Why A Christian Simply Cannot Support Abortion
In certain ancient cultures, sacrificing children to their “gods” was commonplace. It is unsettling (to say the least) when I read about the horrors of the Canaanites laying their babies on a hot altar for the purpose of burning to death while they scream; all for their “god” Molech. Plutarch, a first century Greek (and pagan), historian gives insight to the details of the child sacrifice of the Canaanites, saying that while the infants were being offered up on the hot altar to be burned to death, “the whole area before the statue was filled with a loud noise of flutes and drums so that the cries of wailing should not reach the ears of the people.” -Plutarch, De superstitione 13 (On Superstition)
In much more recent history, central and south American indigenous societies were notorious for their child sacrifice practices. In our society, though, we are more “civilized” than that, or perhaps a more accurate term is that we are more “sinister” than that. Yes, the latter term is better fitting, I think. We are much more “enlightened” and “sophisticated”. We love to murder our babies in the very womb of their mother, somehow dreaming up twisted "altruistic" motives for doing so. We love it so much that we’ve managed to legally murder no less than 63,000,000 babies in the USA since 1973. By comparison, the Holocaust murder count of Jews is 6,000,000 (less than 10%). The total death count of WWI was a third of what we’ve racked up so far by way of abortion. In this essay, I will put forth the Biblical case as to why a professing Christian can never support abortion in the same way they can never support, advocate for, or participate in murder in general. To define our terms, I will use the most basic definition of the word “murder” as described by https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/murder. That is: “to kill (a person) unlawfully and unjustifiably with premeditated malice.”
The Intrinsic Value of Humans: Made In The Image of God
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””- Genesis 1:26
John Sailhamer notes that “whereas throughout the previous account, the making of each creature is described as “according to its kind,” in the account of the creation of men, it is specified that the man and the woman were made “in our [God’s] image,” not merely “according to his own kind.” Man’s image is not simply of himself; he also shares a likeness to his Creator.”
Humans are completely unique as God’s creation compared to other created beings like the animals. Like God, we are moral beings, like God, we can reason and experience anger, joy, love, kindness, compassion and a whole host of qualities distinct from animals. We have the ability to comprehend complex laws of physics and mathematics that govern the world in which we live. We can put those intrinsic and objective rules and laws into use for our benefit. We are God’s crowning achievement in creation and we were originally meant to be His representative to have dominion over this creation of His (earth). Humans were given the command by God to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” -Gen. 1:28. God’s design for human reproduction was not to copy how He made the first man and woman (man from the dust of the earth, Gen. 2:7; woman from man’s rib, Gen. 2:22), but through sexual intercourse of a husband and wife, with the result of conception and birth of a human in the womb of a woman. The moment a sperm fertilizes an egg (assuming the result is implantation to the uterine lining), a 14-18 year process of growth and development begins to occur (up to 20’s for the immune system to mature and 30 years for the brain to fully mature). In this country, it is legal to murder a human made in God’s image at the most vulnerable stage of growth and development (the first 9 months).This is not only heartbreaking, but incredibly evil. Murder (an unjust killing) of another image bearer of God is among the worst offenses one can commit against fellow man or against God. It is so severe, that the punishment for such a sin is the death penalty.
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”-Gen. 9:6
Robert Jamieson notes: “That this law was designed to be universal, is evident from the reason annexed, which is applicable to all ages and parts of the world. For in the image of God made he man. The human nature reflects the divine image-ruthlessly to mutilate or destroy that image, as a murderer in effect does, is to commit a daring outrage against the majesty of the Creator.” Most famously, one of the 10 Commandments is “You shall not murder.” -Exodus 20:13. Even in the law given to the society of Israel, God makes the distinction between manslaughter (accidental/negligent killing) and premeditated murder as seen in the verse below.
Exodus 21:12-14 (NIV): “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.”
Douglas K. Stewart points out that “verse 12 envisions purposeful homicide, that is, murder, and requires, as is consistently the case in all Old Testament law, the juridical death of the murderer. The subject is indefinite, so no exemption is possible by reason of class or status or gender or age.”
We will now address a specific case law in Exodus 21:22-25 that is particularly relevant to this topic. “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. 23 But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” -Exodus 21:22-25
This specific scenario addresses what is to be done when men who are fighting inadvertently hit a nearby pregnant woman who, as a result, labor is induced and a child is delivered prematurely. If there is no damage to either woman or child, a minimal punishment is to be upheld. However, as verses 23-24 indicate, if there is injury to either mother, child (or both) as a result, the offender will be punished accordingly (life for life, eye for eye, etc.). In this scenario, the baby would have been delivered as dead (meaning it died in the mother’s womb). The point of emphasis here is that there is extreme protection for the baby inside a mother’s womb with possible legal consequences if damage is incurred. Keep in mind, that we are dealing with a case of accidental/negligent harm or death of a mother and/or child, not a premeditated “murder.” Yet, in a hypothetical scenario such as a pregnant woman being harmed by these means, God prescribes up to the death penalty! This is extreme value placed on both mother and baby.
Beyond this, infanticide was strictly forbidden by God in Lev. 18:21 and we even see that because pagan societies were engaging in such immoral behavior, God was punishing them severely (Lev. 18:24-28). We also see scathing rebukes by the prophets sent by God when Israel disobeyed Him in this area. Consider Jeremiah 7:31, “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.” And again in Ezekiel 16:20-21, “Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to Idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire.
The Bible makes clear that God abhors murder. In Proverbs 6:16-19, included among 7 things the Lord hates are “hands that shed innocent blood” -Prov. 6:17. Psalm 11:5 proclaims, “The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates.” 1 John 3:15 states: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
No matter how one “feels” while committing murder, to do so is a result of hatred of that which is made in the image of God. Murderers, Scripture says, do not have eternal life.
And perhaps the most explicit reference to the fate of those who are murderers is in Rev. 21:8, “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Personhood In The Womb
The Bible absolutely ascribes personhood to developing babies in the womb, therefore to intentionally kill a baby in the womb is to murder an image bearer of God and is repugnant to Him. The “thing” growing and developing in a mothers womb is a human being, not a developing dog, cat, or any other kind of creature, but what is being developed is “human.” Thus, a being made in the very image of God is inside a mother’s womb. King David famously said, “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.” -Psalm 139:13
I think one of the most obvious passages of a baby inside the womb having personhood can be found in Luke 1:41-44, “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.”
Wayne Grudem’s comments are particularly apt when he writes of this passage: “Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth called the unborn child in the sixth month of pregnancy a “baby“ (Greek, brephos, “baby, infant”). This is the same Greek word that is used for a child after it is born, as when Jesus is called a “baby [brephos] lying in a manger” (Luke 2:16; see also Luke 18:15; 2 Tim. 3:15). Elizabeth also said that the baby “leaped for joy” which attributes personal human activity to him.”
Perhaps more importantly, as a Christian, we affirm that God took on human flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1-14). Christ Jesus is truly God and truly man in the incarnation. He left transcendent glory with the Father and humbled Himself by becoming one of his very own creations, a human being. Was He any less human after being conceived and while growing in the womb (as all mankind does)? To affirm such a claim would be to commit the ancient heresy of Docetism, a teaching that Jesus was not truly human. Simultaneously, this would affirm Adoptionism, a heresy that taught that Jesus became God at some point as a human (thus, man becoming God, rather than God becoming a man).
In Luke 1:31-35, the angel Gabriel tells the virgin Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” Then, in Luke 1:43, we see Elizebeth call Mary “the mother of my Lord” and proclaim “blessed is the fruit of your womb” soon after Mary had become pregnant. Grudem points out that these verses are significant because “the incarnation of Christ did not begin when he was a newborn baby, a small child, a teenager, or an adult man. Rather, the divine nature of God the Son was joined to the human nature of Jesus from the moment of his conception in Mary’s womb.”
John Jefferson Davis adds: “In the New Testament, the incarnation of Jesus Christ is a profound testimony to God's affirmation of the sanctity of prenatal life. In theory it might have been possible in the eternal plan of God for the Savior to come to earth as a grown man, but in the wisdom of God, Jesus Christ recapitulated the full span of human existence—from conception through death—in order to fulfill the purposes of God. The personal history of the Son of God on earth begins not when he was "born of the Virgin Mary," but when he was "conceived by the Holy Spirit." His human history, like ours, began at conception. His conception was, of course, a supernatural one, but the significant point is that God chose to begin the process of incarnation there, rather than at some other point, thus affirming the significance of that starting point for human life.”
Historic church teaching:
I will now provide only a mere gloss of what historic Christian teaching has been on the matter. One can easily point to many others like Basil the Great, Ambrose, Jerome, John Chrysostom (not to mention historic creeds and confessions), but to keep this relatively short, consider these 5 quotes representative of historic and orthodox Christian teaching on the issue.
The Didache (roughly 70-120 AD)
The Didache is one of the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament and contains instructions for Christian living. It says this concerning murder and abortion:
“Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery,} thou shalt not corrupt boys, thou shalt not commit fornication, {thou shalt not steal,} thou shalt not deal in magic, thou shalt do no sorcery, thou shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born, {thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods, thou shalt not perjure thyself, thou shalt not bear false witness,} thou shalt not speak evil, thou shalt not cherish a grudge, thou shalt not be double-minded nor double-tongued;” -Didache 2:2
Epistle of Barnabas (70-130 AD)
“Thou shalt not doubt whether a thing shall be or not be. Thou shalt
not take the name of the Lord in vain. Thou shalt love thy
neighbor more than thine own soul. Thou shalt not murder a child by
abortion, nor again shalt thou kill it when it is born. Thou shalt
not withhold thy hand from thy son or daughter, but from their youth
thou shalt teach them the fear of God.” -Barnabas 19:5
Athenagoras of Athens (177 AD)
“And when we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what principle should we commit murder? For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very foetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God's care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it; and not to expose an infant, because those who expose them are chargeable with child-murder, and on the other hand, when it has been reared to destroy it. But we are in all things always alike and the same, submitting ourselves to reason, and not ruling over it.” -A PLEA FOR THE CHRISTIANS, Ch. 35
Hippolytus of Rome (170-235 AD)
“For even also he permitted females, if they were unwedded, and burned with passion at an age at all events unbecoming, or if they were not disposed to overturn their own dignity through a legal marriage, that they might have whomsoever they would choose as a bedfellow, whether a slave or free, and that a woman, though not legally married, might consider such a companion as a husband. Whence women, reputed believers, began to resort to drugs for producing sterility, and to gird themselves round, so to expel what was being conceived on account of their not wishing to have a child either by a slave or by any paltry fellow, for the sake of their family and excessive wealth. Behold, into how great impiety that lawless one has proceeded, by inculcating adultery and murder at the same time!” -Refutation of All Heresies, Book 9, Ch. 7
Tertullian (155-220 AD)
“In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the foetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed.” -Apollogy, Ch. 9
The Good News of God’s Grace
To profess to be a Christian, yet participate in and approve of the very moral evils God detests is akin to proclaiming to be a staunch vegan for animal rights reasons, all the while eating steak and bacon daily and believing you are right to do so. This would mean, of course, you wouldn’t really be a vegan even though you might tell people you are. Plenty will cry out to Christ on the Day of Judgement that they were “one of His,” yet His response will be, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” -Matt. 7:23 (ESV). The clear testimony of Scripture and church history is that God hates murder and the hands that shed innocent blood. For a professing Christian to depart from this teaching is to depart orthodoxy and “go their own way.”
However, the good news of the gospel (the true gospel) is that if anyone repents of their sins, turns from serving false gods to the true and living God by placing their faith in Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior, forgiveness of sins and eternal life with Christ is freely available to you! How can this be? The very reason God took on human flesh was to live the life we couldn’t live (sinless perfection) and take the punishment we all deserve (For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”-Mark 10:45). Rom. 3:21-26 teaches that His atoning death on the cross is what pays the penalty for our sins so that God can be both just (justice for sin is paid for) and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ (He declares us free from guilt by our faith in Christ). Romans 8:1 says, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” But being in Christ first starts with denying yourself, taking up your cross daily (that is, to die to your selfish desires and that which is in opposition to God) and follow Him (Luke 9:23-25, cf. Gal. 5:16-25). Even if you’ve murdered people, committed heinous sexual sins, robbed and extorted people, or even blasphemed God, the amazing news is that He is waiting to shower you in grace that only He can provide if you just repent and truly return to Him. Just like the tax collector who extorted people to enrich himself, but came to God in utmost humility and cried out to Him, “be merciful to me, the sinner!”-Luke 18:13-14 Just like the prodigal son who came to his senses and proclaimed “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son,” He will then clothe you in fine linen, put his own family seal on you and throw you a feast!
Postscript: Does Numbers 5:27-28 provide instructions on how to perform an abortion?
“When he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away, and the woman will become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive children." -Num. 5:27-28
This has long since been a notoriously difficult passage to both translate and interpret, thus it would be unwise and poor hermeneutics to develop any kind of theology or doctrine around such a passage. If anyone looks to this passage as a “silver bullet” for affirming abortion, they would be doing so under those standards, not to mention ignoring the broader context of Numbers 5:11-28 (and the broader witness of a mountain of clearer passages on the topic). As to the text at hand, in the absence of evidence or witnesses, this describes a ritual that a priest can perform to either vindicate a wife who had been falsely accused of adultery by her husband, or prove such an accusation true, thus serving justice. The study note in the ESV Study Bible explains: “The test is designed to distinguish between actual-but-unwitnessed adultery (vv.12-14a) and unwarranted suspicion (v.14b)” And as Zach Conover says, “The ordeal was meant to either confirm the accusation or vindicate her innocence.” The NET translation note on Num. 5:21 has this to say about the phrasing of the Hebrew: "TEV takes the expression “your thigh” as a euphemism for the genitals: “cause your genital organs to shrink.”” The idea of a woman becoming a curse if she was guilty is most likely that she would become barren. This makes even more sense when you consider the wording of the verse 28 describing the result of her potential innocence: “But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive children.” In other words, the punishment for a “guilty verdict” would be that she would no longer be able to conceive children. If she was exonerated, she would “be free” and continue to have the ability to conceive children. Using this passage as some sort of prescription for abortion or that God is advocating for the allowance of it is simply grasping at straws (and a poor attempt at doing so).
Bibliography:
Conover, Zach- Does the Bible Actually Condone Abortion? https://endabortionnow.com/does-the-bible-actually-condone-abortion/
Davis, John Jefferson- Evangelical Ethics: Issues Facing the Church Today, 4th ed, 2015, p.152
ESV Study Bible- Study note on Num. 5:11-31
Grudem, Wayne- Christian Ethics: An Introduction to Biblical Moral Reasoning, 2018, p.567, 570
Jamieson, Robert- Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Bible Commentary (Gen. 9:6)
NET Bible- Translation Note, Num. 5:21
Sailhamer, John H.- The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 1990, Vol. 2, p.37
Stewart, Douglas K.- Exodus, NAC, 2006, p.485
*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995): New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.