Abortion and the Image of God: Abortion and the Bible Series - Part 1

            The Bible begins with God creating a good and beautiful world. In the story of creation, God saves the best for last. After everything else had been created, God made people as the crown of his creation. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, ESV). While there is debate about what exactly it means to be created in God’s image, in some sense people are a reflection of God. I believe it includes the idea that wherever people go, they bring reminder of God. And whatever they do should be an extension of God’s activity. Consider how a portrait reminds one of the person portrayed. Or how a statue of a rider on horseback reminds one of that activity. I believe this is part of what it means to bear God’s image, in some limited sense people are a living portrayal of God. And in this respect, people are distinct from the rest of creation.

Staying with the theme of portraits and statues, across the US in 2020 there were riots where people tore down statues of people they did not like. Many of the statues were of people who participated in racial crimes. The idea being we should not tolerate images of evil people. We do not need to remember them. On the other hand, the government made efforts to protect some statues that were of people deemed to be heroes. The idea being, we should not destroy images of our heroes. It is good and right to remember them. Similarly, in Genesis 9:6 God says people must not kill one another because they are made in his image. The idea being, killing someone made in God’s image is also a crime against God.

Related to abortion, does an unborn baby also bear God’s image? Does abortion kill someone made in God’s image? Based upon the following Scriptures, I believe the answer is clearly, yes.

-        “And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb...” (Genesis 25:21-23b).

-   “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out [ie. premature birth], but there is no harm [ie. not miscarriage], 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 [ie. miscarriage or birth defect], then you shall pay life for life...” (Exodus 21:22-23).

-        “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” (Judges 13:7).

-        “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” (Psalm 139:13-14a).

  

-   “Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen” (Isaiah 44:2).

 

-        “The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name” (Isaiah 49:1b).

-        “And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant” (Isaiah 49:5a)

-        “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” (Jeremiah 1:5).

-        “For he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15).

-        “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’” (Luke 1:41-44).

 

-        “But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace...” (Galatians 1:15).

There is something holy about being made in God’s image. God is a God of life, not a God of death. God is intimately involved in the formation of babies from conception. Even before they are conceived, God has a destiny for our children.