INFANTS

Contrary to the denominational claim that infants are born in sin, the Bible teaches otherwise.

• Children do not inherit evil from their parents (Ezekiel 18:20).
• The practice of sin begins in "youth" (Genesis 9:21), not at birth.
• Both Jesus and Paul used little children as models to emulate in some respects (Matthew 18:3-4; 19:14; 1 Corinthians 14:20). This admonition hardly would have been appropriate if infants were little "totally depraved" sinners.
• Man "goes" astray; he is not born astray (Isaiah 53:6).
• Humans become sinners by means of their own sins (see Ephesians 2:1 "your" -- ASV), not by means of another's transgression.
• Sin is a matter of choice, not chance (Joshua 24:15; Isaiah 7:15). See: BORN IN SIN.

No one ever suggested that infants are sinners until the middle to late second century A.D.