Question: Greg,

My question has to do with the age of accountability. A professor of mine in college provided fairly good support from the Old Testament that the age might be 20. Where can I go to get various opinions on this issue or better yet, some clear biblical support for any position?

Thanks and God bless!

Brett

Answer: Dear Brett,

The age of accountability is commonly understood as the age at which a person becomes aware of right and wrong and therefore responsible for his or her actions. This age is usually argued and discussed within the province of theology and religion as well as within criminal law.

  1. In terms of the Bible, one would be hard pressed to make a case for any specific age.
  2. In terms of biblical teaching about sin, Paul tells us in Romans 3 that we are all sinners, that we have all fallen short.
  3. Thus, there is a related question – at what age does a human become a sinner? Most Christians believe that the Bible teaches that human sinfulness comes with our humanity, and that we are born with sinful human nature. Sin, of course, is both a condition or a state, as well as actions. Thus it could be, and is, argued that human babies have human nature, but are not capable of committing acts of sin.
  4. Sin, when discussed along with salvation, always includes discussion of the judgment – and the obvious question about what happens to those who are not saved – what judgement awaits them?
  5. Which leads some back to discussions about the age of accountability. As we can see, there is an arbitrary and subjective side to all of this. Western jurisprudence has attempted to be objective and generally accepts the age of 18 – but when particularly heinous acts are perpetrated by those under 18, a discussion about lowering this age always ensues, and courts sometimes try a juvenile as an adult. Of course, civil and criminal law is not consistent, for there are other ages for marriage, consent and for drinking and gambling.

Religion varies as well – all without any clear biblical precedent. Some believe a

child at age 6 has certain moral culpability. Some Christian churches follow the general Jewish practice of the Bar Mitzvah (a Jewish boy reaching his 13th birthday is thought to have religious duty and responsibility), having confirmation, etc. at 12 or 13 years of age.

Some thoughts for your further consideration.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht