Jesus said: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). At first glance, this statement might seem confusing. Children, while often sweet and innocent, can also be impatient, unreasonable, and lacking in discernment. Yet Jesus places them at the center of what it means to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why does Jesus hold up a child as the model for faith? The answer lies in the nature of childlike faith—a gift from God, rooted not in understanding or achievement, but in complete dependence and trust. This article looks closely at the profound truths behind Jesus’ words, showing how childlike faith, humility, and repentance open the way to the kingdom of heaven.
“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven “ (Matthew 18:3).
Really? We all know what children are like. While they are often sweet and innocent, they are also impatient, ungrateful and unreasonable. They lack understanding and discernment. How can anyone imagine that all church elders, preachers, doctors of theology, the most learned Bible commentators and even bishops must be like children in their faith first to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven?
A Child is God’s Own at Birth
The very first thing to understand is that a baby is a child of God and an inhabitant of the kingdom of heaven already in his or her mother’s womb. If a baby dies, he will go to heaven, whether or not he has been baptized. God said to the prophet Jeremiah:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
In the same way, John the Baptist was sanctified to God even before he was born.
We know that salvation is by faith alone (Romans 3:28), and since Jeremiah and John were dwelling in the kingdom of heaven already in their mother’s womb, they had to have saving faith already then. Only one conclusion is possible: saving faith is not based on human understanding. An adult human being who has lost the faith of a child cannot get it back through increasing understanding. For faith is not just that one personally thinks Jesus’ atoning work is true. It is above all a gift that an adult can receive by repenting and becoming like a child again.
The Salvation of a Child is not Based on His Sinlessness
Jesus did not set a child as an example of faith because the child was sinless. Of course, a newborn has not yet had time to commit any sin in thought, word, deed, or negligence, but he is still a sinner. No one is without sin, as Paul testifies in Romans 3:11-12. The sinfulness of the child that is born is hereditary, inherited from Adam and Eve, and is his burden from birth. In essence, we are not sinners because we sin, but we sin because we are sinners.
So each of us, including you and me, has carried the burden of inherited original sin at birth, but we have both also owned saving faith from the moment of our birth. Even before the first sin was committed, you and I deserved eternal death because of original sin, but living faith can save us. Original sin stays with us like a tattoo until we die, but we can lose the faith of a child easily, like a helium balloon. Indeed, many people lose it when they grow up.
Paul writes in Romans that just as Adam’s fall brought condemnation to all men, Christ’s atonement and redemption brings righteousness and life to all (Romans 5:15-19). A child’s faith is based on the work of Christ. The child is created by God, redeemed by Christ, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Saving childlike faith
So, Jesus called people to repent and become like children. Then, according to Matthew, he went on:
“Whoever therefore shall humble himself in the likeness of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever takes one child like this child to himself in my name will take me to himself.”
Read it carefully. The faith of a child requires humbling to repentance, that is, conversion. The Jews of Jesus’ day liked to emphasise their virtues. In Hellenistic culture, humbleness was despised. Even the disciples repeatedly fell into the trap of measuring and comparing their merits as followers of Jesus. Jesus, however, taught them to be humble and to reject self-importance:
“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12) and “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
A child is an example of faith because he has received the gift of faith without any merit or achievement on his own part. The newborn has nothing to help him survive in the world. He is totally dependent on the care of his mother and father; he is one hundred percent a receptive individual. He also trusts that his mother and father will take care of him. Even without any understanding of the circumstances of the family’s life or his parents’ skills and abilities, he has no doubt that they can’t do it. That is the faith of a child.
An adult person who has lost his or her childlike faith can only regain it by humbling himself or herself to repentance. He must find himself a sinner and realize that he himself has nothing that could save him. Then God can lead his way to a person who has this faith. If this happens to you, I recommend and encourage you to welcome that person, because if you receive a believer whose faith is the faith of a child that Jesus meant, you receive Jesus. Such a believer can forgive your sins on behalf of Jesus in his name and blood. Then you, too, will become like a child and enter the kingdom of heaven, as Jesus promised.
Author: Antti Halonen
Photo: SRK, Finland
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