With the passage of New York’s latest abortion bill, and the infanticide language of the governor of Virginia, there has been renewed attention to the abortion debate, especially the barbarism of late-term abortions. Rightly so. Liberals have opted to gloss over or ignore that we are legalizing the murder of our most helpless (literally) citizens.
The Bible presents the unborn as persons, and even presents them as persons for whom God has designated purpose. Therefore, in ending a human life, abortion also prevents the realization of that human life’s potential.
Consider these passages:
“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”
Psalms 139:16
In Psalm 139, David recognizes God’s guiding hand in the processes of his development in utero (Psalm 139:13 – 15). This verse highlights the fact that all of David’s parts (“members”) were considered complete (“written… in thy book”) even though they were in the process of being formed (“in continuance were fashioned”). God’s purposes for David (what he would be like, look like, etc.) were true for him prior to birth.
“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
Jeremiah was set apart (“sanctified”) to be a prophet prior to conception.
“And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.”
Isaiah 49:5
Isaiah understood that “from the womb” (prior to birth) God’s purpose was that he would be a servant and would call Israel (“Jacob”) back to God.
“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
Galatians 1:15-16
To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:”
Paul recognized that his conversion and subsequent call to preach the gospel were part of God’s purpose prior to his birth: he was “separated” (sanctified, or set apart for a purpose) from the time he was in the womb. On this passage, Matthew Henry says,
“…the change that was wrought in him was in pursuance of a divine purpose concerning him…”
Matthew Henry, Galatians 1:10-24, e-sword ver. 11.1.0
“God often, if not always, has purposes in regard to people from their very birth. He designs them for some important field of labor, and endows them at their creation with talents adapted to that.”
Albert Barnes, Barnes Notes on the Bible, Galatians 1:15, e-sword ver. 11.1.0
Everyone knows that abortions terminate human life. It is an unquestionable fact. And each human life carries with it potential and God-given purpose. Abortion is a travesty of unimaginable proportions. Only in eternity may we fully understand how costly abortion has been to mankind.
Nathan M. McConnell 