God Didn't Say That

The Bible on Abortion – Overview

I’ve received a lot of feedback on my recent piece, “What Does the Bible Really Say about Abortion,” in which I make the claim that even though the Bible shouts the importance of knowing when life beings, it doesn’t offer much specific guidance, and, in particular, doesn’t tell us if a fetus is a human.

You can read the article here, and listen to a discussion on the same themes here:

(The full episode from which that clip is taken is here.)

I didn’t have room in the article for the kind of depth that many people want, so my next posts here go into more detail about some of the passages that commonly come up in the context of abortion and the Bible:

• Exodus 21:22 — potentially about causing a woman to miscarry: “When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage…”
• Luke 1:41 — potentially about the status of a fetus: “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb.”
• Numbers 12:12 — potentially about the status of a fetus: “Do not let her be like one stillborn,…”
• Psalm 139:13 — potentially about the status of a fetus: “…you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
• Exodus 23:26 — potentially about miscarriages: “No one shall miscarry or be barren in your land.”
• The Ten Commandments — potentially about abortion: “You shall not murder.”
• Leviticus 19:28 and Deuteronomy 14:1 — potentially about abortion: “You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you” and “You must not lacerate yourselves.”
• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 — potentially about abortion: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple … and that you are not your own.”

September 6, 2015 Posted by Joel H. | audio, biblical interpretation | abortion, Bible, Bible interpretation, NIV, NRSV | 5 Comments