The Biblical Case Against Abortion (and how to fight against it Biblically), Part 1

It has been a while since the previous post but as a quick reminder. These are to be read and studied with an open Bible! Take out a notebook and a Bible and join me in sifting through this tough issue. Ever since arriving at Calvary speaking on this issue has been a great desire of mine. There is so much to unpack, many lies and deceptions to unravel, that it’s hard to know where to start. I want to begin by making a few things clear which should hover over our entire discussion.

1.       Abortion is murder

2.       Forgiveness for murder can be found in Jesus Christ

3.       You cannot have mercy without first establishing justice

There will be several subsequent posts regarding this subject and there will be some things within them that are shocking to many. I don’t believe this first paper will be earthshattering, but I am prepared to eat those words… What’s important when we address the issue of abortion is what God has to say about it! Not what our feelings, our culture, our times have to say about it, but what the living and true God has to say about it, and we find that within the Holy Scriptures.

I am assuming the first 2 points above do not need much explanation for us Christians. What I want to recognize is the touchy subject that this is. That there are some who will read this who have had or know someone who has had an abortion. That’s why I wanted to start off with the 3 statements above. Abortion is murder, no doubt, but we as Christians recognize forgiveness for murder can, has, and will be found in Jesus Christ to those who repent and place their faith in Him. Our God is a God of justice who is full of mercy. He has made a way to reconcile and restore us, by giving us new life through His son!

Now the 3^rd statement is important. While we recognize forgiveness is found in Christ, mercy is found in Jesus Christ. Mercy is only found because we stand condemned under the law. We stood under the penalty of death. In fact, it’s worse than that, Ephesians 2:1, tells us we WERE dead, in our trespasses and sins. If we have a nation that doesn’t have laws that establish equal justice for our preborn neighbors, then we can never have mercy because there is nothing to have mercy for.

With the remainder of this paper, I will give an appeal to repent from our apathy on this issue and then finish with the Biblical case/principles against abortion and how we as the Church should respond to it!

            In Isaiah chapter 1, Isaiah receives a vision from the Lord concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Israel was full of inequity and evil during this time in the 700’s B.C. The nations surrounding Judah and many within Judah had fallen into idolatry, offering vain sacrifices, the people were going through the motions and not truly offering heartfelt sacrifices of repentance and contrition. One of the major issues of that day was the practice of sacrificing children to the false god Molech. (Ezekiel 16:20-21)

               This would eventually be eradicated in Judea under the reign of King Josiah (2 Kings 22-23, and 2 Chronicles 34-35). But during this time of Isaiah’s vision the Lord has had enough of the bloodthirsty evil of the nations and especially of his bride, Israel (Ezekiel 16:8, Hosea, Jeremiah 31:4 & 32).

Read Isaiah 1, emphasis on verses 10-20. Truly take time to read this passage.

               We have decades of blood stacked up against us in this nation. We have 50+ years of legislated murder. The blood guilt list is getting nearly insurmountable (though we know our God’s mercy is enough). Israel was likened to Sodom and Gomorrah and think of what happened to those cities. Do we think God looks at us in America and thinks differently? God says in verse 11, what to me is the multitude of your sacrifices! He doesn’t delight in lip service, in doing enough good deeds elsewhere. Verse 14, He is weary of our sacrifices and offerings! Doubtless this should pierce the heart of many of us when we think of the sins in our life but regarding the case of abortion specifically, when we read this passage what does God want from us!?

               You find the answer in verses 16 and 17. Wash yourselves, cease evil, do justice. Then the sweet aroma of verses 18-19 where God promises mercy to the truly repentant. He then leaves one final warning in verse 20. Don’t feign repentance! Don’t give God more vain sacrifices, or else you will be eaten by the sword.

               Take time to see this principle of justice displayed even more beautifully and richly by reading Amos 5:18-24. Too many long for judgment rather than repentance of a nation. God says woe to the person who desires the day of the Lord. God’s heart is that we repent and that we fight and call others to do the same. Let His kingdom grow, His light shine, His name be magnified!

Biblical Principles that should govern how we think through and how we fight against the injustice of abortion.

Human Value –

Read Genesis 1:26-27. Human beings are the only creatures in God’s world who have been made in His image, in His likeness. Because of this God puts laws and rules into effect to protect us. I’m reminded of when Jesus asks for the Denarii and asks whose likeness is this image made in? (Matthew 22:19-22) Caesar’s. He then says render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and render to God the things that are God’s. We are made in the image and likeness of our God and our whole lives should be rendered to Him.

Read Psalm 139:13-14. The Lord is present in every part of the process in forming you into who you are. He knits all of us together from the beginning, from the time we are in the womb, a place where every human being comes from. We are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Read Jeremiah 1:5. We recognize that this is speaking to Jeremiah but the applicable truth that can be taken for all of us is this, God forms us in the womb and knows us before we are even born!

The Role of Government – Read Romans 13:1-7. In verse 4, Paul writes that the government whom God has appointed is His deacon (διάκονός). A deacon is a minister, or a servant, and the governments in this world are God’s deacons. Now some are good deacons, and many are bad deacons. Regardless, they are all called to submit to King Jesus. It’s important to note, that when we as Christians are called to submit to government authorities, our submission to God supersedes any submission to government if they are not in alignment with one another. Now along with the title or office of God’s deacon comes responsibilities. These responsibilities according to this passage are: (1) to be a terror to bad conduct by bearing the sword of justice, and (2) to approve of what is good. The government carries out these roles through the establishment of laws, and the enforcement of said laws. In the subject of abortion, Governments are called by God to establish and uphold justice for the innocent (Psalm 2:10-12). And we, as Christ’s ambassadors are to call the government to submit to Christ and what He commands.

Read Matthew 28:18-20. Christ has all authority. He is ruling and reigning at the right hand of God and the kings of the earth are called to submit. Our role in this endeavor is 2-fold. Evangelize, and disciple. Now there is a lot more to that than we may think. We are told to make disciples of the nations! But not only make disciples of the nations but teach them to obey all that we have been commanded! The governments are called to adhere to the one true king who has authority over all heaven and earth. As Psalm 110:1-2 tells us, Christ is on the throne and ruling in the midst of His enemies, we as His ambassadors are to call the governments and the peoples to repent and follow Him.

Justice –

Read Deuteronomy 16:18-20. This is God’s heart. He desires justice to be done, for righteousness to prevail so that a nation may be blessed.

Read Exodus 21:22-25. One of the best cases in Scripture that shows God’s law demanding equal justice. In this incident a baby in the womb is injured or dies and the punishment for said crime is “Life for life eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

Now one’s response may be as follows: Jesus said, “you have heard it said eye for eye, tooth for tooth, But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Read Matthew 5:38-39)

To quote from a previous blog (How a Christian Should Vote):“Many Christians make the claim that what Jesus was doing during the Sermon on the Mount was ‘elevating’ or ‘changing’ the law of God. This could not be further from the truth. Jesus was by no means ‘elevating’ the law of God, Jesus was correcting their understanding of the law of God, for the Jews of His day were twisting it for their purposes. In verse 38 Jesus quotes Leviticus 24:20, part of the judicial law for the government of Israel. The Jews were taking the judicial law and applying it to personal situations of revenge. (To see the Old Testament agreeing with Jesus’s words, see these passages (Lev 19:18, Prov 20:22; 24:29)). Christians are not to take revenge, and this has always been the case throughout the Biblical testimony.

In Romans 12:14-21, we are told to “never avenge ourselves but to leave it to the wrath of God…”, and in quoting Deuteronomy 32:35, “Vengeance is the Lord’s and recompense…” One of the primary means that the Lord uses for vengeance and justice comes in the very next chapter which we have already discussed, Romans 13. It comes from the Lord’s deacon or servant in the governing authority which He instituted.”

The Issue of Pragmatism –

Read Proverbs 17:15 and Proverbs 18:5. One of the most important passages on this subject. When we advocate for bills to end abortion this is a foundational principle that should govern what we seek and bring forth. We in no way can justify the wicked and in no way condemn the righteous or innocent. Both are an abomination. This holds real sway when bills of partiality are brought forth and presented. These bills are an abomination to the Lord. He desires justice, full stop. Not slow, incremental, partial, pragmatic laws. These are abominations to God.

Read Ecclesiastes 8:11. This is the antidote to bringing about justice. Full justice! Full obedience! Not taking slow incremental approaches. That is how you harden the hearts of the people. We fight for ending abortion. Not a heartbeat bill that in it’s writing allows the murder of millions of babies who don’t have a developed heart. That is partiality, that is allowing the hearts of men to be hardened. We are saying these humans over here are worth protecting but these ones aren’t. That teaches the culture that we don’t actually think these babies over here are humans. No, we fight for an end to it, and full justice for all. The law is a tutor, this Ecclesiastes passage shows that. When bills that show partiality are put into effect and advocated for, claims are being made about which humans are valuable. This teaches the culture that it is only bad to kill humans once they develop a heartbeat or once they develop a brain, etc. This doesn’t recognize that God is the life giver and each and every human in the womb is made in the image of God and worthy of protection. (Isaiah 10:1)

We don’t fight sins incrementally! We gouge out the eye! We cut off the hand! We recognize change happens incrementally, but our APPROACH is: Cut it out! End it completely! (Matthew 5:27-30)So then why do many fight abortion incrementally? The answer is usually, it’s practical. This is the exact kind of apathy that the Lord detests! I believe it’s because we have become so hardened and used to the idea of it in our culture that our hearts don’t truly break as they should. If they did we would fight against it more than we do! When it comes to most pro-life organizations the answer is often money (I emphasize Pro-life organizations, not people)! If it ends, their income ends! We will get into that in the coming posts.

More on rejecting an approach that is partial and incremental, read Exodus 7-10 as Pharoah offers partial incremental solutions and yet Moses stands on principle and what God has commanded. Full justice, full obedience. Let my people go!

               Now, I know there was a lot of reading and study to be done here but it’s important for what we will be discussing in the coming weeks. The pro-life industry is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome in the fight against abortion as they have nationally opposed bills that would bring an end to it. Diving into the problems and issues with these pro-life groups takes thoughtfulness and extreme care.

What I want to leave us with is firstly the 3 points I started this paper with:

1.       Abortion is murder

2.       Forgiveness for murder can be found in Jesus Christ

3.       You cannot have mercy without first establishing justice

Then Finally, this is an extremely important issue that deserves our time and energy! Our God is a God of justice, and He desires His people to be an advocate for those who are being led away to the slaughter. (Proverbs 24:11) This is a touchy subject for many Christians due to past decisions (past decisions that are washed white by the blood of Christ). It’s touchy because we recognize it for what it is, an evil that must end! Praise God for His abundant streams of mercy! Praise God for the blood of our savior Jesus Christ! We pray for an end to this evil in not our nation only, but throughout the nations of the world! We do this through bringing the Word of God to bear on sinners so that by God’s grace they may repent! Amen.

Pastor Michael Matejka