Government and the Sanctity of Life

God is the creator of life. Therefore, in any discussion on government and life, we must start with God. When God created humanity in Genesis 1:26–28, He said that He wanted to create mankind in His own image. Thus, any discussion of life in any human form starts with the imago Dei—the image of God. If you fail to start with the image of God, you make life into something you define rather than recognizing it by what God has created it to be.

All Life Reflects God

The psalmist describes God’s view of humanity to us in Psalm 8:4–6, “What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.” Human beings are majestic in creation. We are a spectacular masterpiece in the hand of God Himself. What makes each of us so majestic is that we have on us the mark of God. We have been stamped from the beginning with the image of God Himself.

God views the taking of life as a personal insult.

This means that every human being has a divine design. Every human being is sacred. Every person is designed to reflect God’s heart and His image, which also means that we were all created for community. God is not an isolated being. He exists as a triune Being— one God who is composed of three co-equal Persons who are one in essence but distinct in personality. We, as human beings created in His image, were also created for one another. Every person matters. Every individual is significant. Every life counts.

You will often hear somebody say the phrase, “You remind me of somebody.” Perhaps you’ve said it yourself. But guess what God did when He created mankind? He created a race of beings to exist as divine reminders of Himself. Every life enters this world full of dignity, splendor, uniqueness, and glory.

Now, granted, like a broken mirror, our humanity has been damaged. We were created to reflect God and to represent Him in all of life, but our reflection has been broken through the introduction of sin. The enemy has sought to discover ways to abort our advancement in life. Satan has sought to distort the image of our divine royalty through introducing evil into this world. If you take a cursory glance at culture, you can see that he has been successful in many ways.

All Murder Is an Attack on God

One of the ways he has been successful is through the destruction of life itself so that there is no chance of advancing at all. The Bible is clear that we should not murder (Ex. 20:13). Whether it’s homicide, suicide, patricide, genocide, matricide, fratricide, or infanticide— whenever a life is taken, it becomes an attack on God Himself. This is why we read in Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.” Life is so precious to God that the only way to pay for illegitimately taking the life of another is to forfeit your own.

When you and I think about kingdom politics and our role within it, we must think about life.

God views the taking of life as a personal insult. As a result, He set out to establish clear boundaries against the removal of anyone’s life by the hands of another. Any discussion of life has to start with the divine mark and standard of life God has established. The job of the government is to protect life. That’s why safety is often considered one of the first responsibilities of a government. Yet when a nation leaves God out of government, thus allowing life and its value to be downgraded, reduced, dishonored, and attacked, the nation itself will crumble from within.

The Role of Civil Government

Civil government should be legislating life, not death. Especially since babies’ heartbeats can be detected as early as six weeks. When you buy a picture frame, it comes with a generic photo inside of someone you do not know, so you discard it. This is because you are going to put another picture inside of yourself, family, or friends. Then you hang it up or put it on display. The generic picture has no value, but the personal picture has special value. A baby in the frame of the womb of its mother is not a lifeless reality to be discarded but rather a life that is to be valued, treasured, and held in high esteem.

When you and I think about kingdom politics and our role within it, we must think about life. We must consider the safety and well-being of all life—whether this life is in the womb or not. Because just like in the game of checkers, some pieces can be aborted early on, or some pieces can be aborted further into the game—yet any removal of that piece is an abortion of the forward progress to its destiny.

A Whole-Life Agenda

One of the problems that arises when it comes to evaluating politics in our land is that we often key in on a term of life, rather than the whole of life. We choose to focus on the preborn life, but disregard the life outside of the womb. Or, on the other side of the aisle, we look at the life outside of the womb while disregarding the rights of the life in the womb. Yet if we are to view life according to God’s standards, we must view all of life as sacred.

An often-used Scripture to emphasize the value of life in the womb similarly emphasizes the value of life after being born. However, we skip over the reality of the latter part far too often. Let’s take a look at the Scripture in its entirety:

For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them. (Ps. 139:13–16)

This passage reveals God’s recognition of and care for life within the womb, and it also reveals to us God’s plan for life outside of the womb. The reason why God’s care existed from the beginning is because He had “days that were ordained” for each of us. He has a plan for us. God’s value of life isn’t only focused on life in the womb. The creative genius of God views all of life as sacred.

Abortion should be a major issue as Christians navigate politics today. God has spoken on the issue of abortion. In Job 10:8–12 as well as Job 31:5, we read that God has made each individual in the womb. We have the qualities of God in our unborn state. Psalm 22:9–10 refer to the baby in the womb as someone whom God takes particular interest in and provides care for in order to bring to delivery. Similarly, in Matthew 1:20, when Mary was pregnant with the Lord Jesus Christ, the angel told Joseph that Mary was carrying a child. She was not carrying a “glob” of something. She didn’t have a non-person within her. Mary was carrying a baby. She was with child, and God brings the child out of the womb (Ps. 22:9–10).

We must speak up for the rights of the unborn who cannot speak for themselves.

The Bible is clear that life resides in the womb. The Bible is also clear that God is so committed to life in the womb that He prescribes its value before this life ever gets into the womb. We read this in Isaiah 49:5 where it says, “And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant.”

Also in Jeremiah 1:4–5 it says, “Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.’” Numerous examples exist in Scripture to validate the truth that God places a baby in the womb because He has a plan for this life to experience his or her destiny outside of the womb. Whenever someone cuts this life short, he or she has interfered with the program and purposes of Almighty God. In fact, Matthew 1:20 reveals to us that life begins at conception (see also Galatians 1:15–16). The issue with abortion is not first whether or not a woman is going to have a child but rather whether she is going to deliver that child dead or alive.

Thus, when the government decrees that it is okay to perform an abortion, you and I must stand against this. We must speak up for the rights of the unborn who cannot speak for themselves. When we don’t and this form of homicide is allowed to continue, then we can expect the consequences in culture. Scripture says that when innocent blood is shed, more blood will be shed (Ps. 106:36–40; Prov. 6:17; Joel 3:19). The fact that the fetus is in a perpetual state of growth and that a heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks proves it is a life to be protected, not destroyed. We can expect crime rates to go up. We can expect conflict to increase. Whenever we allow and condone the attack of life made in the image of God, especially innocent life, God unleashes His vengeance on the culture that allows it. Legislating and legalizing death in the womb opens a Pandora’s box of criminal activity as a spiritual repercussion in society itself. Every individual has been created with a recognition of their divinely ordained dignity from conception.