When Does Life Begin?
Issues – October 2024 – Grace & Truth Magazine
When Does Life Begin?
What do the Scriptures tell us about when life begins? Consider when Mary, being pregnant with the Christ child, visited her cousin, Elizabeth, who was already six months into her pregnancy. As Mary greeted her relative, Elizabeth declared, “As soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy” (Lk. 1:44 NKJV ). This tells us:
- Elizabeth’s baby, at six months of development, was truly human as he, through the Holy Spirit, recognized the presence of the Lord’s mother.
- Mary’s Baby, shortly after conception, was recognized as being a full person, including having His soul and spirit. He is the “Holy One” (v.35).
Furthermore, ponder the laws of the book of Exodus. In them, as presented by the LORD, the statement is made that “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” (Ex. 21:22-23). Verse 23 indicates that if the woman’s hurt causes a premature birth and it dies, or dies within the womb, the slayer must suffer the death sentence, as the penalty is “life for life.” This tells us the child within the womb is a human life regardless of the stage the pregnancy.
In God’s Image
There are several other verses that provide guidance for Christian morality and ethics regarding human life. Here are two passages from the Old Testament:
- Psalm 139:14-16: I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. 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.
- Genesis 1:27: So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Every person has been fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God. Not only in Genesis 1, but even after Noah’s flood the Lord repeated that fallen man is made in His image (Gen. 9:6). These verses should drive every Christian to own that human life, at any stage of development, is already alive in the eyes of God, the sovereign Creator! God alone has the right to determine the process and longevity of every life that is made in His image!
While God ordains all governmental powers (Rom. 13:1), He has not given them any right to make laws against what He has said. They are supposed to obey Him.
Likewise, individuals are to live in obedience to God. When we don’t, we sin and experience consequences that range from embarrassment and guilt to emotional damage. But there is forgiveness available to all of us: “The blood of Jesus Christ … cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:7).
Satan, whose name means “Accuser,” seeks to introduce thoughts of more guilt and condemnation into the minds of believers, but we have an Advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ (2:1). He alone can forgive and wash us from all guilt, and He seeks to help us directly or through believers and ministries He has established in the faith. He loves and cares for each of us, regardless of what we have done!
By G. H. B.
My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world … These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him.—1 John 2:1-2,26-28