MRC
Puritan Board Freshman
Reading Calvin I became convinced the the old "age of accountability" doctrine in some Arminian circles is not biblical or Reformed. Speaking about the requirement of all believers (incl. infants and little kids) to have saving faith in Christ alone to attain salvation and thereby avoid hell I was corrected by my small group leader that the "age of accountability" doctrine is reformed and is biblical. Can anyone point me to where in the Westminster Standards this issue is adressed?
To me it seems that if one allows for some "age of accountability" then the justification of an infant that is not yet accountable is not due to Christ's atoning work as that infant would have a lack of faith, nor is that infant's sin due to their fallen nature as their age would prevent them from needing saving faith. I would think the age of accountability to flow out of Arminianism when they need to deal with an infant's ability or inability to "choose" salvation. Within a Reformed framework we would understand God to elect those that are His, regardless of age. Otherwise, in order to maintain the sinful nature of infants and the justification of those infants by faith in Christ and some "age of accountability" wouldn't the argument need to be universalism for infants? Am I off based here?
To me it seems that if one allows for some "age of accountability" then the justification of an infant that is not yet accountable is not due to Christ's atoning work as that infant would have a lack of faith, nor is that infant's sin due to their fallen nature as their age would prevent them from needing saving faith. I would think the age of accountability to flow out of Arminianism when they need to deal with an infant's ability or inability to "choose" salvation. Within a Reformed framework we would understand God to elect those that are His, regardless of age. Otherwise, in order to maintain the sinful nature of infants and the justification of those infants by faith in Christ and some "age of accountability" wouldn't the argument need to be universalism for infants? Am I off based here?