Specific ages[edit]
Some Christian denominations set a specific age with respect to the age of accountability. This includes seven in the Catholic Church, and eight in Mormonism. Other people put the age of accountability at 12 (since that was the age at which Jesus began to demonstrate his understanding of right and wrong) or 13 (the age of the Jewish Bar Mitzvah).[1]
Other groups accept the concept an age of accountability but avoid putting a specific number on it. John MacArthur suggests that "the Lord in His wisdom didn't identify a specific moment. God knows when each soul is accountable."[2]
Denominational views[edit]
Catholicism[edit]
According to the Canon law of the Catholic Church, before the age of seven, a child "is considered not responsible for oneself", but after that "is presumed to have the use of reason."[3] In the Catholic Church, an individual is required to make an act of faith when they come to the age of accountability.[4]
Reformed[edit]
Reformed theologians tend to reject the concept altogether. Ligon Duncan argues that although there is an "age of discretion", the age of accountability is conception – that is, "there is no time in a human being's life when he or she is not accountable to God." Duncan suggests that[5]
Implications[edit]
Infant salvation[edit]
The age of accountability thus has implications for the salvation of infants. Theologians like John MacArthur argue that any child who dies before the age of accountability is saved.[2]
Stephen Wellum connects belief in an age of accountability with the rejection of inherited guilt:[10]