If you’re reading this blog, you’re likely a Christian whose mind is made up about abortion. You recognize that life is sacred and should be protected at all costs but you’re looking for a biblical basis for why life matters.
If you are looking at life from a worldly view, why? Why is life sacred? And don’t you think that it’s okay to take a life from time to time? You have a right to self-defense, after all!
But let’s say you attend church every Sunday, and what’s more, you’ve been listening. You know the Bible is full of commands to protect life and punish life-takers. In other words, God says so. But do you know the biblical basis for why life matters?
1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you.” In other words, don’t just believe the Gospel—learn and share the why behind the Gospel, too!
So let’s ask again—why? Why does God seem to care so much about life? When we look at the world, we see plenty of people who don’t care about life, their own or others. And when you start weighing out the pros and cons of life, life doesn’t always look that good.
Life, after all, is full of suffering. Life is haunted by pain, loss, grief, addiction, abuse, and death. What’s so great about life that makes it worth protecting? And if God is so pro-life, why doesn’t he do anything to improve life? These are the responses many Christians receive when they tell others about the sanctity of life inside the womb.
Learning the biblical basis for why life matters opens the door to give the hope that so many women need as they face unwanted pregnancies.
God Loves Life
Despite what your local theology enthusiast would have you believe, you don’t have to be a genius to understand theology. Many truths in the Bible are quite simple.
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold; it was very good.” Genesis 1:31.
That “everything” includes life, from grass to trees to moths to dogs to full-grown humans to babies. Case closed.
Death only showed up when things started going south…
“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16–17.
That verse acts like a cheat sheet for studying the rest of the Bible. Death is always the consequence of disobeying God. No disobedience, no death. Life is always the blessing of a right relationship with God. Just ask Moses. When he gave Israel the law, which was like training wheels for how to have a relationship with God, he said, “… I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19.
If you’ve read the Old Testament, you know that almost everyone chose death. There are exceptions, but by the time you finish Malachi, you might wonder if it’s possible to choose life.
That’s when Jesus enters the scene…
The Life and Death and Resurrection of Jesus
Jesus didn’t mince words about his mission on Earth…
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
That statement isn’t a spiritual code for being happy. Jesus became a flesh and blood human. He physically died. And he rose again with his physical body, with scars, hunger, and taste buds.
Christ shows us that physical and spiritual life are not opposed to each other—God designed them to work hand in hand. Christ gives us both. Jesus loved life so much that he sacrificed his own life for it. For now, that means God gives his people spiritual life because of what Jesus did on the cross. In the future, it means that death itself will be defeated. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” 1 Corinthians 15:26
The context of that verse is crucial. Paul is talking about Christ ruling over the earth. Where Christ rules, death loses. When Christ rules in our hearts, the forces of sin and evil get driven back. When He rules the world, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.” Revelation 21:4
The whole story of the Bible is about the triumph of life over death. To be pro-death is to be anti-God, to stand against his entire plan for saving the world.
Taking God at His Word
That’s an overview of what God says about life. If we’re being fancy, we could call it a “theology of life.”
And make no mistake—internalizing the biblical basis for why life matters is a crucial first step towards becoming an effective pro-life advocate. That’s why it’s one of the first topics covered in the Save the Storks Start Course—believing what God says about life will change you.
That’s what happens when you get to know God. You become like him. Your heart starts breaking over the daily deaths of innocent unborn children. You grow more compassionate towards women who are stuck in seemingly hopeless situations. After all, compassion is the number one most-used word to describe Jesus’ emotions in the Gospels.
Above all, you develop hope. Life is good, but it’s hard. There’s a reason stories of desperate mothers who choose abortion are persuasive. In a fallen world, choosing life doesn’t always seem to make sense.
But the Gospel gives us hope. Hope that God can redeem any situation and anyone, whether it’s a mother facing an unwanted pregnancy all alone or a woman grieving her choice to abort. It gives us hope that life is always good, even when all the evidence seems to say otherwise.
People can feel that hope. It’s what they desperately desire. And as you understand God’s heart for life and come to share it, Gospel hope might be the greatest gift you can offer a woman in her time of need.
Want more pro-life apologetics tools? Read How A Sled Can Change Minds About Abortion.
