Christian Unity

Mat 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Christians are saved in order to do good works. Among the most obvious, and most important of those good works is to take care of the “least of these.” Nothing is more God-like, more Christ-like, than to defend the weak and powerless. And who is more powerless than an unborn child?

In the 35 years since the Roe Vs Wade decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, over 48 million unborn children have lost their lives to abortion.
The magnitude of horror in that number defies the imagination: 48 million innocent lives snuffed out in the womb! We recoil at the thought of six million Jews being killed in Hitler’s Germany. And yet, eight times that many innocents have been killed in America through abortion since 1973.

Abortion is wrong because it takes an innocent human life. We instinctively know that taking innocent life is evil. But just in case we miss that point, God has made his view of the matter clear.

It is easy to prove that murder is wrong according to the scriptures. The following two references should suffice:

Exo 20:13 “You shall not murder.

1Jo 3:15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

To show that this includes taking the life of an unborn child, we merely need to show that unborn children are considered human lives by God. That, too, is easily proven from the scriptures:

Jer 1:4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Isa 44:1 Israel the Chosen
“But now listen, O Jacob, my servant,
Israel, whom I have chosen.
Isa 44:2 This is what the LORD says–
he who made you, who formed you in the womb,
and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

Job 10:8 “Your hands shaped me and made me.
Will you now turn and destroy me?
Job 10:9 Remember that you molded me like clay.
Will you now turn me to dust again?
Job 10:10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese,
Job 10:11 clothe me with skin and flesh
and knit me together with bones and sinews?
Job 10:12 You gave me life and showed me kindness,
and in your providence watched over my spirit.

Psa 22:9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother’s breast.
Psa 22:10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Psa 139:13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Psa 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
Psa 139:15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
Psa 139:16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

The account of Mary and Elizabeth clearly demonstrates the humanness of the unborn child. Note that John the Baptist leaped for joy inside Elizabeth’s womb:

Luk 1:39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
Luk 1:40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.
Luk 1:41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Luk 1:42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
Luk 1:43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luk 1:44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
Luk 1:45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

The Old Testament law directly addressed the protection of pregnant mothers and their unborn children, proving that unborn children have a right to life and to protection of the law:

Exo 21:22 “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows.
Exo 21:23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,
Exo 21:24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Exo 21:25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

The scriptures also make it clear how God’s children should respond to the practice of abortion:

Pro 31:8 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.

Pro 24:11 Rescue those being led away to death;
hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
Pro 24:12 If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?

Est 4:12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai,
Est 4:13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.
Est 4:14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

Psa 82:3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Psa 82:4 Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Whatever we do for the least of these, we do for Christ. And whatever we do not do for them, we do not do for Christ. Let’s resolve to speak up for the defenseless.