Are Men Born Sinners? - Library of Theology

until they have a knowledge of good and evil, until they know to refuse the evil and
choose the good.
We know that children are not sinners at birth; for if they were, there could be no such
thing as an "age of accountability." If babies are guilty and condemned for the sin of
Adam from birth, then there is no room for them to reach a certain age before they
become accountable. They are guilty and under God's wrath from birth. However, the
Bible teaches that babies do not inherit sin and guilt from Adam. "For the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil..." Rom. 9:11. Jacob and Esau had no
original sin; they did not sin with Adam when he transgressed. We know this because
they were not sinners while in the womb of their mother, Rebecca. Since the Bible says
they had done nothing good or evil up to this time, we must assume that they became
moral agents at some later time, after they were born. There are numerous verses like this
in the Bible which show the doctrine of original sin to be false, and which also teach,
either directly or indirectly, the doctrine of an "age of accountability." Let us look at
some of them:
Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in
that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them
will I give it, and they shall possess it. Deut. 1:39
For before the children shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that
thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. Isaiah 7:16
I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth. Gen. 8:21
Deut. 1:39 speaks of the "little ones" and the "children" who "in that day had no
knowledge between good and evil." Isaiah 7:16 speaks of a child coming to an age when
he knows to "refuse the evil, and choose the good." Both of these texts speak of children
coming to a time in their lives when they have a knowledge of the moral character of
their actions and know there is evil which they ought to refuse and good which they
ought to choose. Neither of these verses gives a certain age at which moral agency
begins. This is because there is no fixed age at which children become accountable, since
reason will develop earlier in one child than another according to his gifts and
circumstances. But when a child's reason has developed to the point that he knows to
"refuse the evil and choose the good," he becomes a moral agent and is accountable for
his deeds.
This possession of moral knowledge or understanding is absolutely necessary before
there can be accountability. A child must know the moral character of his actions before
he can be responsible for them.
Some advocates of original sin have objected that the government of God would be
unjust if children were made accountable for their actions at a tender age when they
would not be able easily to withstand temptation. They have used this objection as an