Is There a Biblical Age of Adulthood?

By: Matthew D. Dyer

If infant baptism is biblically incorrect, then the question arises when should a child that is raised in a Christian household be baptized? Some believe as soon as the child can truly believe, profess faith in Christ, and know and understand what sin is so they can repent of it, then they should be baptized. This is certainly more biblical than 8-day old infant baptism. Some Anabaptists believe a child should be baptized at 12 years old, some Baptists believe the age to be 8 or 9 years old, and other churches borrow from Talmudic Judaism’s “Bar Mitzvah” and perform baptism at the ages of 12 for boys and 13 for girls.

The Scriptures are not 100% clear on when a child should be baptized, but I do think the Bible is very clear on when a child becomes an adult in the eyes of God, which is 20 years of age. This is when our local congregation has chosen to baptize our children, that way the child better understands what baptism truly means between them and God, and the importance of the public declaration for Christ that takes place with baptism. We do this to help prevent the common occurrence that happens with some young children that are baptized, and later in life don’t remember it or they were pressured into doing it by their parents. This isn’t to say I believe a person was baptized at 17 years old, or even 12 years old isn’t truly baptized. That is between them and God. As long as they are being baptized for the right biblical reasons, believe, have faith, and repent of their sins it is a “valid” baptism.

    In the Book of Deuteronomy the Israelite adults, because of their sin and rebellion, were not permitted to enter the promise land, except for Caleb and Joshua. The Israelites that entered the promise land with these two men were described as “children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil.”

Deuteronomy 1:34-39 states:
“And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the LORD. Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 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.”

In the Brenton Septuagint it renders Deuteronomy 1:39 this way describing them as young children:

“And every young child who this day knows not good or evil, —they shall enter therein, and to them I will give it, and they shall inherit it.”

    The Book of Deuteronomy does not list the age of these children, which would leave the Bible reader to interrupt what they think a child is in their own mind. But if we read in the Book of Numbers, it identifies what the maximum age of all the children that entered into the promise land was.

Numbers 32:11 states:
“Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me:”

Numbers 32:11 (Brenton Septuagint Translation) states:
“Surely these men who came up out of Egypt from twenty years old and upward, who know good and evil, shall not see the land which I sware to give to Abraam and Isaac and Jacob, for they have not closely followed after me:”

    We also find within God’s law, an Israelite man could not go to war unless he was at least 20 years of age, unlike in America today where we will send men and women off to war at 18 years of age.

Numbers 1:2 states:
“From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.”

Numbers 26:2 states:
“Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, throughout their fathers’ house, all that are able to go to war in Israel.”

2^nd Chronicles 25:5 states:
“Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield.”

    It is my conviction that a person is not an adult in the eyes of God until they are 20 years of age, so that is a good time for them to be baptized in order to better understand the importance of the sacrament in which they are partaking of.