The inalienable right to life possessed by every human being is present from the moment of initial formation, and all human beings shall be entitled to the equal protection of persons under the law.
Personhood in the Bible
I. The child is a person in the womb - Job 10:18
“Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!” (Job 10:18)
Job wished that he had “given up the ghost” or died while he was still in the womb, but one cannot die in the womb unless he is already alive while still in the womb. The same sentiment was expressed by Jeremiah.
“Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me.” (Jeremiah 20:17)
Once again we note that one cannot be slain unless he is already alive, and by that observation, we must conclude that the unborn child is a living human being. This understanding is further reinforced by the biblical description of a miscarriage.
“Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb.” (Numbers 12:12)
The use of the personal pronoun to refer to the unborn child in this passage clearly indicates that the unborn child is a person. This conclusion is made even stronger by the change in gender from the feminine gender at the beginning of the verse in which Aaron is referring to his sister to the masculine gender when Aaron is referring to an unnamed person who had died in a miscarriage. If the unborn child were not a person, then the pronoun should have changed from the feminine to the neuter form of “it” in the latter part of the verse.
II. The child is a person from conception – Judges 13:4-5
“Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” (Judges 13:4-5)
Samson’s mother was told that her son would be a Nazarite from the womb. Nazarites were forbidden from drinking wine. The mother would not have had to give up wine from conception unless the child was a person from conception. A similar statement was made about the prophet Jeremiah.
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
God said that He knew the prophet before he was formed in the belly. The only stage of life prior to the period of formation in the womb is that of conception. Another reference to the personhood of children in this stage of development is found in the book of Hosea.
“As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them!” (Hosea 9:11-12)
According to Deuteronomy 33:17, the glory of Ephraim was their children. In this passage God declared that He would cause their glory– their children – to die at four different stages of life: childhood, birth, the womb, and conception. That conception is listed on an equal plane with other stages of life gives clear indication that the personhood of the child begins at this stage.
III. We have a responsibility to defend unborn children – Psalm 82:3
“Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.” (Psalm 82:3)
Modern America’s answer to the problem of fatherless children is abortion. In doing this, “they … murder the fatherless. Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.” (Psalm 94:6-7) But God says that He is “the helper of the fatherless,” and that “He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless.” (Psalm 10:14; Deuteronomy 10:18) The prophet Isaiah records God’s condemnation of Israel for failing to defend the fatherless.
“Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin.” (Isaiah 1:23-25)
The princes of Israel were not the children of the kings. They were the representative leaders from each of the tribes, (Numbers 1:1-16) and God called those representatives His enemies because they did not defend the fatherless. Are we willing to be the enemies of God? Are we willing to risk having Him turn His hand against us? Let us take up the cause for it is just and not despair over our numbers (“for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few,” - I Samuel 14:6), but let us do that which we know to be good. (James 4:17)
< Previous Chapter Next Chapter > Table of Contents