How should Christians think and respond?
Introduction
The topic of abortion is a firebrand in our modern world - one can barely think of a more polarising issue. It's not a topic you would want to bring up at the dinner table or in the lunch room, and certainly not something to bring up with your friends (especially if you want to keep them as friends instead of making them into your enemies).
If you think about it, there is no real middle ground in the abortion debate. One side believes that the other is trying to control women's bodies and place their very lives at risk from carrying unsafe pregnancies. The other side believes that millions of innocent babies are being murdered every year worldwide — and 88,000 innocent babies every year here in Australia. Regardless of which side you fall on, it is quite literally a life-and-death issue. There is really no middle ground.
Any sane person would be wise to steer well clear of the abortion topic. But that is exactly where I intend to venture.
As Christians, we claim that the Scriptures have wisdom and guidance for how we should think about every area of life. But do we truly believe this? If so, then where should we go to form our opinions on this difficult and extremely controversial topic of abortion? We should take God’s side — and for that we need to go straight to the source; the bible. This should be our first instinct when we encounter a difficult situation — find out what God says about it!
Recently, there has been a rise of so-called Christians, such as James Talarico in Texas, claiming that the Bible doesn't mention abortion. But are these people speaking the truth? Does the bible have anything to say on this topic, or is it completely irrelevant? Has God really left us in the dark with regard to his opinion on abortion? Or is he “pro-choice”? What does the bible actually say about the value of human life and abortion?
The Value of Human Life
Humans occupy a special place at the pinnacle of God’s creation. Almost all Christians have heard of the concept of the imago Dei, or the “image of God”. This is established in the very first chapter of the bible: Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (ESV) Note that we are made in the image of God — it’s part of our ontological essence; it’s something intrinsic to what we are. It’s not something that we attain at a certain point.
What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Some have suggested that this refers to our ability to reason, or our intellectual capacity, or our moral compass. While all of these features are true only of humans — and no other animals — this phrase “image of God” means that we are made to represent God as we go about our lives. That is why we are not to make idols or representations of God — because he has already made “idols”: humans! We are the representations of God on the earth.
Nothing else in creation is given this honour. Humans bear the unique privilege and dignity of being God’s image-bearers. This leads us to the first principle.
Principle 1: Intentionally killing an innocent human is always wrong
Because of the unique status of humans as God’s image-bearers, Scripture is clear that intentionally killing an innocent human is always wrong. Proverbs 6:16-17 says, “There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.” This is part of a theme which runs throughout the Bible — the death of innocent life is a particular tragedy. The reason is made explicitly clear in Genesis 9:6, which says, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” We know this instinctively. The death of a cow, even if it hasn’t done anything wrong, is not a tragedy; because the cow is not made in God’s image. Yet if someone kills a five year old child, it is national news for weeks.
When the nation of Israel was established after the exodus, one of the ten commandments given to govern them was “You shall not murder” (Ex 20:13). This was re-iterated by Jesus in Luke 18:20: “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” However, Jesus took this principle even further, instructing us not only to refrain from murder, but to avoid hatred and love our neighbour as ourselves.
Murder — or killing an innocent person — is bad enough, but God is particularly grieved when the one being killed is a child; one of the most vulnerable members of society. There were multiple prohibitions against child sacrifice in the Levitical law: “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.” (Lev 18:21) “Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death.” (Lev 20:2)
Yet the Israelites did not always listen to these laws and became perverted by the practices of the pagan nations around them, participating in sacrificing their own children to false gods. When recounting the history of Israel, Psalm 106:37-38 says, “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.”
Molech was an ancient Ammonite and Canaanite deity strongly associated with child sacrifice. According to Jewish tradition recorded in the Mishnah, there was a hollow statue of Molech with outstretched arms. A roaring fire would be placed inside and it would be heated until the statue became red hot. Devotees of Molech would place their infant in the arms of the statue and it would roll down the arms into the fire. Meanwhile, others would beat drums to drown out the screams. It is little wonder that God abhorred this practice. Yet they believed that this was necessary to secure a good future for themselves and their future children.
So Scripture seems to be crystal clear on the point that intentionally killing an innocent human is always wrong. And this is particularly egregious in the sight of God when it is the murder of a child. The question is: does God see the baby in the womb as a human, or only after it is born?
Principle 2: The baby in the womb is a human
This is really the fundamental issue. Most Christians (and non-Christians for that matter) agree that killing is bad. People have different opinions on the exact beginning of life — whether it’s at conception or when the heart starts to beat or when brainwaves can be detected — but for this debate to even occur, everyone agrees that a new life is starting. The stance that you take on abortion really hinges around whether you believe that the baby in the womb is a human, or does it become a human as it passes through the birth canal and takes its first breath?
Let’s take a look from God’s perspective, as revealed in Scripture.
God is at work
Firstly, the Bible depicts God being at work fashioning the baby in the womb.
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Ps 139:13-16).
What is being knitted together in the mother's womb? Not just the psalmist’s body parts — he says “me” — the person of the psalmist himself!
Some critics have argued that this verse is purely metaphorical, because it says in the later verses that he was “woven in the depths of the earth.” But this does not take into account that Job talks in the same manner: “Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?” (Job 31:15) So who are we to interrupt the work of God?
God has plans for children in the womb
Furthermore, God has plans for the lives of people while they are still in the womb. He said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jer 1:5)
Now one of the harshest critics of Christianity, Bart Ehrman, argues that because God says, “before I formed you in the womb” this verse is not talking about Jeremiah being called while he was in the womb. But it doesn’t say “before I created you” in the womb; it says “I formed you” (yatsar), which is defined as “to mould into a form.” So this could be talking about the formation and growth of Jeremiah in the womb. Additionally, this view fails to take into account the very next line — “before you were born I consecrated you.” Where was Jeremiah before he was born? In his mother’s womb, and this is the point at which he was set apart by God for his specific prophetic task.
Isaiah similarly prophesies about the coming servant of the Lord, who we now know to be Jesus. “The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name.” (Isa 49:1b) “And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—” (Isa 49:5a)
Life is a continuous progression
The Scripture also portrays life as a continuous progression from a baby in the womb, through to an infant, through to a child, through to an adult, and all the way through to old age. It is the same person at each step. Personhood is not bestowed at birth.
“Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you…” (Isa 46:3-4a). These verses show the continuity of God’s care for Israel, speaking metaphorically: from the womb — before birth — through to old age. Importantly, this shows that from God’s perspective, pre-born is just another stage of life, like old age or middle age.
The narrative about Samson’s conception and birth is also illuminating.
“And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” ” (Judg 13:3-5)
“but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ” (Judg 13:7)
This verse makes it very clear that God sees our lives as continuous from the womb through to death. Samson’s lifespan was from the womb until his death in the Philistine temple. Samson was not a Nazirite after his death because that doesn’t make sense — he was no longer alive. But he was a Nazirite before his birth; while he was still in the womb. He was the very same person.
Numerous other passages support this idea that life is continuous from before birth until death.
“For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.” (Ps 71:5-6)
In Gen 25:23, the Lord said to Rebekah, “Two nations are in your womb, and two people from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” (Gen 25:23) What did God say to Rebekah? That the ‘object/s’ in her womb would become two people and two nations after they were born? No, God said that two nations were already in her womb.
Referring back to this passage about Jacob, Hosea says, “In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God.” (Hos 12:3) The actions that Jacob took while yet unborn are nevertheless attributed to him.
A child can die in the womb
A baby that dies in the womb, and then is subsequently born, is considered “dead” in the Bible. But we all know that you can't die unless you were living at some point.
For example, Job says “Why did you bring me out from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.” (Job 10:18-19) Job clearly believed that he could die in the womb before anyone saw him.
Jeremiah had a similar moment of despair. “Because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great.” (Jer 20:17)
One of the most gut-wrenching passages in the Bible is this from Amos 1:13. “Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.” ”
In this passage, the very thing that causes God’s wrath to overflow onto the Ammonites was not just murder — it was murdering mothers and their unborn children.
The same words are used to describe foetus and child
Now this point is really significant: in the New Testament, the exact same Greek word (βρέφος) is used to describe the foetus in the womb and a small child. According to a Greek lexicon, this word means an “unborn child, embryo” as well as “baby, infant”.
When Mary went to visit Elizabeth and she heard Mary’s greeting, Luke records that “the baby leaped in her womb…” (Lk 1:41) Now compare this to Luke 2:16, the very next chapter in the same book. “And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.” There is no terminological differentiation between John in the womb and Jesus in the manger.
It is the same when the Old Testament talks about a foetus in the womb and an infant; the same Hebrew words are used interchangeably. For example, Genesis 25:22 says that the “children” (בן ben) struggled within Rebekah while she was pregnant — the same word that Isaac uses to describe Esau as his “son” (בן ben) in Gen 27:1.
Another common Hebrew word for child is yeled (יֶלֶד), such as in Gen 21:8, where Isaac is called a yeled. “And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.”
The same word yeled is used in Exodus 21:22a, where the law covers what to do if a pregnant woman is hit by another person and gives birth prematurely. “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children (yeled) come out…” Here the foetus is referred to using the ordinary word (yeled) for a born child. There is no specific word used in the Hebrew bible for an unborn child.
Counterpoint: Exodus 21
This passage is strongly promoted by critics of the pro-life position and it is worth discussing here.
“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” (Ex 21:22-25)
Some have argued that the meaning intended here is a miscarriage — if someone hits a woman and she miscarries, then obviously the baby comes out dead. They argue that in this case, the “harm” refers to harm to the woman, and not the baby. If the woman is harmed or dies, then the same outcome is dealt to the person responsible. But the baby is seen as the property of her husband, and so a simple monetary fine makes restitution.
However, the majority of scholars — even those who support abortion — believe that this passage should be interpreted as referring to premature birth, as is indicated in the ESV translation: “so that her children come out.” This view strongly emphasises the value of unborn life — if the baby dies as a result of his mother being struck, then the one responsible for this would be put to death, according to the principle of lex talionis which was operational at the time. However, if the baby is prematurely born but is not adversely affected, then the person who struck the mother only has to pay a fine for the inconvenience.
Principle 3: Life begins at conception
So we have established that (1) intentional killing of an innocent human is always wrong, and (2) God views the baby in the womb as a person. But the question remains — at what point does life begin? At what point exactly does it become a baby and thus a person?
I think the clearest passage we can see this is in Luke chapter 1.
“And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” (Lk 1:39-45).
At this point, Elizabeth was six months pregnant with John the Baptist (Lk 1:36). Notice here we have John leaping in the womb (v. 41), which demonstrates his responsiveness and volition as an independent person. Not only that, he is leaping for joy (v. 44), attributing emotional experience in utero. This is at 6 months gestation (about 26 weeks), at the border of the 2nd and 3rd trimesters. That is remarkable.
But even more remarkable is this — consider: who is John responding to?
He is not responding to the person of Mary as the future “mother of God”. He is responding to the very presence of Jesus — the Messiah for whom John is the forerunner. The significance of this passage is because of the incarnation — in the form of an embryo, yes. But that is what we believe. We believe that Jesus was truly human and went through every stage of human development, just as we did. He was truly God and truly human at every stage of his life.
Furthermore, Elizabeth calls Mary “the mother of my Lord”, not “the future mother of my Lord” and not “a pregnant woman who will one day give birth to my Lord”.
Now consider the timing of this event: after Gabriel appeared to Mary, she went straight from Nazareth to see Elizabeth in the countryside of Judah (Lk 1:39). That journey is around 5 days on foot — so at this point, Jesus was a maximum of five days post-conception. From the very point of conception, the Bible considers our life to begin.
If anyone ever had a good reason to have an abortion, then Mary did. She was a young woman, engaged but not yet married. She would be accused of unfaithfulness and live with this stigma her whole life. Do you think that the people of Mary’s village would have believed her if she told them the truth? How hard do you think she thought it would be to convince Joseph? Yet killing her child through abortion was never a consideration.
If you are a Christian and still believe in abortion access, then tell me — at what point would it have been ok for Mary to abort Jesus?
What did the early church believe?
For my final point, I would like to briefly touch on the positions of Christians in early church history. Because our pro-life position is not a recent innovation; it has been the position of the church from the earliest records.
Abortion was a common practice in the ancient Roman world, as was “exposing” unwanted infants — particularly girls. Christians were a rare voice standing up and saying that this practice was wrong.
While there were rare cases of opposition to abortion from other quarters, this was based on the rights of the father, the rights of the mother, the right of the state and even the rights of the gods. Emphasis on the value of the unborn child was a distinctly Christian idea. According to one historian, “Concern for the foetus distinguishes the Christian position from all pagan disapproval of abortion.” (Michael Gorman, Abortion & the Early Church)
The Didache is one of the earliest Christian writings which we have outside of the New Testament, probably written in the late 1st century AD. It is a very practical list summarising what the church understood to be the teachings of Jesus and how to live in response to them. Now the Didache actually discusses abortion, saying “do not murder a child by abortion or kill a new-born infant.” This word the Didache for “murder” is the exact same Greek word (phoneuo) that Jesus uses when quoting the sixth commandment, and the same word that Paul uses in Rom 13:9 to quote the sixth commandment. Hence the earliest Christian writing we have which specifically mentions abortion does not mince words — abortion is murder.
The Epistle of Barnabas, another writing from the late 1st or early 2nd century AD, condemns abortion and infanticide together. “You shall not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shall you destroy it after it is born.”
Athenagoras of Athens (around 177 AD) said, “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.”
Others from the first centuries of the early church also spoke out strongly against abortion: Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Minucius Felix, Hippolytus of Rome, Basil of Caesarea, John Chrysostom, Jerome…
The witness of the early church is clear: consistent and insistent opposition to abortion in any form.
Conclusion: From a Christian perspective, abortion is always wrong
For Christians, I believe a position on abortion is very simple:
- The Bible treats babies in the womb as human — even from conception
- Murder — intentionally killing an innocent human — is always wrong
- Therefore, we must consider that abortion is murder.
Yet we must remember that our God is a merciful God. For those who have had abortions, or performed abortions, or paid for abortions, there is forgiveness in Christ.
As God’s people, Christians have a particular role to protect the vulnerable and the innocent. In doing this, we are acting as God’s agents on earth; because that’s what He has consistently done throughout history and continues to do.
Proverbs 24:11-12 gives incisive commentary on this: “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?”
That is what we are called to do. To quote William Wilberforce, one of driving forces behind the abolition of the British slave trade: “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”