A recent podcast clip has gone viral, in which Texas politician James Talarico said, “I trust Texas women to make decisions about their own bodies, to shape their own destinies, in consultation with their family members, their doctors, their faith leaders. I don't believe that's a place for government. I don't believe it's a place for politicians. I don't believe it's a place for the state. And that's a belief I hold not despite my faith, but because of my faith. Jesus never talks about abortion. The Bible is silent on abortion.”
These comments are consequential for the people of Texas since Talarico is the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. They are consequential for the nation since any Senator, no matter what state they represent, votes on issues that impact the whole country. They are consequential for Christians and non-Christians...because they have gone viral. Non-Christians may accept them at face value, using them to bolster a religious-like commitment to abortion. Most Christians likely disagree…but may not know why.
Is it true that the Bible is silent on abortion? How might we respond if given the opportunity? The following are not independent points, but build to make a biblical case for the sanctity of human life, including the unborn.
- God is the Lord of all creation.
Genesis 1:1: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Psalm 24:1–2: The earth is the LORD’S and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
God created all things, therefore He owns all things, therefore He reigns over all things. He makes the rules for all of creation. All creatures are bound to his standards.
- Humans are made in God’s image.
Genesis 1:26–27: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
What it means to be created in God’s image has been debated for a long time. I won’t give a lengthy explanation here. If you’re interested in a full, well-reasoned Biblical explanation, I can suggest nothing better than Peter Gentry's in Kingdom Through Covenant.
To be brief: Our being created in God’s image is our design, our capacity, and our inclination to be fruitful and multiply and to exercise dominion over the earth in a manner consistent with God’s character.
- Creation in God’s image imparts value to humans distinct from all other creatures.
Genesis 9:1-6: 1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”
Following the flood, God clarified a distinction between man and other creatures. He gave all the animals to man for food. That is, animals may be slaughtered for the good of man. Conversely, God required a reckoning for the life of man. Animals may be killed, but if anything kills a human—including another human—their life must be taken. Why? Man is made in God’s image.
Note two significant points. First, this ordinance is given after the Fall. Man is bent on rebellion against God, and yet man is still described as being made in God’s image. Second, creation in God’s image conveys a level of intrinsic value to humans that the rest of the creation does not possess.
To kill a human is to desecrate the image of God. In the sense intended here, it is called murder. One cannot do it without also paying life for life.
This distinction--between those created in God’s image and those not created in God's image--explains God’s simultaneous prescription of animal sacrifice and abhorrence for human sacrifice. Animal sacrifices were holy to the Lord (Lev 6-7). Human sacrifices profaned God’s holy name (Lev 20:2-3).
- Personhood, and therefore the image of God in man, exists from conception.
Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Here, David does not address his mother’s sin. The whole point of the psalm is his lamentation over his own sin. This is not to say David sinned in the womb, but rather that he was a moral agent descended from Adam and ruined by the imputation of sin. He was a person in the womb.
Psalm 58:3: The wicked are estranged from the womb… This similar to Psalm 51:5. The Bible sees the unborn as human beings, moral agents, though they have not yet made any moral choices. They are in their father Adam, and therefore estranged from the womb. This assumes personhood prior to birth.
There are numerous cases of God calling people to special service from the womb. For example, the Lord said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I consecrated you” (Jer 1:5). The language in each of these passages obviously assumes personhood: Samson (Jdg 13:5), John the Baptist (Luke 1:15), Paul (Gal 1:15). (Of course, the unborn Christ, the very image of God, was also regarded as a person; yet there are distinctions between Him and the other cases which I won’t go into here [Matt 1:20; Col 1:15]).
5. The Bible explicitly condemns the killing of the unborn.
“You shall not murder” (Exo 20:13) closes the gap nicely between “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jer 1:5) and a supposed biblical “silence” on abortion. If unborn children are persons created in God’s image and the Bible condemns murdering humans, Talarico’s claim fails.
Yet, there is a passage that explicitly condemns not just the murder, but the manslaughter of the unborn…
Exodus 21:22–25: 22 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. 23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
There are several pertinent points. First, the text refers to the unborn, not as fetuses, but as children, an additional proof that they are humans made in God’s image. Second, “harm” refers to a fatal accident, what we would label manslaughter. So if there is “harm”, that is, the children are accidentally killed, the penalty is that of Genesis 9:6, life for life. Why? The victims are made in the image of God. Third, this protection for the unborn is unique in its severity: manslaughter of the unborn is the only case in the law where manslaughter demands the death penalty. All other cases of manslaughter allow for the perpetrator to flee to a city of refuge (Num 35; Jos 21). This means that God considers manslaughter of the unborn to be as egregious as the murder of anyone else. Should we really hold then that while God would punish manslaughter of the unborn with the death penalty, He would uphold the murder of the unborn as a right?
So in what sense is the Bible silent on abortion? In the sense that you won't find the words, “You shall not commit abortion.” In other words, it is silent on abortion in the same sense that it is silent on murdering pedestrians, mothers-in-law, second cousins, harp players, and charioteers. Yet, we wouldn’t tolerate the killing of these groups. While the Bible doesn’t explicitly condemn the murder of every sub-group of human beings…it condemns the murder of human beings! Mankind is created in God’s image…all mankind (Gen 1:26-27). It is wrong to murder those made in God’s image (Gen 9:4-6). Therefore, it is wrong to murder anyone made in God’s image.
To claim that “the Bible is silent on abortion” is either to reveal a deep ignorance of how the Bible communicates truth or to reveal an intentional attempt to marginalize that truth. Either way, we should recognize how utterly empty the claim is and value human life as God does.
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