The Bible & the Age of Accountability

“Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! And why is Yahweh bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?’…”

Say to them, ‘As I live,’ declares Yahweh, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

Your little ones, however, who you said would become plunder—I will bring them in, so that they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses come to an end in the wilderness.’”

Numbers 14:1-3, 28-33

“Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread, nor fear them. Yahweh your God, who goes before you, will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how Yahweh your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.’

But for all this, you did not believe Yahweh your God, who goes before you on your way, to spy out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to show you the way in which you should go. Then Yahweh heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and swore an oath, saying, ‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed Yahweh fully.’ Yahweh was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘Not even you shall enter there.

Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter there; strengthen him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover, your little ones who you said would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them, and they shall possess it.’”

Deuteronomy 1:29-39

“He will eat curds and honey in order that He will know to refuse evil and choose good.

16 For before the boy will know to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.”

Isaiah 7:15-16

“Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out to it this very call which I am going to speak to you.’ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. Then Jonah began to go into the city, one day’s walk; and he called out and said, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’ And the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them…”

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, so God relented concerning the evil which He had spoken He would bring upon them. And He did not bring it upon them. But this was a great evil to Jonah, and he became angry. And he prayed to Yahweh and said, ‘Ah! O Yahweh, was not this my word to myself while I was still in my own land? Therefore I went ahead to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning evil. So now, O Yahweh, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.’ And Yahweh said, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry?’…”

Then God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.’ Then Yahweh said, ‘You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came to be overnight and perished overnight. So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?””

Jonah 3:1-5, 10; 4:1-4, 9-11

“for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no trespass.”

Romans 4:15

“for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”

Romans 5:13

“Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are in the Law, so that every mouth may be shut and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”

Romans 3:19-20

“So, my brothers, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were constrained, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! Rather, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law. For I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, worked out in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the Law sin is dead. Now I was once alive apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died; and this commandment, which was to lead to life, was found to lead to death for me. For sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

So, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by working out my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, having been sold into bondage under sin.”

Romans 7:4-14

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever therefore will humble himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; nevertheless, woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than, having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire.

And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into the fiery hell. See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.’”

Matthew 18:1-10

“Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, ‘Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’ And after laying His hands on them, He departed from there.”

Matthew 19:13-15