The Greek word for "little children" in these verses is paidion, which means "a little child, either male or female" (The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, p.1089). In verse 4 (above) we are told that whoever "humbles himself" like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and the Greek word for "humbles" (tapeinoo) means "to bring low, to humble" (The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, p.1366). These "low, humble" people who believe in Jesus and are like little children are mentioned by the Greek word mikros in verse 6 (above), which means "low, humble" (The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, p.986). Now, notice in the above passages that Jesus did not say, "unless you change and become like murderers, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." We would not expect Jesus to say such a thing because unrepentant murderers are excluded from heaven (1 John 3:15, Revelation 21:8, 22:14-15). Since Jesus said that we must become like little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, the implication is that little children are not excluded from heaven for any reason. This further supports the view that infants and young children are spiritually alive and will go to heaven if they die. Here are several more interesting passages: John 9:41: "Jesus said, "If you were blind [tuphlos], you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."" Deuteronomy 1:39: "And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad --they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it." Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." Isaiah 7:15: "He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right." Isaiah 7:16: "But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste." In John 9:41 (above), Jesus said that those who are "blind" are not guilty of sin, and He used the Greek word tuphlos which means "being blind, ignorant, stupid, slow of understanding" (The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, p.1400, John 9:41). This refers to people who are ignorant of sin rather than those who are physically blind, which means that infants and young children (who are too young to understand about sin) are not guilty of sin. In Deuteronomy 1:39 (above) we see a reference to children who were too young to know good from bad. This demonstrates that young children are ignorant of sin, and Jesus said that those who are ignorant of sin are not guilty of sin (John 9:41, above). In Isaiah 7:14-16 (above) we see once again that there is a period when young children are ignorant of sin, and therefore they are spiritually blind and not guilty of sin (John 9:41, above).

Post edited by: ANGELSFLUTTERBYE, at: 2006/06/23 18:59