Moreover, all have their own task and place. Roman Catholics assume that after death Old Testament believers waited in the limbo of the fathers and were not released until Christ freed them at his descent into hell; and they also believe that infants who were not yet baptized when they died will be received neither in hell nor in heaven but in a separate “receptacle,” the limbo of infants. But Scripture presents no basis for either of these two “limbos.” It is of course logical that those who lose sight of the unity of the covenant of grace, and view the benefits secured by Christ as a new substance that did not exist before—such are compelled to make the devout of the Old Testament wait in the limbo of the fathers for this acquisition and impartation of Christ’s benefits. But those who acknowledge the unity of the covenant and view the benefits of Christ as the gracious benevolence of God that, with a view toward Christ, could be imparted already before his suffering and death—they have no need for a limbus patrum. Under the provisions of the Old Testament, the way to heavenly blessedness was the same as under the New Testament, even though there is indeed a difference in the light by which they walked then and now.
In the same way there is no room on the other side of the grave for a limbo of infants (limbus infantum); for the children of the covenant, whether baptized or unbaptized, go to heaven when they die; and so little has been disclosed to us about the fate of those outside the covenant that we had best abstain from any definite judgment. Still, contained in the theory of the limbus patrum and the limbus infantum is the true idea that there are varying degrees both in the punishment of the ungodly and in the blessedness of the devout. There is distinction of rank and activity in the world of angels. There is diversity among all created beings and most abundantly among humans. There is distinction of place and task in the church of Christ; on earth every believer is given one’s own gifts and charged with one’s own task. And in death the works of each follow the person who dies in the Lord. Undoubtedly this diversity is not destroyed in heaven but, on the contrary, is purified of all that is sinful and multiplied abundantly (Luke 19:17–19). Still this difference in degree detracts nothing from the blessedness each enjoys in keeping with one’s own capacity. For all will be at home with the same Lord (2 Cor. 5:8), are taken up into the same heaven (Rev. 7:9), enjoy the same rest (Heb. 4:9), and find joy in the same service of God (Rev. 7:15).
Herman Bavinck | Reformed Dogmatics: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation, vol. 4, trans. John Bolt, and John Vriend (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008), 642–43.
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