2 Peter 3:9

Accountability is like a sunrise. Suppose we are walking on a moonless night. We can look up and see the stars, but they do nothing to light our path. This is childhood. God does not flip a switch and suddenly our way is flooded with bright light. Daylight begins to show in the eastern sky and the sun begins to peek over the horizon. As we journey on toward adulthood, the light becomes brighter and brighter.

Autonomy Precedes Accountability

Autonomy is both a scientific and biblical concept which means behaving and thinking independently of others. Children develop autonomy gradually. God instructed Moses: “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering to make atonement for your lives. You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for your lives” (Lev 30:11-16).

Those under 20-years-old did not have to give the atonement money, showing that they were not autonomous, emancipated, or liable—whichever term one might choose.

Josiah, the boy king, and autonomy: “Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father; and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images” (2 Chron 34:1-3):

Verses 1-2 are a summary of his reign, not a pinpointing of accountability. Let’s do the math (v. 3): In the eighth year of his reign when he was sixteen, he “began to seek the God of his father David.” The operative phrase is “began to seek.” It was not until his twelfth year when he was twenty that he asserted his authority.

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

Sometimes people look to Jesus’ teaching in the temple at the age of 12 as a standard for a child’s being baptized. That this episode was out of the ordinary for a 12-year-old is obvious by the astonishment of both those who heard him and his parents. We would be wise to avoid making this normative for any 12-year-old today.

Be this as it may, we can learn some valuable lessons from Jesus’ teaching in the temple.

First, Jesus acted autonomously: “Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him” (Lk 2:41-45).

Second, Jesus was intrinsically motivated: “And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.’ And he said to them, ‘Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them” (Lk 2:48-50).

Third, Jesus was self-determined: “And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart” (Lk 2:51). Although he had clearly identified himself, he continued in submission to Joseph and Mary. The next time he appears, he is 30 years old.

Leading Children to be Like Jesus

The jeering taunts of the corrupt prophets and priests of Isaiah’s day give us a pattern for teaching children: “Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask. “Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, just recently weaned? He tells us everything over and over—one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!” Isa 28:9-11, NLT).

This fits with Moses’ instructions to the Israelites on the instruction of Children: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut 6:6-7).

Conclusions
God is not sitting on his throne just waiting for some young person to cross a magical line of accountability, so he can pronounce them “dead in sins and trespasses.” Such a concept of God is blasphemous “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Pet 3:9).