8 Bible Verses About Children’s Innocence

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.”

Reflection: Moses recalls the Lord’s oath that no one from “this evil generation” would see the good land, except Caleb and Joshua (Deuteronomy 1:35-38). The children, whom the people had said would be taken captive, are the ones who enter, and the verse describes them as not yet knowing good from bad. Numbers 14:29-31 gives the same judgement and draws the line at those twenty years old or more.

Isaiah 7:15-16

“He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for 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.”

Reflection: Isaiah speaks to King Ahaz, whose heart was shaken when Aram and Israel marched against Jerusalem (Isaiah 7:1-2). The sign is a boy, and the prophet measures time by his growing up: before he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings Ahaz fears will be laid waste. Isaiah 8:4 sets a similar limit for the prophet’s own son: before the boy can say “My father” or “My mother.”

Mark 10:15

“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Reflection: The saying comes in the middle of the scene where children are brought to Jesus, between his words that the kingdom of God belongs to such as these and his blessing of them. The verse speaks of receiving the kingdom like a little child without naming which quality of a child it means. Luke 18:17 gives the same saying in the same words, and Luke’s account says the children brought were babies (Luke 18:15).

Matthew 18:6

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Reflection: The verses that follow set stumbling beside eternal fire: a hand, foot or eye that causes stumbling should be cut off, since it is better to enter life maimed than be thrown into eternal fire (Matthew 18:8-9). Verse 7 adds that such things must come, “but woe to the person through whom they come!” Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:2 carry the same millstone warning.

1 Corinthians 13:11

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”

Reflection: Paul uses his own childhood to describe partial knowledge. In the verses around it he writes, “we know in part,” and “now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:9, 12). Talking, thinking and reasoning like a child are the things he says he put behind him.

1 Corinthians 14:20

“Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.”

Reflection: A chapter later, Paul writes this in the middle of his instructions on tongues and prophecy, just after saying he would rather speak five intelligible words in church than ten thousand in a tongue. He divides the comparison with children in two. In their thinking the Corinthians are to be adults; in regard to evil they are to be infants.

Romans 16:19

“Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”

Reflection: Near the end of the letter, Paul praises the Roman church for its obedience. The verses just before warn against people who cause divisions: “By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people” (Romans 16:18). Against that, Paul asks for wisdom about what is good together with innocence about what is evil.

Psalm 106:38

“They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood.”

Reflection: The psalm recounts Israel’s unfaithfulness. In the verses before, the people mingle with the nations, worship their idols and sacrifice their sons and daughters to false gods (Psalm 106:35-37). Verse 38 calls the blood of those children innocent blood and says the land was desecrated by it. Jeremiah 19:4-5 brings the same charge against Jerusalem, where children were burned as offerings to Baal, “something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.”