Life in the Womb: Part 2

The Bible teaches that life begins at conception, that God is actively involved in our development in the womb and that God knows us as persons even before we are born. It is important that Christians understand this given that the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson has renewed and reenergized the debate over abortion in our country.

God was intimately involved in the original creation of man. We are told “He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). All human lives have dignity and matter because we are all created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). That image was marred when man sinned in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), but it was redeemed by the death and resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus) (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).

Throughout the Bible God is described as being personally involved in the development of His people. God describes Himself as “your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb” (Isaiah 44:24). David (Psalm 139:13-16 and Psalm 119:73) and Job proclaim that God directly formed them (10:8-11).

God knows us even before we are born. God told Jeremiah “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jeremiah 1:5). Isaiah proclaimed, “Yehovah called me from the womb…He named me…formed me from the womb to be His Servant.” (Isaiah 49:1-5). Luke 1:5-19 describes how while John the Baptist was still in his mother’s womb God named him, described John’s ministry and even filled John with the Holy Spirit!

While Yeshua (Jesus) was still in His mother’s womb, the angel Gabriel told Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25) and Mary (Luke 1:26-38) His name would be Jesus, Immanuel and the Son of the Most High God. Gabriel also described how Jesus would “save His people from their sins” and later Jesus would sit on the throne of David.

Even the apostle Paul recognized God’s foreknowledge of his ministry, “God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb…that I might preach Him among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:15-16). Similarly, God see in our lives the “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

Finally, God’s involvement in our development reassures us about His ongoing care for us throughout our lives: “You who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you!” (Isaiah 46:3-4).

The Bible requires believers to protect the unborn from destruction in the womb. It also teaches us to love and meet the physical needs of the mothers during pregnancy and then mothers and children after delivery. We are to seek for the salvation and sanctification of the women and men contemplating abortion. Finally, we must seek to help with the formation of families or the adoption of the child into a loving, Christian family. A comprehensive approach is what God requires.