In the previous Q&A, we have looked at alleged and purported “reasons” for abortions, the many questions raised about this issue, the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973, abortion statistics in the USA and worldwide, the Hippocratic oath, recent events in Alabama and elsewhere in the USA about abortion bans and probable appeals against such legislation and democratically elected women ignoring President Trump’s statement about abortion while they glory in their own “success.”
We will now look at the Scriptural evidence to see when life begins while dismissing arbitrary times, depending on different thoughts, ideas and assumptions of many different people.
First of all, we read in Exodus 20:13: “You shall not kill.” This is pretty straightforward, one would think, but something that never seems to enter the equation when discussing abortion. Perhaps some think that a conceived child is not a member of the human race until it is born; perhaps others don’t particularly care while others may not even think about it too much but whatever it is, it is wrong to kill the unborn.
Let us now review the soul and the spirit in man. A living soul is defined as any living thing composed of flesh and blood including animals. A dead soul is a dead thing, a corpse; it could refer to a person or an animal. The spirit in man elevates humans above animals.
Job 32:8: “But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding.”
Zechariah 12:1: “The burden of the word of the LORD against Israel. Thus says the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:”
This spirit empowers the human brain with intellect and mind power as we read in 1 Corinthians 2:11: “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.”
Genesis 2:7: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being [literally, a living soul].”
In Genesis 6:17, 7:15 and 7:22, we read about the breath of life. This kick starts the self-sustaining, independent, physio-chemical existence of all newborn flesh whether human or animal.
Ecclesiastes 11:5: “As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes all things.”
Genesis 46:15: “These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three.” Leah’s sons and daughters listed who made it to Egypt were 33, yet only 32 names given.
Numbers 26:59: “The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt; and to Amram she bore Aaron and Moses and their sister Miriam.” Levi had a daughter, not listed, who was born in Egypt – Jochebed who was the mother of Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Levi’s wife must have been pregnant at the time and wasn’t named and yet God made sure that she was counted as a person making the journey. She was already conceived, but not yet born!
Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” The presence of blood exemplifies life.
Exodus 21:22-25: “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman and there is lasting harm to the woman (some claim, and/or to the child), then you shall give life for life, that is, a much higher compensation. We see that the life of an unborn child was important to God and to some, it was considered equal to that of an adult. (For a thorough discussion of this passage, see our free booklet, “Old Testament Laws—Still Valid Today?”, pages 49-56).
Psalm 139:15-16: “My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” This was obviously in the womb!
Author John R Ling observed as follows: “Human life is a continuum from fertilisation until natural death. Neither the Bible nor biology knows of any stage or event that is so definitive that it can be said, ‘Before this, I was not, now I am.’ In other words, there is a demonstrable continuity throughout each human life. This continuity theme is beautifully expressed in three ways in Psalm 139:13-16. First, King David acknowledges God’s creational oversight of his earliest days: ‘For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.’ It is God the Creator who directs and purposes the beginning of prenatal life [that is, life during pregnancy and before birth]. Second, there is the repetitive use of the personal pronouns, ‘I’ and ‘me’. This usage establishes the continuity of life between the adult David and the just-conceived David, as both the writer and the subject of this Psalm. At whatever stage and whatever age, whether in the womb or on the throne, it was always David. In other words, once fertilisation has occurred, there is a real, live human being, whether it is David or you, launched onto the continuum of zygote-morula-blastocyst-embryo-fetus-unborn child-born baby-infant-toddler-youth-teenager-adult. Scripture and biology simply reinforce one another.
“These verses of Psalm 139 are a remarkable articulation of God’s intimate involvement in the conception, continuance and consummation of every individual human life. Each of us is a work of God.”
We can also see from the Bible that both John and Jesus were real persons in the womb. Would those who advocate abortion really dare to claim that it would have been acceptable for them to be aborted?
There are other Scriptures which show that human beings are considered as such even before they were born, therefore abortion would have been killing a human being, had this been the situation in the following cases:
Jeremiah 1:5 says, “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.” This also seems to suggest that God gave Jeremiah the human spirit at the time of conception – before He actually began to form him in his mother’s womb.
Isaiah 44:24 talks about God as “your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb.”
Paul says in Galatians 1:15 that God “had set [him] apart before [he] was born.”
We also read in Job 33:4: “The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
A correct understanding of the “born again” process can help us understand the physical parallel – begettal, gestation and birth. Please see our free booklet “Are You Already Born Again?” for much more information on this matter.
We read in Acts 2:38: “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
Also, in 2 Corinthians 5:5: “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”
The Holy Spirit is imparted at the conception of spiritual life. The human spirit is imparted at the conception of physical life
Therefore abortion, AT ANY TIME, is murder.
(To be continued)
Lead Writer: Brian Gale (United Kingdom)
