Studying the scriptures, we become aware that there are seven possible states for the human soul. Three of these states belong to our sojourn in this life, two others pertain to Hades after physical death, and yet two more are eternal states which will apply after Christ’s second coming. In this lesson we look at the very first state, one which every human soul enters into.
The state of innocence is the first state in which every soul exists. There is no state of the soul prior to conception. Down through the ages, there have been many theories that a person's soul exists in a previous state. Some theories have ideas about past lives. Some beliefs describe a storehouse of souls kept in waiting. The Bible does not teach these things.
Jesus recognised the state of innocence in little children. "The kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Lke 18:15-17). Nobody is born a sinner, nor is sin inherited from one's fathers. Nobody is condemned before having grown up and committed personal sin. "The soul who sins shall die"(Eze 18:2-4). We are all born perfect, because God created our inmost being (Psa 139:13). The "spirit returns to God who gave it" (Ecc 12:7). The soul or spirit is a gift of God, and all God's gifts are "good and perfect" (Jas 1:17).
Some will try to cancel out these facts with David’s statement, "I was brought forth in iniquity... In sin did my mother conceive me"(Psa 51:5). However this must be interpreted so as not to contradict the other scriptures. David is not saying he was sinful as a child in the womb, nor is he saying his mother was sinful to conceive him. He is just saying that through conception he was brought into a sinful world. The terms "in iniquity... in sin" simply mean, in this poem, "in an environment of sin".
David also says, "You wove me in my mother's womb..."(Psa 139:13-16). Here David attributes procreation to the Creator. God brought David (and every other child) into being in the womb. God can only weave something good. He cannot weave something corrupted. Therefore the child in the womb is in a state of innocence.
The state of innocence is a changeable state in terms of a person's will, because a person's first sin causes a transition to the state of spiritual death(Jas 1:13-15).
The state of innocence is a state of grace, not a state of merit. An infant does not deserve eternal life by virtue of its innocence, since he or she has done no works by which to claim merit. All human beings rely on the grace of God through the righteousness of Christ. Although infants are innocent of sin, they have no righteousness of their own, but rather "the righteousness of God in him"(2Co 5:21).
The state of innocence is a state of grace, not a state of merit. An infant does not deserve eternal life by virtue of its innocence, since he or she has done no works by which to claim merit. All human beings rely on the grace of God through the righteousness of Christ. Although infants are innocent of sin, they have no righteousness of their own, but rather "the righteousness of God in him" 
ALL SEVEN STATES...
Innocence |