Hi again, Averagefellar. Sorry I was not clear. I was making the point that there is not a particular chronological age for all people. For one person the particular age may be eight; for another person it may be ten. Infants dying in infancy and severely mentally handicapped people never reach a particular chonological age that would be designated as the age of accountability or age of responsibility.
1. You asked me to provide some Scripture about Adam’s free will. Well, obviously he was the first human being and could not have inherited total depravity from another human being (another Adam). Adam was made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), and thus there was no depravity in him that would mar his will. Adam was part of a very good creation (Genesis 1:31), and thus again there was no depravity in him that would mar his will. God commanded Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge, but God implied that it would be possible for Adam to eat from it when God gave the consequences for eating from it – spiritual death (Genesis 2:17). Thus, Adam had a free choice. He was not encumbered with total inability to make the right choice. He was held responsible for the choice he did make.
The five-point Calvinist Arthur Pink (1886-1952), who wrote articles in the monthly magazine Studies in the Scriptures, said that Adam had true free will:
“In unfallen Adam the will was free, free in both directions, free toward good and free toward evil. Adam was created in a state of innocency, but not in a state of holiness, as is so often assumed and asserted. Adam’s will was therefore in a condition of moral equipoise: that is to say, in Adam there was no constraining bias in him toward either good or evil, and as such, Adam differed radically from all his descendants, as well as from ‘the Man Christ Jesus.’ ”
(Arthur W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God, 1930, pages 134-135.)
Similarly, God did not force Satan to sin, and thus Satan self-generated a bias toward sin from a position of moral neutrality. The modified Calvinist Norman Geisler, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary and 1998 president of the Evangelical Theological Society, commented on Satan’s true free will:
“For the strong (extreme) Calvinists the ultimate question is: Who made the devil do it? Or, more precisely, who caused Lucifer to sin? If free choice is doing what one desires, and if all desires come from God, then it follows logically that God made Lucifer sin against God! But it is contradictory to say that God ever could be against God. [. . .] Consequently, some less strong Calvinists claim that God does not give any evil desires but only good ones. However, this view has two problems. First, why would God give a desire to do good only to some and not to all? If He is all-loving, then surely He would love all, as the Bible says He does (John 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). Second, this does not explain where Lucifer got the desire to sin. If it did not come from God, then it must come from himself. But in that case, his original evil act was self-caused, that is, caused by himself – which is exactly the view of human free will the strong Calvinist rejects.”
(Norman L. Geisler, Chosen But Free, 1999, pages 20-21)
The Bible says that at certain times people can make a free, morally significant choice from a position of moral neutrality. Again, notice the passages below:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)
“And if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
“And Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people did not answer him a word.” (1 Kings 18:21)
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26)
When God gives people a free choice between two alternatives, obviously they can freely choose to reject God’s offer. Scripture makes this clear:
The Bible says that non-Christians can reject salvation when God offers it to them:
And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and began asking Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17) And looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But at these words his face fell, and he went away grieved, for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, “How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10:21-23)
Jesus loved this man with the highest form of love (“agapao” in Greek), and the man obviously had the opportunity to receive eternal life, but the man rejected the offer of salvation. Jesus said, “No one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Luke 14:33). Non-Christians cannot earn their salvation by good works, but they must be willing to let Jesus be Lord of every area of their lives, including their possessions, to receive the gift of eternal life.
2. You asked, “If infants are not held accountable, why do they suffer the consequences of sin?” In regard to the consequences of sin, we must specify whether we mean physical consequences in this life or eternal consequences in hell. Infants dying in infancy were represented by Adam in the first sin. They would have made the same choice. They inherit a depraved physical world for which they bear responsibility. Adult Christians also bear responsibility since they were also represented by Adam. Thus, adult Christians also suffer the physical consequences of a fallen world such as disease, war, etc. But like adult Christians, infants dying in infancy (all of which are elect) do not suffer in hell as a result of Adam’s sin. God saves them.
