“The Sanctity of Life”
Psalm 139:1-6
Now I want to tell you straight up, that this message focuses on the abortion issue. The subject of life and abortion has been active in the public discourse—especially since the recent hearings for the nomination of Judge Alito. There are a lot of opinions—even in this room, today. And this is an issue that has touched many of you—personally. I know that I am speaking to a spectrum in our audience today. You may be thinking that this issue is a political one and should be left out of church discussion. But I am of the belief that the abortion issue is more than just a political issue, I believe it is a spiritual one. There are many facets to this issue that I would like to touch—but we don’t have the time. (Dr. Christine Stevenson) What I want to do is to begin laying a Biblical foundation and to create some spiritual moorings from which you begin to deal with and answer all of the issues that are involved.
If you consider yourself pro-choice, I want to be up front with you and say that I believe the Bible speaks is clear that abortion is wrong. But if you happen to disagree with my point of view, I want to tell you that I am not up here to condemn you—but I am here to challenge you to consider what God’s Word has to say on this issue. On the other end of the spectrum, you may wish the church was more involved politically in this issue. However that is not the purpose of this message—perhaps a future one. I will say that I believe that if the church were clearer with this message, and if we spent more time dealing with the source of the problem, rather than the symptom, we might make better progress.
While there have been some decreases in abortions in recent years, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute that does studies for Planned Parenthood, there are still over 1.3 million abortions a year in America. That is close to the ►population size of Santa Clara County. They also said that by age 45, 43% of women will have had at least one abortion. Now if you think that this is just people “out there” beyond the church walls—while there has been some decrease in abortions in our population, there has been an increase in abortions amongst those who claim to be evangelicals Christians—up to 18%. So, over 200K women who claim to be Christ-followers have abortions each year. One of the big reasons is that it’s easier to hide an abortion than it is a pregnancy.
As we begin creating some biblical moorings for the issue of abortion, I find that the most helpful approach is to view it against the backdrop of a understanding for human life and its foundation in the Bible. ►Theologian, writer and pastor, John R. W. Stott, "Man is a unique creation, the object of God’s loving care in both creation and redemption. ►The reason the Bible forbids the taking of human life, except judicially, is that it is the life of a human being with a divine likeness." Our key idea is: ►human life bears God’s image making it sacred.
The humanist viewpoint, which views man as fundamentally an animal, gives us no reason to even confront the question, because if man is only another animal he can be treated like one, therefore, there is no moral or spiritual question involved. But if, as the Bible declares, man is uniquely singled out to bear the stamp of God’s image, and to be the object of Christ’s redemptive love, then destroying human life assumes moral and spiritual implications because it brings God into the picture and we face our responsibility to him and his unchanging laws.
NAU Genesis 9:6 ►"Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. This is the recorded decree of God—not because human life of the murderer’s is cheap, but because human life (the victim’s) was precious. This word from God bears witness to the value and sanctity of human life. That is the context in which we should view the issue of abortion. As Christians, we must always come back to the Scriptures for our frame of reference and try to settle such questions as this on the basis of what the Word of God says—regardless of what our culture thinks and does about them.
I want to begin by focusing on the ►question of life in regards to the pre-born child. The position of secular writers on this question varies widely. Many say that the embryo is just “tissue,” that the woman can discard of at will. Some take the stand that a fetus is not to be regarded as a human being until it is actually born and that any arrest of its life before birth is not the taking of life. Many people would say the fetus is just becomes human life at the point it leaves the embryonic stage (at 7-8 weeks) to becoming a fetus (which by then has all of it’s parts—the only issue from that point on is that it needs to mature. Some say its human life when the fetus jumps within the womb or when the heartbeat can be detected. It seems, though, that very few secular writers would take the position that it is human from the point of conception unless they are strongly influenced by moral or religious considerations.
When we come back to the Scriptures on the question of abortion, it is assumed in the Bible that human life is present in the fetus. It is like the argument about the existence of God—very little Scripture could be used to answer the philosophical claim that God doesn’t exist, because Scripture assumes that He does. This matter is much the same -- Scripture simply assumes that human life is present in the fetus and that it is there from the beginning.
Of the Bible passages that deal with this subject, a noteworthy one is Psalm 139, which refers unmistakably to the fetus before birth. Remember that this Psalm deals with a man’s search for his own identity. Let’s read at least the first half of this Psalm: NAU Psalm 139:1 ►O LORD, You have searched me and known me [Notice the use of personal pronouns all the way through]. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 ►You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. 5 ►You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
This portrays the wonder of the psalmist at the incredible intimacy of the knowledge of God that even encompasses his thought life. He acknowledges that God knows him better than he knows himself, that he understands the inner workings of his being, the unconscious developments of his life, that he is far more aware of every intimate detail of our life than we are of ourselves. God’s knowledge of us is far beyond what we are able to know of ourselves—this is a source of wonder to David.
NAU Psalm 139:7 ►Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? Here he’s facing the implications of this knowledge that there is no conceivable state of being in which a human can exist (before he is encompassed in the body, after he is in the body, before birth or after death, or within the whole of life) in which God does not know him, and that there is no escape from the being and presence of God.
►8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9 ►If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. 11 ►If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night," 12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.
Then he comes to an actual description of his embryonic state: NAU Psalm 139:13 ►For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. From the very beginning God forms and begins to weave the fetus. The least we can draw out of this text is that the formation of the life of a person in the womb is the work of God, and it is not merely a mechanical process but a work on the analogy of weaving or knitting: The life of the unborn is the knitting of God, and what he is knitting is a human being in his own image, unlike any other creature in the universe.
Knitting and weaving is found often in the Bible. I recently saw a talk by Dr. David Menton who served at Mayo and then as a professor of anatomy at Washington School of Medicine. He’s now at Brown University. He was explaining Histology (study of the microscopic structure of animal and plant tissues) Hystos—fabric, tissue, knitting. When started to look at the body in a microscope, they were amazed to learn that it’s woven—that everywhere they look, they see weaving. Our skin is made up of calogen fibers that are very tough. They are so strong, they are stronger than steel for the same cross-sectional diameter but less elastic than steel—but yet look—it’s stretchy—how is that possible?
It’s possible because of the knitting—the way they are woven together. You weave one way, it’s not stretchy. That’s the kind of architecture we have in the eyeball so it doesn’t change shape. You weave another way—like a double-knit suit, it can be stretchy. The Lord knows that!
The psalmist is impressed by the wonder of this:14 ►I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 ►My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth
This doesn’t mean that fetal growth takes place underground. It’s really a poetic phrase that expresses something of the mystery of life. It pictures something that is hidden and therefore difficult to discover. While his life was at this stage, where it is difficult to understand or even investigate, God’s understanding of the psalmist’s being and identity was clear. Notice that there is no change in the personal pronoun: it is still "I" and "me" describing the fetal state, just as it is when he is speaking about himself as a grown person A person is someone known by God—who has a soul. God is looking on as the baby is developing in the womb. Our personhood was known to God before the world was formed.
16 ►Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; That is clearly the embryo And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. The language here attempts to convey the fact that there is no conceivable state of the human being that does not involve identity before God. This is strong evidence that, in God’s view (and He ought to know), the fetus is a form of human life even in its undeveloped state. Here David wrote of God’s relationship with Him while he was growing and developing before birth. This passage is not talking about mere protoplasm but about a baby who God had a relationship with. God was caring for David in the womb.
NAU Job 31:13 "►If I have despised the claim of my male or female slaves when they filed a complaint against me, 14 what then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him? 15 "►Did not He who made me in the womb make him, and the same one fashion us in the womb? Verse 15 gives the reason why Job would be without excuse if he treated his servant as less than a human equal. The issue isn’t really that one may have been born free and the other born in slavery. The issue goes back before birth. When Job and his servants were being fashioned in the womb the key person at work was God -- the same God, shaping both the fetus-Job and the fetus of his servants. It is irrelevant that Job’s mother was probably a freedwoman and the mother of the servant was probably a bondwoman. Why? Because mothers are not the main nurturers and fashioners during the time of gestation -- God is, the same God for both slave and free. That’s the premise of Job’s argument.
So both Psalm 139 and Job 31 emphasize God as the primary workman -- nurturer, fashioner, knitter, Creator -- in this time of gestation. Why is that important? It’s important because God is the only One who can create personhood. Mothers and fathers can contribute some impersonal egg and some impersonal sperm, but only God creates independent personhood. So when the Scripture emphasizes that God is the main nurturer and shaper in the womb, it is stressing that what is happening in the womb is the unique work of God, namely, the making of a person. From the Biblical point of view gestation is the unique work of God fashioning personhood.
We can argue till doomsday about when this little being becomes "a whole person." That argument will probably never be settled. But this we can say, I think, with great confidence: what is happening in the womb is a unique person-forming work of God, and only God knows how deeply and mysteriously the creation of personhood is woven into the making of a body. And therefore it is arbitrary and unwarranted to assume that at some point in the knitting together of this person its destruction is not an assault on the prerogatives of God the Creator. Let me say that again positively: the destruction of conceived human life -- whether embryonic, fetal, or viable -- is an assault on the unique person-forming work of God.
And therefore to the degree that we recognize even in fallen personhood a unique value, because of its potential to glorify God with conscious obedience and praise, to that degree will we shrink back with reverence and fear from assaulting or obstructing the divine work of God fashioning such a person in the womb. What God is knitting together into personhood, through abortion, man is assaulting the unique person-forming work of God.
We have the case in which God is already aware of us and has plans for us—even before we are born. NAU Jeremiah 1:5 ►"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." Did it ever occur to you that God has known you forever? He knew you before your parents did and before they created the first sonogram.
Another strong confirmation of the human identity of the fetus is in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. This is the story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth while both were with child. NAU Luke 1:36 ►And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. NAU Luke 1:39 ►Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 ►When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 ►And she cried out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 "And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? 44 ►"For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.
Now joy is a human phenomenon. So at six months we see there was a clear expression of a human emotion within the womb. And Mary had just conceived—yet John in Elizabeth’s womb is reacting to the person of Jesus in Mary’s womb! This is saying that Elizabeth’s unborn baby sensed the presence of the Lord Jesus in Mary’s The emotion of joy is being expressed through the humanity of the fetus. Now this isn’t just something that is imposed upon the fetus by God so that he makes it twitch, and then it is called a reaction of joy. That would make the terms meaningless; it must be that the fetus in some way feels and expresses joy.
NAU Luke 1:15 "►For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. John is filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb—and only human beings are filled with the Spirit. All this we take as evidence that Scripture teaches that a human life exists from the very moment of conception.
Now, unfortunately, a culture without God takes out the wonder of human life and treats it as it wills—for it’s own convenience. The secular arguments usually focus on the health of the mother or the health of the baby. But notice the ►statistics of why abortions take place in our country:
• 25.5% of women deciding to have an abortion want to postpone childbearing.
• 21.3% of women cannot afford a baby.
• 14.1% of women have a relationship issue or their partner does not want a child.
• 12.2% of women are too young (their parents or others object to the pregnancy.)
• 10.8% of women feel a child will disrupt their education or career.
• 7.9% of women want no (more) children.
• 3.3% of women have an abortion due to a risk to fetal health.
• 2.8% of women have an abortion due to a risk to maternal health.
Do you remember the account of David and Bathsheba recorded in 2 Samuel? King David was attracted to a woman he saw bathing next door, so he slept with her, even though she was married. She became pregnant. David had her husband killed and God got ticked and David and his family paid a terrible price for David’s sin. David had the woman’s husband killed to cover his sin, to escape embarrassment, to get on with his life, to get out of a bad situation. In spite of his many reasons, God didn’t accept any of them.
Those are the same reasons, the same excuses many people give today to have an abortion. Either they’re afraid, or they’ll be embarrassed, or they’ll be inconvenienced, or it will bring trauma and drama into their lives. Those are never valid reasons for taking another’s life. The Scriptures we have looked at say to us that the fetus is a person all the way—a person made in the image of God, stamped with His likeness, for whom He came to redeem.
There are ramifications when we go against what God has placed in the created order—ramifications to lives, homes, and cultures. That’s where the church has the opportunity to speak into the culture and present the truth and grace of God. Before I get into what our response should be in this regard, I want to give you an opportunity to here about some ministries that are speaking into our culture.
►Interview: Diane Hayes, Executive Director of Community Pregnancy Centers of San Jose.
►Video
Conclusion: ►How do we respond?
First, ►submit yourselves to God. Draw near to him. Live by the power of his grace. Let him shape your desires rather than the world and the feisty, self-centered temperament of our culture. Let your life and your mouth bear witness to the real delights of knowing and trusting and obeying and being shaped and guided by the Creator of all things who loved us and gave himself for us. Be a Christian -- and a visible and audible one. The world needs you so badly.
Second, if you have had an abortion or have had a part in someone having an abortion, you need to repent (turn),►asking and receiving the Lord’s forgiveness. What you have done is a sin, but that’s why Jesus came—to forgive us of all our sins. 1 John 1:9 ►If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The message here is that no sin, no matter how bad is beyond the grace of God. Acts 3:19 ►Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; All you have to do is accept that grace. NAU Romans 8:1 ►Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Do you want to do today? Have you received forgiveness and accepted it?
Third, with ►grace & truth – We need to honestly declare the truth concerning this issue and at the same time, get the message out that Jesus did not come into this world to condemn it: NAU John 3:17 "►For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 "►He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Many Christians look down their self-righteous noses at those who have had abortions. James says that God doesn’t grade sins. If you’re human, then you’ve sinned, so quit acting like you didn’t need Jesus to die for sins, and begin loving people the way Jesus did. We need to speak truth about moral purity, but bring people to a place of repentance to receive God’s grace and the grace of Hi church so that abortion is not accepted as an alternative. The church needs to be a place of acceptance, love, and healing, where we show others the grace God has shown us.
Fourth, ►get involved. Support alternatives to abortion with your money and time and prayers. I recommend to you our local Christian “Community Pregnancy Centers”—see your notes. Find ways to bring God’s truth and grace to bear in the political arena as well.
