What is sin? One way to answer this question is to appeal to Romans 14:23b where the Apostle Paul says, “Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” That’s quite a comprehensive answer. Anything we do that doesn’t come from faith in the Triune God of the Bible, Paul says, is sin. So, we should ask, does abortion proceed from faith or lack of faith? The answer should be obvious.
In case it’s not, J. I. Packer, one of the most influential evangelical theologians of the last one hundred years, writing about the Puritan pastor John Owen, offers us another way to think about sin. This is a lengthier quote, but well worth reading and contemplating:
John Owen . . . in his monumental work on sin, wrote a paragraph in which he summarizes God’s view of sin. Read with care the words that Owen used to describe how the creature acts toward his Creator: disgrace, fraud, blasphemy, enmity, hatred, contempt, rebellion and injury, poison, stench, dung, vomit, polluted blood, plague, pestilence, abominable, and detestable. Sin is essentially the resolve—the mad, utterly blameworthy, but nonetheless, utterly firm resolve—to play God and fight the real God. Sinners resolve to treat themselves as the center of the universe and so they keep God at bay on the outer circumference of their lives—or so they think. They won’t allow the Creator to rule over them as he wills to do. . . . They . . . resent the claim to dominion that he makes. This is why people like Luther, Calvin, and Owen say, roundly and without question, that sin wills the fundamental abolition of God. Sin wills that God should not be there. Sin plays God, sin fights God, and sin wishes that God didn’t exist at all.
We’ll return to this quote in a moment. Let’s turn now, however, to the other preliminary question: What is abortion?
Wikipedia’s got a fine definition: “Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo, resulting in or caused by its death.” Strictly speaking, miscarriages are abortions in the technical sense. For the sake of the response to this question, however, they won’t be considered as “abortions” (what are, more precisely called elective [or procured] abortions).
Notice, now, that the definition says abortion results in the death of a fetus or embryo. Death is a very important word here. The clear implication is that the fetus/embryo is alive before it’s aborted. It’s living. Science, in fact, confirms this. All fetal physiologists and embryologists agree, regardless of their religious views, that human life begins at conception. They disagree on the value of this life and on whether or not it should be considered a person, but they all agree that when a male sperm fertilizes a female ovum, human life begins. The science is indisputable.
The Bible tells us, however, what science cannot; namely, that you are very much a person known and loved by God even in utero. In Psalm 51 David says that from the time his mother conceived him he had a sinful nature (v. 5). In other words, personhood is attributed to the initial stage(s) of life.
A second text that informs this question is Luke 1:39–45. Mary has just been told by the angel, Gabriel, that she will be pregnant with the Messiah. She immediately leaves her hometown of Nazareth to visit her cousin Elizabeth in Judah. The Gospel writer tells us that she went immediately (v. 39). Given the distance between Nazareth and Judah this would have been a three-to-four day journey. So, three or four days after Gabriel has announced the big news to Mary, she meets her cousin, who, by the way is herself six months pregnant. (Her son is John the Baptist.)
As soon as Mary arrives, Elizabeth recognizes that something astounding has happened. “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to me ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy” (vv. 42–44). So, Mary is already pregnant by this time. To be more precise, she’s (only) three or four days pregnant, yet Elizabeth recognizes that the embryo she’s carrying is “my Lord!” We forget sometimes that Jesus didn’t come as a fully formed baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. He came first as a fetus, an embryo, a zygote, a single cell. He had/was a body/soul at conception. His body was only a cell, but it was a body, nonetheless. He was already the Lord as an embryo.
Let’s return, then, to our definition of abortion: “the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo, resulting in . . . its death.” From science we’ve established that the embryo/fetus is alive, and from the Bible we’ve determined that the embryo/fetus is a person, a full-fledged human being. What, then, does that say about abortion? I hope you see that when definitions call abortion “the termination of a pregnancy” what they’re describing is the putting to death of a living human being. That’s not politically correct, but it is correct. In any other context we call that murder. Murder is most clearly a sin (Exodus 20:13).
And, therefore, to answer the original question, abortion (that is, elective, or procured, abortion) is a sin.
Let’s go back to our lengthy quote from Packer/Owen, above. “Sin is essentially the resolve . . . to play God and fight the real God.” Isn’t that what abortion does? Abortion says to God, “I don’t care what You’re creating inside me. I’m going to decide my own fate, and that of my child.” Abortion is not only a sin against the unborn child, it is, ultimately (as with all sin), a sin against God.
Let me make three closing remarks:
1. Abortion is a grievous sin. The church, throughout its history, has always called abortion murder; some saying it’s even worse than murder. The most defenceless human beings are being killed by the very people entrusted to care for and protect them.
2. Abortion is a sin that can be forgiven. If you’ve had an abortion or been complicit in one (for instance, encouraged a girlfriend to have an abortion), you need to confess your sin to God and repent. The Bible says you can be and have been forgiven. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Rest in that and turn from your old ways.
3. Nevertheless, abortion has devastating consequences. I know many women (and men!) who are crippled with guilt over killing their unborn children. In most cases, that guilt never goes away. Legally, before God, that guilt is gone if you know and trust Jesus. You can have the assurance that He paid for even this sin on the cross. But, if you’ve had an abortion, you will very likely carry the emotional and psychological scars and wounds from it for the rest of your life. This underscores the seriousness of sin. There are real and devastating consequences. Perhaps, though, if you’ve had an abortion, God will use you in your tears and your testimony to change people’s lives; even, to rescue unborn children.
I know this response may have left you with even more questions. I blog about abortion on a regular basis at tubytu.wordpress.com and you may find additional help there. There are also lots of great web sites. Start with abort73.com. Then, if you are bold enough, go to silentscream.org and watch a video of an abortion done at 11 weeks after conception. I must warn you, it is very graphic and heartbreaking. I pray God will move you to consider how you can be involved in the efforts to protect the unborn.
[Answered by Dr. Stephen Tu, Trinity Pacific Church, Vancouver. Dr. Tu is a close friend of Pastor HM's & has recently completed his doctoral work on this very issue]
