Bye Bye "Limbo"!

A long held teaching in the Roman Catholic Church has been the concept of a place called “limbo” (from the Latin "limbus," meaning "fringe”). As applied to infants it was considered to be the abode for infants who died without baptism. It was sort of an intermediate place between heaven and hell. Without any basis in Scripture, the concept was developed by Catholic theologians to soften the impact of their teaching that there was no salvation outside the Roman Catholic Church.

This teaching, however, has fallen into disfavor in recent decades and there is no mention of "limbo” in the latest edition of the R. C. catechism. And now a report from the Vatican has issued a statement which offers hope that unbaptized infants can reach heaven. It has the new Pope's endorsement, for even years ago when he was known as Cardinal Ratzinger he was quoted as saying: "Limbo was never a defined truth of faith," and he said he would abandon it, "since it was only a theological hypothesis." Hypothesis, indeed! And it is not the only hypothesis to come from the Vatican over the centuries. What a blessing it would be if the Vatican would abandon all its other hypotheses.

As for the fate of infants who have not received baptism, the Lutheran Church has never developed some hypothetical limbo. It stresses the importance of baptism, which has Christ's promise, that "he who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). Can a child be saved without baptism? We have to grant that possibility (only unbelief condemns). Luther writes: "God can, to be sure, save without baptism, as we believe that the little children who at times because of an oversight of the parents or some other chance did not receive baptism are not damned on that account." And we know that God can work faith in the heart even before birth, as he did in the case of John the Baptist (Luke 1:41). Though we are bound to the Means of Grace, God is not bound—and He above all is a God of Mercy. There are unanswered questions, which we leave to Him. But God has given us no reason to believe in a “limbo.”

Paul Madson is a retired pastor living in North Mankato, Minnesota.