor. They are equipped to offer compassionate, biblically-grounded counsel, to pray with you, and to help you explore the rich mercies of God in Christ within the context of your specific circumstances and questions. Such conversations are best held in the supportive and prayerful environment of a local church community.
God's Sovereignty: The Unseen Hand in Salvation and Perseverance
The discussion of God's mercy and judgment naturally leads us to the profound doctrine of His sovereignty. As Romans 9:16-21 powerfully states:
"[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)
This raises a crucial question: What about kids and teens who, after growing up in believing homes, seem to "fall away" from the faith? Were they ever truly ‘Kingdom Kids’?
Ultimately, only God knows whose names are written in the Book of Life (Rev 20) to escape eternal judgment. In His sovereignty, He also determines the timing of His saving revelation. Consider Paul, to whom Jesus declared, "why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:4-5), yet later wrote 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 specific timing of revelation for any child, even those who appear to reject Him later.
If God set Paul apart before birth not only to be saved by grace but to be an apostle of Christ, then He can, in His timing, bring back to Himself those who are currently rejecting Him. While we can't presume God will bring about this Gospel revelation for every individual, neither can we definitively say He won't. Therefore, we cannot say with certainty that these children, teens, or adults who grew up in believing families are lost from Him forever.
This sobering truth, however, means we might not see them in God’s eternal kingdom on the Last Day. This thought should drive every parent to earnest prayer, asking God to remove anything and everything these children, teens, or adults are clinging to for hope and identity, so they can see their true and only hope in Jesus.
God’s sovereignty demands our trust in His decisions and His timing for the revelation of grace to our kids. To expect otherwise is, at best, to demand something from God that isn't ours to command; at worst, it's to put ourselves above Him, thinking we know better. God can reveal the truth of Jesus and gift faith to young children, but He also might not.
Regardless of His sovereign timing, we must 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 allow Him to 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), taking seriously this divine command 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. 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 definitively indicate otherwise. Let’s do all we can, with a louder ‘voice’ than what they are hearing from the world, to proclaim that their true identity has been won by Jesus. Then, as Ephesians 4:14-16 states:
"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."
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This article has been written by Andrew Horsfield, the Chidlren’s and Youth Pastor at Hunter Bible Church. Please reach out with any questions by emailing kids@hunterbiblechurch.org