Abortion: A Biblical and Theological Analysis-Part 4

Scriptures that speak of God giving man a “soul” prohibit abortion.

Those reading their Bible through the centuries have learned that the human soul is a gift given by God. For some Christians, though, the issue of when the soul infuses the body has become a key point relating to the abortion controversy. Whenever the soul infuses the body, full human life is present. But a debate developed around the Scriptures that de­scribe when God implants the soul into the body.

Some have argued that the Scriptures describe this point as being when the unborn fetus comes into existence at conception, others at viability, and still others have said it was at birth. Additional arguments then developed around the questions: Is the soul inherited from the parents and immediately present at conception, or given by God independent of the parents’ sexual union some time after the body is formed in the womb?

The reason these questions are important is because if the soul does not enter the body until sometime after conception, then some would argue that perhaps early abortions are permissible. If it can be shown that the soul is present from conception, then abortion is never permissible.

Christians who have argued that the soul is created individually by God and placed into the baby’s body at some point between conception and birth have been known as “Cre­ationists.” Those Christians who argue that each person derives his soul and his body at conception from his parents’ sexual union are called “Traducians.”

The following Bible verses are cited as proof by the “Creationists” that God created man’s spirit, or his soul, individually and placed it into the body at some point between conception and birth:

• Genesis 2:7: And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
• Ecclesiastes 12:7: Then shall the dust [of which God made man’s body] return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.
• Zechariah 12:1: Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him….
• Also see Isaiah 42:5, Isaiah 57:16 and Hebrews 12:9.

But after reading these verses cited by the Creationists, we must admit that we do not know from these texts that the fetus has been endowed with a soul by God from the time of conception, viability, or at birth. All we know is that God is the One who gives man a soul.So these verses by themselves do not help solve the question of, “Is abortion permissible?”

Now let us turn to the other viewpoint that is held by those Christians called “Traducians” who maintain that the soul derives by natural laws of propagation from one’s parents. In other words, they believe each person inherits his soul from his parents just as much as he does his body. They point to the following biblical texts:

• Genesis 1:27,2 8—So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply….
• Genesis 5:2, 3—When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them… When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
• Hebrews 7:9, 10—And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

But after reading these verses cited by Christians arguing the Traducian viewpoint we must ask, “Is it not possible that both positions present a bit of the truth and that the body originates from the parents while the soul originates from God?” Traducians are forced to admit that there are many verses that support the Creationist viewpoint—that God alone gives the soul. Creationists must also admit that there are some Bible verses that imply that though God gives the soul, He may have used the means of human propagation to place it in the body.

The key point in terms of the abortion debate is that anyone honestly looking at these verses must conclude that Scripture has not clearly presented the exact moment when the soul is given, only that God does give the soul to man.

Theologians such as Paul K. Jewett, Kenneth Kantzer and John Warwick Montgom­ery agree. They have concluded that it is not possible to access from the Bible one precise view of when the soul was united with the body. But when these Scripture verses are added to Exodus 21:22-25, the Bible makes it absolutely clear that the life of the unborn child in the womb is as valuable in God’s sight as an adult outside the womb. This causes us to believe that from the point of conception, the soul is present even though no direct Scripture can be cited. We noted earlier that from conception onward the value of life is equal at every point and further, equal in value to adult life. Our conclusion, then, must be that the soul exists from the point of conception; other­wise it would not have equal value in God’s eyes.

Read Part 5