The Word of Truth Ministries
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Age
of accountability & Wait on your ministry: |
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“A
child is saved if he/she dies under the age of accountability….The
Bible says to wait for your ministry.” There are many things we were taught
as children, and many of those things were incorrect. But our parents
were not trying to harm us, they were simply teaching us all they
knew of God's word. Most parents believed what they taught was correct.
Apostle Paul admonishes us, however, to prove all things
and whole fast to that which is good. [1
Thes. 5:21] As children of light, we are obligated
to know the certainty of the light we are to walk in. Many errors
have crept into the church, and they have crept in through various
means; one such means is our failure to prove all things. Seeing this error-creep and knowing
the permanent and deadly harm ignorance to the word of God can work
on a person, Jesus said, If a man's light be darkness, how great
is that darkness. Since this is true, it is incumbent on all
ministers to know the truth. But be assured, knowledge of the truth
is costly. I. Age of accountability doctrine This is an interesting teaching; it is humane and humanly fair, within our fashion of logic and reasoning. It is also indicative of how errors get into the church through sentimentality and emotionality. The problems I see in such a doctrine are twofold. The first problem is it lacks
a Bible basis, whether implicitly or explicitly. There is nothing
in the Word of God, whether stated outright [explicit] or
implied through some gathering of suggestive scriptures [implicit]
that supports such a notion. There is, however, an implicit biblical suggestion that one who is not yet born is better off than one who has been born and has the vengeance of God upon him.[Mat. 25:24] That scripture implies that since such a one is not yet born into sin, he/she cannot experience the consequences of sin. And that makes both Godly and human sense. But when one is born into this world, he/she is shaped in iniquity and born into sin. [Psa. 51:5; 53:3;58:3;Rom. 3:23;6:23] And having been so born, King David, a prophet, [Acts 2] wrote in Psalm that a child comes into the world speaking lies as soon as he/she is born. [Psa.58:3] The reason this is so is because of the nature he/she inherits from his/she parents, even Adam and Eve. [This teaching is not The Age of Accountability doctrine.] Adam and even had children outside
the Garden of Eden, in this world of sin. And therefore we all have
the sin nature from birth. Paul said to the Romans we all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God.
[Rom.10 ] In Paul's writings to the Roman Church he implicitly rebuts the doctrine of the Age of Accountability. He says, by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin so that death passed upon all because all have sinned--even the little child who comes forth from the womb speaking lies. [Romans 5] Adam's sin took us all out of right standing with God into sin and out of the Garden of God. But Jesus, through His actions on Calvary, brought us out of sin and back into reconciliation with God. [Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor.5:18-19.] As Adam took man wholesale into sin by his act, Jesus brought man out of sin, but we must individually accept His act to receive its benefits. Again, with Adam's act, when we are born, we receive the harm of it. With Jesus' act, we need be born again individually to receive the benefits of it. [John 3] Paul goes on in Romans, saying death
reigned on all men from Adam to Moses because of sin, even
persons who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression.
The word similitude gives us pause because we cannot be certain
if it means the likeness/kind of transgression or the frequency
of transgression? We see Adam's transgression as one, not many.
[Gen. 3] But the gravity of that one transgression
was so profound and broad in ramifications, it was severe, reaching
even down unto now--even though to Adam it may have seemed like
a casual act, almost insignificant. The Psalmist David stated that
although it was one transgression, its significance was that it
threw the very foundations of the earth off course.
[Psa. 82:5]. We need
only look at the writings of Moses in Genesis
3 to see that God cursed man and all things under
the reign of mankind as a result of that one transgression. Paul states in Romans 5: 19, by the obedience of one (Christ dying
on the cross) shall many be made righteous. The word
shall is future tense, implying that the benefits of Christ's
obedience can only accrue to one if he/she accepts personally and
individually what He has done on Calvary. Notice what Peter said
to new converts on the very first day of the new church: when they
asked him what could they do or how could they receive the benefits
of Christ's work, he said repent of your sins, be baptized
in Jesus name, and God will give you His spirit. [Acts
2:38] This admonition was to be born again, as
it was given to Nicodemus by Jesus in John
3. Each person has to do an act of individual repentance
and turn to God per His word to receive the benefits of His death
on Calvary's cross. Furthermore, Paul states that the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. The word through implies an individual
action. [Romans 6:23[ Just as the act of Calvary's cross was completed before the foundation of the world, but had to await the fulfilling of all things before it took effect, each individual is covered by the blood of Christ, but each has to volitionally accept the finished work of Christ to receive that work's benefits. The second problem I see with
this doctrine is that it's based in human reasoning and not Godly
reasoning. God has said that His thoughts, reasoning, and ways are
unlike humans. Furthermore, God has said that all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in His sight. [Isa.55:8;
64:6 ] That is why we need to have our minds transformed
to His way of seeing the world and to His way of thinking--be
ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, Paul commands.
[Rom.12:2] Sadly, condition we are faced with is
this: we try to hold God accountable to our human standard of righteous
behavior. The attempt to get God to behave as we demand is a malady
especially peculiar to many living in the USA, a nation of people
who have almost raised themselves up to the egocentric loftiness
of the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt and the Caesars of Rome. Therefore,
we don't think it strange to place our human philosophical standards
of righteousness, justice, and correct behavior on God. And
when He does not comport to those standards or our notions of what
is right and what is wrong, we scour the scriptures trying to understand
why. But God's ways are not our ways. [Isa. 55]
And thank God they are not; we are a fickle people that behave as
the wind behaves. What would God be like if He were to adopt our
behavior and our manner of thinking? Human beings do not want to envision
God permitting innocent children who don't know right from wrong
to be destroyed because they have not accepted Christ when they
did not have the capacity to know of Christ. For God to allow that
seems inconsistent with a righteous God--will not the judge of
all the earth do right, we ask as Abraham did. [Gen.
18] But the flaw is our reasoning is really found in
our definition and our conceptualization of righteousness as it
applies to God; Our definitions are burdened with human conceptualizations
that are untutored by God's word. We place this human standard on
God and we want Him to abide by it, and when He does not, as He
surely will not, we think His actions and works are strange.[Isa.
28] Consider this: if God is bound by our standards of
righteousness, in defiance of His own, we are more powerful than
God; hence, we would be gods. Moses wrote, God is a rock, His work is perfect and all His ways are justice/just. He is a God of truth and He is without iniquity in all He does. [Deu. 32:4; also see Rev. 15:3-4] Our attempt to make God conform to our standard demonstrates an ignorance of God's word and a failure to remember that we are His creatures and creation, and we were made for God's pleasure, not our own. [Rev. 4] This failure to remember
who we are and why we are in relationship to God is,
indeed, one of the major gaps in human reasoning. It was Solomon
who said the conclusion of the whole matter of man is to fear
God and keep His commandments, that is whole duty of man.
[Ecc.12:13] Since we are His creatures and creation,
if God utterly destroys a nation, He is right. If He destroys a
wholly righteous man for His own desire, He is right. If He destroys
the wicked and the just alike, He is right. Whatever He does He
is right, and just, and without blame or fault, and no amount of
human reasoning or righteousness can or will change that Godly reality.
He is only bound by His word and the standard he sets for himself.
Our human failure is in not knowing His word to determine His standard. As we attempt to simplify God, we run
into confusion because the God of the universe, who created all
things that exist, whether things visible or invisible, cannot be
simplified. We view God's complexity and think it is confusion and
contradiction as we try to wrap our minds around Him. But Solomon
said that the simple love simplicity, [Prov.
1:22] and simplicity can never be of the things of God
and certainly not of God. He is more complex than we can ever imagine.
His ways and depth of wisdom and riches are beyond our discovery,
but to the righteous He reveals His secret. Job exclaimed that the
secret of the Lord was upon his tent. [Job29:4;
Psa.25:4; Prov. 3:32; Rom. 11:33 ] Whatever God does with and to His creatures
and His creation is without iniquity; whatever He does with and
to His creation is right and just. He is sovereign Lord over His
creation. A vessel cannot rightly question its creator of why
it was made a certain way or of a certain usage. [Rom.9]
That principle was demonstrated in Job, shown in Jesus, implied
to Annais and Sapphira by Peter, and is taught throughout scriptures
to us, if we will see it. Again, God is Sovereign
Lord of all His creation! Finally, there are many tragedies in
life. A baby dying outside of Christ is one of the far-ranging tragedies
of man's fall from God. It can be clumped with war, sickness, and
misery. It is the human tragic results of sin. And that tragedy
is comparable to the tragedies of war and chance in societies throughout
this earth. A sad but true axiom is this: In the movement of
nations at war and during other times, the innocent are often injured
and killed. We have seen and do know that within
this life are random variables that are set loose in the earth,
and those variables mean that time and chance happen to us all.
[Ecc. 9:11] Whether
time and chance were the result of sin and the foundation of the
earth being thrown off course or whether it was the result of Satan
being cast down to the earth, [Rev.12]
I cannot say, but it is a random variable we must live with, as
it occurs in this world.[Consider
these scriptures: 1 Sam.6:9; Lke.10:31; Ecc. 7:17] II. Wait On your ministry: Many confuse wait on and wait
for; and in so doing they corrupt the meaning of Romans 12; 7. That scripture
is often misinterpreted to mean a minister is to wait for,
as one waits for Gadot. This is a simple confusion that should be
clear by a realization that to wait on is as a waiter in
a restaurant waits on, or better yet, provides service at a customer’s
table. Wait for is to tarry, to linger in expectation for
another person or for something to arrive or occur; wait on
is to do a thing as soon as possible. Wait for means just
the opposite of wait on. Paul says in Roman
12, if you are a minister, start ministering. Get about
doing the Master's work! Even the context of the scripture demonstrates
that Paul is saying be busy with your gift. If you are a
teacher, start teaching. If you are a prophet, start prophesying!
Use your gift! That is why it was given--to
be used. Of course, it would be foolish to disregard
2 Tim. 2:15 and try
to minister, as many are doing making ship wreaks of their ministries;
some have even disgraced the gospel. Jesus chided Nicodemus for
his lack of knowledge [John 3]
and Paul commands us to study God's word so we can properly feed
the flock of God, which He has purchased with His own blood.
[1 Pet. 5:2] Finally, another axiom arises: there
is never the teacher of any substance who is not the student of
substance as well. []
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Copyright © 2002 by The Truth of God