Children go to heaven

I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

(Romans 7:9-11)

In this section, we will discuss what happens to children when they die. In the previous section, we established that New Testament saints—being born again during their lifetime—go straight to heaven when they die. To answer the question of what happens to children, we must first understand why we need to be born again.

As previously noted, at birth, the human body descends from Adam—more precisely, it is made from dust—whereas the human spirit and soul come directly from God. At death, this process is reversed: the body returns to dust, and the human spirit and soul return to God who gave them.

However, there is a process that takes place between birth and death which is essential to understand: the need to be born again. Jesus taught that unless we are born again, we cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3–5). This is why, at the time of death, those who have been born again ascend into heaven, while those who have not descend into hell.

So what does it mean to be born again? Simply put, it is the spirit of the individual that is reborn. The question then arises: why must our spirits be born again? Paul answers this question in the passage above when he says that he was once alive, but there came a point in his life when sin killed him.

Paul is speaking of his spirit. When he was born into the world, he was spiritually alive because his spirit came from God (Hebrews 12:9). In other words, Paul was born of God. Throughout his childhood, his spirit remained alive because God does not hold children accountable for sin; Paul described this stage of his life as being “alive without the law.”

He then explains that when he reached a certain age, God held him accountable for sin—“when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” At that moment, Paul’s spirit became dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Therefore, his spirit needed to be made alive again—what Scripture calls being born again or, as Peter puts it, begotten again by God (1 Peter 1:3).

Thus, at the time of death, those who have been born again are spiritually alive and can therefore ascend into heaven, while those who remain spiritually dead must descend into hell.

Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

(Matthew 18:2-3)

Understanding why we must be born again helps clarify the status of children in the kingdom of God. Children are spiritually alive because God does not hold them accountable for sin; He declares that children “have no knowledge of good and evil” (Deuteronomy 1:39). Therefore, children are already in the kingdom of God, which is why Jesus teaches that we must be converted—that is, born again—and become as little children: spiritually alive.

Consequently, because children are already spiritually alive, they ascend directly into heaven when they die.

As an aside, it is important to note that all children—from the moment of conception until they reach the age of accountability—ascend into heaven when they die.

Michael E.B. Maher

Resurrection of the Dead

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