Looking at the Abortion Debate
Through the Supremacy of Christ
Through the Supremacy of Christ
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As a Jesus Follower, I Am
“Pro-EVERY-Life”!
“Pro-EVERY-Life”!
First of a four-part series
David Bryant
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John 1:1-5
Before anything else existed, there was Christ, with God . . .
Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind.
His life is the light that shines through the darkness—
and the darkness can never extinguish it (TLB, emphasis added.)
Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind.
His life is the light that shines through the darkness—
and the darkness can never extinguish it (TLB, emphasis added.)
Recently, a dedicated Jesus follower sent me a six-page handwritten letter in which she poured out her broken heart over the wave of abortions in America over the past 60 years—regarding each one as murder, the destruction of God-given human life.
She also pleaded with me to revise certain positions on the issue I have expressed over the years, feeling I was off track spiritually and biblically.
I hastened to re-establish for her that I hold sacred what Scripture calls “the fruit of the womb.” Personally, I believe a human comes into existence at the moment of conception.
Considering we shared that foundational truth, I welcomed her thoughtful, loving challenges to my perspectives and teachings.
But beyond that, I believed she deserved a thoughtful response and to know more of my thinking on such a consequential topic. So, I began writing her some additional thoughts.
To my surprise, however, my “letter” grew into what has now become a 13-page, four-part blog post!
Finally, I concluded the Father meant these reflections not only for Katherine but also for all my readers—including you!
Therefore, you are now about to read Part One. Be watching for Part Two and, shortly after, Part Three and Part Four.
Hopefully, you’ll find at least a few of my perspectives useful. Some of my points may be novel or challenging here and there—perhaps even controversial or disturbing to you. If you want to interact on any of the four blog posts, please email me at DavidBryant@ChristNow.com. That’s how we can both learn and grow.
I promise you this much: Throughout the posts, I will approach the topic of abortion using my “King Jesus glasses,” grappling with everything from the perspective of the magnificent truths about our reigning Redeemer and his Kingdom purposes found in the Scriptures and trying to see all the issues through his eyes as the Giver and Lord of LIFE.
My Letter Back to Katherine
Dear, dear Katherine,
What a beautifully written appeal you sent to me. I could feel your heart pouring itself into every word and then through those words personally into me.
As I read it, I thought: This is how Christians should always share with each other on any points where we might not fully agree—doing so with gentleness, loving affirmation, and respect for the other—and by keeping the exchange as fully focused on Christ as possible, whatever the topic.
The topic we’re discussing is the critically important issue of abortion, gaining a heightened focus during this 2024 presidential campaign season.
How should someone living under the supremacy of Christ think about this issue? How should you and I respond to it as Jesus followers—we who are alive and reigning in him who resides at the center of the Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4, Ephesians 1, Revelation 5)?
My #1 Personal Conviction About Human Life
Katherine, above all, let me start by asserting as strongly as I can that I absolutely agree with you that human life begins at conception. There is no other logical place to mark its start. Like this quote you shared from a nationally respected atheist leader: “It just makes sense!”
How I hope there is a day coming when that fact is presented and explored openly and thoughtfully in the public square to see if anyone can offer any reasonable alternatives as to when life BEGINS. I sincerely doubt they would find any other view that makes any sense! I’ll share more about instigating this kind of conversation in Part Three.
My personal conviction about the sacredness of life in the womb is best stated like this:
I believe from the instant of conception that what exists in a mother’s womb is not “a potential human being.” Instead, it ought rightly to be called “a human being with potential”—exhibited first in its daily gestational growth, which is the start of the unfolding of all the dimensions of who they will become over their lifetime.
After all, who among us is wise enough to know the full extent of the impact of each child in the womb and how that might work itself out through their life?
Surely, out of the over 63 million “persons with potential” whom the U.S. has lost since 1973 through proactive abortions, there must have existed countless productive scientists, artists, teachers, parents, builders, business leaders, first responders, etc., who might have dramatically shaped and enriched our lives, our nation, and the world.
But, of course, those born with mental and/or physical disabilities are just as precious in the Lord’s sight and contribute so much to our lives in so many ways. Every life is precious. Period.
Above all, I believe that this is what you and I as Christians count as most precious about every human being with potential:
I believe, by God’s grace, countless lives that have been aborted over the ages, as well as in recent decades throughout our nation, might have put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord—becoming fully redeemed and empowered by him to spend their earthly sojourn growing to know him better and love him more, while actively helping to spread the gospel of his saving reign “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1).
And even though Scripture is not clear about this, with all that we do read there about God’s nature, his heart, and his desire to reconcile all things back to himself through Jesus our Lord and Redeemer, I have to believe that in the ages to come, babies who die any time after the moment of conception will be restored to a life full of incredible possibilities for glorifying God and enjoying him forever.
Viewed in terms of God’s kingdom purposes in Christ Jesus, this reinforces how the loss of every life, preborn or post-born, is a grievous tragedy.
Bottom line: As I walk out Jesus’ lordship over my heart and mind, I gladly engage with others who hold varieties of views related to the genuinely complicated questions surrounding abortion. I’ve been at this effort for over fifty-five years.
I seek only to see things the way Jesus sees them. I am determined to enter every debate with an open mind and a listening ear—as fraught as some conversations can be—keeping Jesus’ supremacy clearly in view as each question is tackled.
Katherine, this means that my convictions below are held as unto Christ and for his praise. However, I hold some of them more lightly than others, always eager to keep learning by thoughtfully (but also biblically) considering the points made by those with differing views.
NOTE THIS: My singular ambition through the whole process has always been to win people to the Lord of glory—not simply win others to my perspectives on abortion.
As a Jesus follower, I hold EVERY life sacred.
Seeing who the person of our risen Lord Jesus is and what he has sacrificed for us, I’m certain that Jesus, with his saving, life-giving reign today, is also “pro-EVERY-life”—preborn and post-born.
As you know, Katherine, in Scripture, all humankind is declared to be nothing short of the very image of God. What an identity that is!
This description was first applied to Adam when God formed him as a fully developed human (Genesis 2). From that moment forward, as we read in Genesis, God intended (as he told Abraham) for the earth to be filled with a countless multitude of his redeemed image-bearers. In other words, God puts preeminent value on the increase and thriving of human life at every stage, from conception to death.
Furthermore, in the New Testament, we learn that redeemed people will be transformed into the perfect image of God, our Lord Jesus Christ (see Romans 8:29-30). This miracle happens as believers become increasingly Jesus lovers, throne worshipers, and Kingdom servers—living under the life-changing supremacy of God’s Son.
Our Declaration of Independence concurs with this biblical view! It affirms that, being divinely created, all humans possess an equal right to life, as well as liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Furthermore, every life—Christian or non-Christian—is equally precious in God’s eyes—so much so that Christ died for all. As it says in 1 John 2, “Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
In addition, the final day is coming when, without exception, every God-created image-bearer will share the same dramatic climax of human history when every knee bows at the Throne in a unified declaration before the Savior that he is Lord of all (Philippians 2).
Consequently, I must conclude this: The “pro-EVERY-life” position requires equal concern and care for the health of the mother. Under the supremacy of Christ, we must give the mother equal weight and value to that of the life of the little one in her womb. They are both image-bearers. They both hold great potential. Christ’s saving work is meant for both.
However, now we face this conundrum: What do we do when during the child-bearing months, tragically (for many reasons) the mother’s survival or her permanent physical damage are on the line? Christians and non-Christians alike must grapple with this unsettling and complicated decision: What is the way forward when the lives of two persons made in God’s image are on the line?
There appear to be no “perfect” solutions. How do we begin to unpack all of this?
Let’s step back a moment. Being created in God’s image refers to the whole person—spirit, soul, AND body combined. Thus, biblically speaking, there is a serious argument to be made that every person should have the final say on what each does with their own body, just as each of us has final control over what happens with our spirit and our soul.
Autonomy over all that I am—spirit, soul, body—is clearly the case when it comes to my decisions about other crises. Consider these: a person’s decision about cancer treatments, whether or not to get a COVID vaccination, someone’s participation in contact sports, the risks assumed by a firefighter, or dealing with sexual passions in a romantic relationship.
It would seem to follow, therefore, that the same autonomy should apply when a woman is dealing with her own alarming, life-threatening pregnancy.
Confronted with this dilemma, how should Christians respond? What does it mean to be “pro-EVERY-life” at such a defining moment? Does the baby’s life or the mother’s take precedence? Are not both equally formed in God’s image?
Christians today usually hold one of these two radically different approaches.
ONE: THE CHILD’S LIFE TAKES PRIORITY. Some conclude, understandably, that any woman—but especially one who has given herself to Jesus as her Lord whom she loves and serves—will make decisions that prioritize the baby in her womb over the possible permanent devastation to her body or even her very survival. In other words, according to this viewpoint, the mother should die so that the child can live.
TWO: THE MOTHER’S LIFE TAKES PRIORITY. On the other hand, others would say that if a truly committed Christian is facing a choice between their death or the baby’s (to take the extreme example), who of us has the right to demand of them that they should choose to die (or to become permanently maimed) so that the baby has a chance to be born?
Who else but the “mother-with-child” should have the final say over what she does with her own body? How can outsiders judge anyone facing such a no-win dilemma? Do any of us truly know what we would do at such a moment when faced with such a perilous choice? What would you want your own wives, sisters, or mothers to do?
Ultimately, how does the mother arrive at the best course of action? Does a mother’s choice at this point not need to be seen as a very private decision between her and her doctor? Of course, the decision-making should also include her husband or partner since the child is his child as much as the mother’s. In the case of a believing husband and wife, they are one in Christ, and the husband is the head of the wife.
Another factor many fail to take into consideration: What if the situation involves a woman who is the mother of other children who would be motherless if she dies? Or what if her other children are already fatherless and her death would make them orphans?
Above all, for a mother who is a Jesus follower, the good news is that there’s always another person involved in the final outcome—the one who is Lord of all and, therefore, Lord of the mother, the child, and the womb.
This takes the conversation to a whole higher level for Christians.
A believing woman will necessarily wrestle with her decision as one surrendered to Jesus, her Redeemer. She is sitting, as it were, with him at the Throne—a throne marked by truth but also grace. She’s focused on her King, earnestly listening to him, eager to obey him—with her final decision made as one who has joyfully embraced the supremacy of Christ.
What’s true for the mother is true for all of us. The Savior, who purchased our bodies by his own blood, has given his followers autonomy (free choice) over how we decide to use our bodies to bring glory to God (see 1 Corinthians 6). In other words, with autonomy comes responsibility for every disciple: How will I give my body to serve Kingdom purposes?
In the same way, there are a significant number of serious Christians who believe that the pregnant mother, being fully aware of the sanctity of the person in her womb as she confronts the tragic decisions before her, is the one who must do with her body what she believes Jesus wants her to do—the body he redeemed (along with her spirit and soul) to become an instrument of righteousness (see Romans 6).
The Bible clearly states that every believing man and woman is called to present their body to the Lord Jesus as a “living sacrifice” to be set “on fire” daily by the Holy Spirit for his Kingdom purposes (Romans 12:1).
However, after that, the harrowing choice of the baby’s life versus the mother’s life must come down to what she finally concludes will bring her Lord the greatest glory. For that decision, she alone is accountable before the Throne.
But this I know: I have no right to condemn another’s decision when they make it openly unto Christ. At that point, the Father’s grace prevails. The Son is in charge. The Spirit brings heaven near—for the person of the mother and the person of the child.
Personally, I have nothing more to add about that point.
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Coming soon!
Be watching for Part 2:
Looking at the Abortion Debate
Through the Supremacy of Christ
The focus:
As a Jesus Follower,
I’m also “Pro-WHOLE-Life.”
About the Author
Over the past 50 years, David Bryant has been defined by many as a “messenger of hope” and a “Christ proclaimer” to the Church throughout the world. Formerly a minister-at-large with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, president of Concerts of Prayer International (COPI), and chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee, David now provides leadership to ChristNow.com and Proclaim Hope!, whose mission is to foster and serve Christ Awakening movements. Download his widely read ebooks at ChristNow.com. Enjoy hundreds of podcast episodes. Watch his weekly vlogs at David Bryant REPORTS. Meet with David through Zoom or in-person events through David Bryant LIVE!
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