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The age of accountability is the age when God begins to hold us responsible for our actions. Bible students differ on when it starts. It seems logical to me that only God knows for sure, since we mature at various ages. What is clear, though, is that at age 12, Jesus had a divine urge for his mission. He expressed it during the ancient Jewish Passover celebration. After three days of searching, Mary and Joseph found him in the temple — seated among the best scholars in his nation. These Jewish rabbis were astounded at his questions and answers to their questions. At age 12, every Jewish boy normally began to assume certain religious obligations. When Mary and Joseph found Jesus, His mother asked him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” He replied, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house or about my Father’s business?” Even at this early age of 12, Jesus was aware that God was His unique Father. What’s more, He was aware that he had a divine mission to fulfill. He said, “I must be about My Father’s business. The truth for us is this: Every person who claims God as His Father ought to be about his Father’s business.
The complete inability of the Bible to speak to this issue should be a big clue that we’re asking the wrong question. The Bible draws no such sharp line, only a grey gradient. This precise question is why I became convinced of infant baptism. Nowhere in Scripture is there a test of intellectual ability to be saved and a free pass for those who fail that test. John the Baptist was saved in utero.