The Age of Accountability

The Age of Accountability is a hard one to pinpoint. It is easy to realize the fact that infants and children are not accountable, and therefore spiritually safe. Romans 9:11, “for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil.” This verse shows that children in the womb have not done good nor evil. What a fete that would be for an adult to neither do good nor evil! Reasonably, they neither did good nor evil because they could do neither good nor evil. After David’s infant son died, he said, “Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:23). Assuming that David, a man after God’s own heart, was planning on going to Heaven and not Hell, this verse shows infants to be destined for Heaven. Children, likewise, are spiritually safe. In fact, if one wants to be saved, he must become like a child (Matthew 18:3). Unborn children, infants, and children alike all are destined for Heaven. It is not until later that they commit evil and lose their ticket to that eternal abode (Rom. 3:23; 6:23).  The fact of accountability is not hard to realize, but the moment when becomes accountable is nigh impossible.

Part of the confusion is the emphasis on “age.” Indeed, those of a young age, like the unborn, like infants, like children, are all spiritually safe. But as so many deduce, those who are mentally handicapped from youth are likewise spiritually safe. A highly autistic person is just as incapable of doing good or evil as an unborn child is. Further, emphasizing the age of accountability suggests that at some precise age, most people are accountable. Again, as so many correctly deduce, there are some who reach this “age” at eight years old, and some who reach this “age” at eighteen years old. Would it not be more appropriate to say “The State of Accountability?” This would demystify an already abstract concept, including more readily the accountable persons at age eight and the unaccountable persons at age eighty.

Age aside, what does “accountable” mean? The common definition is “subject to.” If you are “accountable,” then you are “subject to” God’s law. This is true, but this definition alone opens the door to other inquiries. Does God just randomly choose some people to be “subject to” His law? We know there is no partiality with God (Rom. 2:11), so there must be a reason why some are expected to obey and others are exempt from obeying. Does God expect only those who have access to His Word to obey, and those who do not access to His Word are exempt from obeying? This particular question usually appeals to the mysterious people in the “deepest darkest part of Africa,” or the Native Americans who dwelt for centuries in a place where oceans kept them apart from the Word of God. What about them? What about those who have no opportunity whatsoever to hear the Word of God? Are they “subject to” obeying something they never knew existed?

To answer, we must look at the word “accountable.” The simple definition “subject to” is insufficient, but the word itself is by all means sufficient. Accountable: Able to give an account. Or, if you prefer: Accountability: The ability to give an account. An “account” is a “record,” a “testimony,” a “report.” If one is able to give an account of the good and evil he did, he is accountable. If one is unable to give an account, because he was unable to do good or evil, he is unaccountable.

Let’s apply this to some scenarios: An unborn child cannot do good or evil, therefore he cannot give an account, and thus is unaccountable. Same with infants and children and the mentally handicapped. They cannot comprehend the very ideas of good or evil, let alone attest to doing either good or evil. They may understand expectations from others, but there is no guilt for the actual act of evil, nor pleasure in the actual act of God. No offense intended, but their minds are like animals, relying only on instinct when expectations are absent, and adhering only to expectations only out of fear of punishment or anticipation of reward.

Those  in the “deepest darkest part of Africa,” or those who lived in the Americas before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, do not classify as unaccountable. For, though they lacked the truth, they possessed the ability to know the truth. Account-ability. Not Account-opportunity. Yes, they lacked the opportunity to know good (as God considers the term “good”), but that does not mean they lacked the cognitive ability to know good. Thus, Paul by inspiration wrote, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” (Romans 1:20). They had the ability to reason that there was a God, and since they had the ability they in turn had the responsibility to seek out God. I believe, had they sought out God, God would in turn give them an opportunity (Matt. 7:7). Ability leads to responsibility, and responsibility leads to opportunity. Unfortunately, many stop at ability, shirking their responsibility, even if God grants them opportunity.

Now, let’s consider further the difference between ability and opportunity: Those in the Americas before 1492 had the ability, but no opportunity. Young children who are taken to church services regularly have the opportunity, but have no ability. Lacking ability, not opportunity, has always been a cause for exemption from God. Adam and Eve had no ability to know public nudity was evil, for God had yet to disclose such to them. Were they therefore “subject to” God’s law on nudity? Not until they had the ability to know, which they gained upon eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In that case, the opportunity (from the tree) made way for the ability (“and their eyes were opened”). It was not until they had the ability that God made for them clothing, teaching them what was appropriate attire (Gen. 3:6-7, 21). Likewise, those Jews in Numbers 9 who were unclean for the Passover had the opportunity to celebrate, but lacked the ability, seeing they were unclean. God therefore gave them, and others who were on a far away journey (likewise unable), another opportunity for when they were able (Num. 9:10-11). This particular passage teaches a principle applicable to us: If we are unable to come to services, either do to sickness or travel difficulties, we are exempt from attending services. We are not able to give an account of going to services, because we are not able to go. The opportunity to go is there, church services are held with or without us when we’re sick, but the ability for us to go is missing.

Here’s an example which I think will help us appreciate this concept. Obviously, we are commanded to sing with the saints (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). Let’s suppose a Christian is diagnosed with throat cancer, and in the process of undergoing chemotherapy, he loses the ability to speak. Will God find this man guilty of subtracting from Holy Write because the man has the opportunity to sing but lacks the ability? I dare say, all of us would agree: No, that man is exempt. That man is no longer “subject to” God’s law on singing. That man is no longer accountable, seeing he could not, even if he wanted to, give an account of doing good. He is unable to account. He is unaccountable.

Now returning to the age of accountability: A child who is unable to give an account, that is, a child who cannot cognitively grasp what is right and wrong, is not accountable. He is not expected to obey, seeing he cannot obey, and is therefore exempt from obeying. Accountability relies on ability —both cognitive and physical. We readily realize that when a person is sick or when a person cannot physically get to services, he is unaccountable for that specific area of God’s law. In like fashion, those who are mentally immature, including children and those mentally handicapped, lack the ability to understand all of God’s law. Therefore, they are exempt from all of God’s law. What is the age —or, rather, the state— of accountability? It is the ability to give an account. Being unable to give an account renders one unaccountable. There can be specific areas in which one is unaccountable (e.g. if one is sick), or one can altogether unaccountable (e.g. an infant).