Foundations: The Biblical Sanctity of Life

Standing at 1,472 feet, the Empire State Building in New York is a phenomenon of modern architecture. Completed in 1931, it remained the world’s tallest skyscraper until 1972. Even today, the Empire State Building has not ceased to amaze as millions of people from all walks of life continue to marvel at the sensational height of the massive skyscraper each year, and seemingly none leave in disappointment.

It is no hard thing to lose oneself in amazement upon gazing at the great stature and complexity of this icon of architectural prowess. Whether looking down from the pinnacle or staring upward from ground level, it provides an awe-inspiring experience to the viewer.

However, the most important aspect of the entire structure is often overlooked completely. For, beneath all the grandeur and glory of 102 stories, lies a simple, concrete foundation that holds together every bit of the magnificence of the skyscraper. Without the foundation, this remarkable structure would be reduced to mere ruins. The greatness of the Empire State building lies not in its glorious summit, but in its plain foundation.

Today, as the debate over the issue of abortion grows more and more heated and complex, it seems to have erected a skyscraper of its own. And, as our culture glazes wearily over this seemingly unending structure, it appears to be quite overwhelming and insurmountable. So overwhelming, in fact, that many have deemed the debate to be an eternal stalemate. However, beneath the incomprehensible complexity of the massive structure of the culture war over this issue, lies the fairly simple and often neglected foundation of it all. This foundation is the bottom-line of the entire debate and it lies in one simple question: is the baby in the womb a valuable human being entitled to the same rights as you and I? Once we answer this question, we will have caused the complexity of the imaginary skyscraper to be reduced to nothing.

But, how should we even begin to answer such an important question? Well, first, let’s inquire after the Maker of the foundation of the universe, to find out how He would go about answering our vital question. In this post, we will endeavor to do just that by highlighting a few of the many passages in the Bible relevant to this question.

First of all, to answer our big question, we must take a look at the beginning of the universe, creation. When God made the universe and everything in it (light and darkness, day and night, the heavens, the earth, the sea, the dry land, the animals, and lastly, man) He pronounced that every aspect of His creation was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). However, God’s creation of man carried with it an aspect that separates man from the rest of His creation. We may observe this vast difference in Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” Nothing else in God’s entire creation did He create in His own image. Therefore, human life carries with it a certain intrinsic value to God. That is, according to God, there is sanctity to every human life. Nevertheless, the reader may inquire what does this prove? After all, if we resolve that the unborn are not human beings (or persons), this “sanctity of all human life” does not apply to them. Well, before we object in this way, we must first ask the following question: does God consider the unborn to be human beings made in His image? For, if we are able to answer this question affirmatively, then we need not even question that this sanctity applies to them.

So, how does God consider the unborn? Well, we can only accurately pursue the answer to this question by examining God’s own words about the unborn in Scripture. Speaking to Isaiah, God says, “Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you…” (Isaiah 44:2). Here, God, speaking to a grown man, makes it clear that the something that God was forming in the womb was not merely that which would eventually become Isaiah, but, rather, God was forming the person Isaiah himself in the womb. Isaiah, a human being created by God, did not suddenly become himself at birth or even at viability, but, instead, he became the person Isaiah at the very moment that God began to form him in his mother’s womb. In numerous other passages in Scripture, God speaks of the unborn in the same manner. (Ex.- Job 10:8-12; Psalm 139:13-16). And so, it is the same for each of us; from the very moment that God begins to form us in the womb, He already regards us as persons made in His image.

In addition, we come to an identical conclusion by observing our position as sinners before God. Shortly after God’s creation of man, man fell into sin through disobedience to God’s commands (Gen. 3). As a result of this sin, every human being that has ever lived has inherited this sinful nature; Romans 5:12 states, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” How does this relate to the unborn? Well, God’s word tells us in Psalm 51:5, where the psalmist David proclaims, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” In this passage, David declares to us that this same sinful nature inherited in every person, was present within him from the moment he was conceived in his mother’s womb. In his book Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments, Randy Alcorn notes that “only a person can have a sin nature. David’s statement clearly shows that he was a person at the point of conception.”

Clearly then, in the eyes of God, the unborn are considered to be human beings (or persons). And, as all human beings are made in the image of God and therefore have an intrinsic worth like nothing else in creation, the lives of the unborn carry that identical sanctity as well.

Do not be overcome by the skyscraper that the debate over this issue has erected, for God has vanquished it and reduced it to mere ruins. He has answered our one vital question with overwhelming clarity:

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5)