General Discussion

As Christians engage in the cultural debate over abortion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, perhaps the biggest takeaway from surveying the Bible’s teaching around life and when it begins is that we need to exercise some humility.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

On Jeramiah
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.

God intimate knowledge of us -- not when.

Life begins at first breath
"Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

It would seem, therefore, that God’s law in the Old Testament recognizes a difference between human life outside the womb (once first breath has been drawn) and the potential life status of a developing fetus.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from surveying the Bible’s teaching around life and when it begins is that we need to exercise some humility. As Christians, we should strive to relate all of our views and actions to Scripture. When the witness of Scripture is not fully clear—and especially when it clashes with our assumptions—that should call our own certainty into question and inspire humility.

Maybe we are not meant to fully understand when life begins. Maybe God—in God’s infinite wisdom—decided that such knowledge is beyond our paygrade. And maybe that’s okay.