Kathy
Overshiner
I know an individual
whose child died at the age of twelve. She
discussed with me if I thought her son had
reached the age of accountability. I assured
her that I thought her son was in heaven.
Only God knows exactly when an individual
arrives at the age of accountability─that
moment when the individual knows right from
wrong, good from evil and becomes
accountable to sin.
Each individual matures
at a different pace but there are verses in
the Bible that do indicate there is an age
of accountability, although the phrase “age
of accountability” appears nowhere in the
Bible. Personal accountability before God is
based upon one’s personal capacity to
discern good and evil, right from wrong and
to comprehend the fact that one’s choices in
these areas are acts of willful rebellion
against God and His purpose for one’s life.
God does not hold accountable those who are
incapable of appropriate responses such as
someone with, Down’s syndrome. God is a
gracious, loving, merciful Father and
certainly would not treat those incapable of
discerning the truth with cold, heartless
abuse.
Some people have tried
to fix a pre-teen theory of twelve to
thirteen years of age for the age of
accountability. This opinion is based on the
fact that when Jesus was twelve he went to
Jerusalem to observe the Passover with His
earthly parents─Mary and Joseph. He said,
“Why did you seek me? Did you not know that
I must be about My Father’s business?” Many
believe because He said those words, that
twelve is the age of accountability. Jesus
was deity incarnate and fully human.
In Luke 2, verse 40
(which is in reference prior to the incident
in Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve),
Scripture states:
“And the child grew and became strong; he
was filled with wisdom, and grace of God was
upon Him.”
In Luke 2, verse 52 we
learn:
“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and
in favor of God and men.”
Jesus was a human child
and He experienced the process of physical
and spiritual development. He kept growing
in wisdom as the grace of God was upon Him.
He was perfect in His human nature,
developing perfectly as God desired. But
the verse says the grace of God was upon
Him. Grace means it is a gift given to us
that is not earned─God’s unmerited favor and
mercy given to us.
Then eighteen years
passed when nothing was recorded about His
life. Somewhere from the time He was twelve
and until His ministry began, somewhere in
between, Jesus arrived at the age of
accountability. I do not interpret that to
mean that He was accountable at twelve, as
Scripture says the grace of God was upon Him
at that time.
Regarding Jewish
customs: The Bar Mitzvah ceremony does not
appear in the Bible, but the Jewish people
give the age of twenty as the time when
adult obligations begin. What does Bar
Mitzvah mean? Under Jewish law children are
not obligated to observe the commandments,
although they are encouraged to do so as
much as possible to learn the obligations
that they will have as adults. At the age of
thirteen for boys and twelve for girls, they
become obligated to learn the laws.
“Mitzvah” is commandment. The Bar or Bat
Mitzvah is a relatively modern innovation
not mentioned in the Talmud. The elaborate
ceremonies and receptions common today were
unheard of as recently as a century ago.
A Bar Mitzvah is not
about being a full adult in every sense of
the word, ready to marry, go out on your
own, earn a living and raise children. The
Talmud makes this abundantly clear. In the
Pirkei Avot it is said that while
thirteen is the proper age for fulfillment
of the Commandments, eighteen is the proper
age for marriage and twenty is the proper
age for earning a livelihood.
Elsewhere in the Talmud, the proper
age for marriage is sixteen to twenty four.
At age thirteen children become accountable
for their actions and the parents are no
longer accountable. The post-teen of twenty
to twenty one years old is the other
well-known belief of accountability and does
carry more favor.
In the Hebrew language
a person is considered a child from the ages
five to twenty. The word “infant” relates to
ages five and under; and the age of twenty
is considered to be an adult. A very
important point from the Old Testament
writings bearing accountability, however,
has to do with the cut-off age of those
wandering in the wilderness, those who were
either allowed to enter the Promised Land
and those who were condemned to die in the
wilderness.
A brief summary of
(Numbers 13; 14:29-35; 32:11-12): Twelve
spies were sent out to check the land and
ten came back with a negative report while
two gave a positive one. Those with the
negative reports did not want to go. They
rebelled against what God had wanted for
their purpose. Because of this rebellion
those twenty years and older were doomed to
wander in the desert. God allowed all those
from nineteen years old and under to go into
the Promised Land.
Numbers 14. 29-35:
“In this
wilderness your bodies will fall—every one
of you twenty years old or more who was
counted in the census and who has grumbled
against me.
Not
one of you will enter the land I swore with
uplifted hand to make your home, except
Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of
Nun.
As for your children that you
said would be taken as plunder, I will bring
them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.
But as for you,
your bodies will fall in this wilderness. Your
children will be shepherds here for forty
years, suffering for your unfaithfulness,
until the last of your bodies lies in the
wilderness.
For forty
years—one year for each of the forty days
you explored the land—you will suffer for
your sins and know what it is like to have
me against you.’
I,
the
Lord,
have spoken, and I will surely do these
things to this whole wicked community, which
has banded together against me. They will
meet their end in this wilderness; here they
will die.”
Why
did God allow those nineteen years old and
under to enter the land?
Numbers 32.11-12:
“‘Because
they have not followed me wholeheartedly,
not one of those who were twenty years old
or more when they came up out of Egypt will
see the land I promised on oath to Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob—
not one except
Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and
Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the
Lord
wholeheartedly.’”
Deuteronomy 1.39:
“And
the little ones that you said would be taken
captive, your children who do not yet know
good from bad-they will enter the land. I
will give it to them and they will take
possession of it.”
The previous verse
would seem to be a very clear statement with
regard to the age of accountability. Some
would say it is only for those people at
that time. Children are children though, no
matter what time period we are in. And God
is the same today as was He was back then.
Psalm 102.27:
“But
you remain the same, and your years will
never end.”
Hebrews 1.10-12:
“In the
beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of
the earth, and
the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will
perish, but you remain;
they will all
wear out like a garment.
You will roll
them up like a robe; like
a garment they will be changed. But you
remain the same,
and your years
will never end.”
God’s law set the age
for military service at age twenty. The
people in Israel must choose only those who
are twenty years old and older. (Numbers 1:3
and chapter 26:2)
Atonement money (Exodus 30:11-16) was
taken from the sons of Israel. This
contribution of atonement money was taken
from a select group. Each person twenty
years old and over would give a contribution
to the Lord. Why were those nineteen years
of age and under exempt from pay atonement
money? Because God saw that they had not
reached the age of “accountability.” Josiah
was a righteous king (eight years old) and
reigned thirty-one years (2 Chronicles
34:1-2).
This eight years of age
does not prove accountability, as for in his
eighth year of reign while he was still a
youth,
he
only began to seek the God of his
father, David, and in the twelfth year of
his reign he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the Asherim; carved
images, and molten images. Josiah grew more
mature in seeking God at the age of sixteen,
but he didn’t begin to act out his growing
understanding until the age of twenty.
Josiah proves a post-teen theory rather than
the pre-teen theory.
Now in scientific and
medical research, scientists are finding out
in adults that their anterior or prefrontal
parts of the brain perform a lot of
executive functions or thinking functions:
planning, goal-directed behavior and
judgmental insight.
Those who are in their teen years are
still in the process of developing the
prefrontal lobe of the brain, which is a
major influence on one’s emotions, judgment
and decision-making.
Comparative brain scans
of both adults and teens show that in an
adolescent brain, the relative activation of
the prefrontal region is less than it is in
adults. This is considered significant in
determining maturity and accountability.
Child development specialists agree with the
age twenty in regard to the cognitive curve.
From ages six to ten years old children are
learning facts, soaking up details of
information like a sponge.
From ten to fourteen
they are developing logic and from fourteen
to eighteen they are developing reason.
Children learn from their parents. When
toddlers hears, “No, no,” that does
not necessarily mean they understand the
“no” and they certainly do not understand
that what they are doing is really wrong.
They just learn that parent’s say, “no” for
some reason and along with the “no” comes
the punishment.
They associate the “no”
and punishment after so many repeats
(conditioning), but they do not understand
what they are doing is wrong. I look at my
years of growing up and know that I
certainly was not capable of understanding
the difference from right and wrong, and the
accountability to the purpose of God.
When I was six, through others
teaching me, I became aware of Jesus being
important but I had no understanding what
that all meant. I knew Christmas was
associated with His birth. When was ten, I
became curious and started looking in the
picture books about God
and creation but I did not comprehend
the meaning of all of it.
At thirteen I started
reading the Bible and learning about God
through Sunday school, but I still did not
comprehend the concept of what all I was
reading. I did things as a child that I had
no idea were wrong or why the consequences
of it were wrong -- but as an adult I came
to understand what was wrong and started
understanding why. The understanding of the
difference from right and wrong became
evident when I was past twenty.
Even things I did at age twelve or
eighteen, I know now were wrong and why, yet
back then I had not figured out the logic or
reason. After I turned twenty, my entire
thought process started changing and I never
repeated anything I did before I was twenty.
This does not mean that
parents should be slack on teaching and
training their children about our Lord Jesus
Christ when they are still under twenty
years old. They should take them to church
because while they are still immature when
they are very impressionable and they will
become curious about the Lord. Even though
God has exempted children from judgment, He
has not kept them from His blessings. Allow
the children to come to Jesus as Jesus did,
because curiosity develops first before a
true understanding develops.
God in His
righteousness will always be perfectly fair
in His assessment of accountability to each
and every one of us.
Proverbs 22:6
“Train a child in the way he should go and
when he is old he will not turn from it.”
Ephesians 6:4
“Fathers, do not
exasperate your children; instead, bring
them up in the training and instruction of
the Lord.”
What must we all do to be saved?
Acts 16:31
They replied,
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be
saved—you and your household.”