Do babies and young children go to heaven if they die?

from the old testament

• The foundation for this question rests on God’s character, specifically His perfect justice and mercy. Abraham assumed God's perfectly just nature when he pleaded with God about sparing Sodom for the sake of innocent people there: “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:25).
• David also knew God's perfect goodness and justice. In Psalm 145:8-9, he sang, “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” David also realized that every person is personally created and cared for by God: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13–16).
• Scripture also acknowledges moral and cognitive limitations. For example, in part of a messianic prophecy, Isaiah said, “before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted” (Isaiah 7:15–16). A similar reference to a young child not yet knowing good from evil is found in Deuteronomy 1:39. While these are only hints, they imply an age when a child is not yet morally responsible.
• These scriptural hints along with God's perfectly just nature imply God will mercifully cover the sin of infants after they die. While Scripture does not explicitly state that, King David held a similar expectation after his own infant son died because of David's sin with Basheba (2 Samuel 11): "Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Samuel 12:23). While it’s possible David meant that he, too, would one day die, his hopeful comments about joining his dead son imply that he meant more than death and expected to be reunited with him after death.
• Every man, woman, boy, and girl is born already sinful (cf. Psalm 51:5), which means even babies and very young children need redemption for their sin.

from the new testament

• Scripture doesn't teach that children are, by nature, innocent. If God saves them when they die young, He is doing so despite their sin. Romans teaches that everyone is sinful. Speaking about how Adam’s sin corrupted all of humanity, Paul said, “one trespass led to condemnation for all men … by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” (Romans 5:18a, 19a).
• Redemption only comes through Jesus (Romans 3:21–26; 5:18–19; Acts 4:12). If God saves babies who die, as it seems likely (see the Old Testament section), then He does so by applying Jesus’ death to them.
• The ultimate answer to knowing if babies and young children go to heaven if they die is that we must trust God’s judgment. In the end, God’s people will sing, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed” (Revelation 15:3–4). This comes after seeing God’s judgments against sinners and recognizing that every decision He made was perfect.

implications for today

A beautiful house doesn't mean much if it has an unstable foundation. This is true of ideas as well. Some believe that babies go to heaven because they are "innocent." But that isn't the foundational truth Scripture teaches. We aren't justified because of who we are but who God is. This applies to everyone—babies included. But God is both merciful and just, so if babies are saved from hell, it's because God applied Jesus’ mercy to cover the inherent guilt of humankind.

God gives faith. We respond in repentance and belief. Babies can't do the latter. Together,—-an infant’s inability to express repentance and faith and God’s knowledge of the child’s limitations—- are grounds for hope that God intervenes to grant them salvation by crediting Jesus’ death to them.

Just as we have laws that mercifully reduce criminal sentences on those who don’t have the mental capacity to understand the law they broke, God perfectly knows the limits of an infant. Every decision He makes is perfect, so we can trust that justice will be rightly and fairly applied to infants.