Abortion

Moody Bible Institute is committed to the value and dignity of every human being, from the moment of conception onward. Our commitment is rooted in the teaching of the Bible, which shows us that God has created human beings out of His boundless love. Although we live in a culture and time in which unborn human life is considered disposable, we are instead joyfully obligated to the biblical teaching that human life begins at conception and is therefore sacred.

The Old Testament opens with God as the Sovereign Creator.^[1] God speaks the physical world into existence, climaxing with His special creation of humankind.^[2] Only then is creation called “very good”.^[3] God announces that both male and female were created in His image, after His likeness, and it is by virtue of their unique relationality to the Creator that each human being has extraordinary value and dignity.^[4] While all forms of life propagate “after their kind”,^[5] only humans are made “in the image of God”.^[6] The very first utterance of God to the male and female is a blessing: “Be fruitful and multiply!”^[7] Although not every individual will marry or bear children, this blessing is meant to be celebrated and preserved by all because all human life depends upon it.

The Old Testament extends the God-given value of the human being to the preborn and even their anticipated presence.^[8] Killing another image bearer is an offense to God, in whose image each person is made.^[9] The Scriptures assure us that God intimately knows all unborn children, superintends the process of development in the womb,^[10] and recognizes the personhood and value of all humans, from the earliest gestational age.^[11] Thus, in His covenant with Israel God demands that the same protections afforded to fully developed humans be also guaranteed to all prenatal life, from conception to birth.^[12]

The New Testament preserves the truth that God is the Sovereign Creator of all things ,^[13] who speaks all of creation into existence^[14] and creates human beings male and female.^[15] Echoing earlier revelation, the New Testament continues to extend the dignity and value of humanity to the preborn. Human personhood does not begin at birth but at conception. This allows a person like Paul to be set apart for God’s service while still within the womb.^[16] We also see that the Holy Spirit is active in the life of an unborn person, for example when John the Baptist leaps for joy in Elizabeth’s womb at the presence of Jesus.^[17] Such actions would be impossible if God did not already view preborn children as living persons. Furthermore, as a stunning and climactic testament to God’s care and concern for human life at the earliest stage of existence, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was conceived in the Virgin Mary.^[18] That the Son of God would dwell in the womb of a woman is a glorious testimony to the fact that there is no part of our human life for which God is unconcerned. This is why the taking of a human life continues to be forbidden, and since this life is present in the preborn, they are included in the general prohibitions against killing the innocent.^[19]

As an institution committed to the dignity and value of every human being, we believe it is our responsibility to protect the lives of the unborn, to support the lives of the born, and to call to action the greater Christian body to do the same. As followers of Christ, we are called to speak up for the voiceless and to defend and protect the vulnerable, as Jesus himself did.^[20] While each person’s involvement in this calling may differ, apathy and inaction about the atrocity of abortion is unloving and counter to the Christian mission.

We also affirm that God’s grace applies to those who have chosen to have an abortion as well as to those who have enabled them. Jesus Christ’s forgiveness is offered to all humanity, no matter our failures or sins,^[21] and we believe it is the Church’s responsibility to convey this truth in love to all. There is forgiveness and healing from all sin for anyone who confesses, repents, and believes.^[22] Although a journey for someone who has had an abortion can be filled with much suffering, we know we serve the God of life,^[23] who restores us in body and soul. Therefore, we gladly walk alongside individuals to see life renewed where death once reigned.^[24]