10 Key Bible Verses on the Sanctity of Life

This text is a part of the Key Bible Verses sequence.

All commentary notes tailored from the ESV Study Bible.

1. Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his personal picture,
     within the picture of God he created him;
     female and male he created them. Read More

The resemblances (man is like God in a sequence of how) permit mankind to characterize God in ruling, and to ascertain worthy relationships with God, with each other, and with the remainder of the creation. This “picture” and this dignity apply to each “female and male” human beings. (This view is exclusive within the context of the traditional Close to East. In Mesopotamia, e.g., the gods created people merely to hold out work for them.) The Hebrew time period ’adam, translated as man, is commonly a generic time period that denotes each female and male, whereas typically it refers to man in distinction from lady (Gen. 2:22, 23, 25; Gen. 3:8, 9, 12, 20): it turns into the right identify “Adam” (Gen. 2:20; 3:17, 21; 4:1; 5:1). At this stage, humanity as a species is ready other than all different creatures and topped with glory and honor as ruler of the earth (cf. Ps. 8:5–8). The occasions recorded in Genesis 3, nevertheless, could have an essential bearing on the creation standing of humanity.

2. Genesis 9:6

Whoever sheds the blood of man,
     by man shall his blood be shed,
​​for God made man in his personal picture. Read More

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. Right here the precept of talion, a life for a life, is utilized (see Ex. 21:23). This measured response is preferable to Lamech’s seventy-sevenfold vengeance (Gen. 4:24). Human life is to be valued so extremely that it’s protected by this technique of punishment as a result of God made man in his personal picture, and so to homicide one other human being is to homicide what’s most like God, and is thus implicitly an assault on God himself.

3. Psalm 139:13–16

For you shaped my inward elements;
     you knitted me collectively in my mom’s womb.
I reward you, for I’m fearfully and splendidly made.
Great are your works;
     my soul is aware of it very effectively.
My body was not hidden from you,
once I was being made in secret,
     intricately woven within the depths of the earth.
Your eyes noticed my unformed substance;
in your e book have been written, each one in every of them,
     the times that have been shaped for me,
     when as but there was none of them. Read More

You Even Noticed and Beloved Me earlier than I Was Born. These verses illustrate the purpose of Ps. 139:11–12 (the part begins with for, displaying the connection to the earlier) by describing a selected “darkish place” the place the Lord noticed and cared for the singer, particularly, his mom’s womb. God was energetic because the unformed substance (embryo) grew and developed; certainly he’s the one who shaped my inward elements and knitted me collectively. God noticed him, and even had written in his e book, each one in every of . . . the times that have been shaped for me. The worshiper realizes that, even earlier than his mom knew she was pregnant, the Lord was already displaying his look after him. His private life started within the womb, and God had already laid out its course.

4. Matthew 6:26

Have a look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor collect into barns, and but your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of extra worth than they? Read More

Human beings are of extra worth than animals (cf. Matt. 10:31; Matt. 12:12) as a result of solely people, out of all God’s creatures, are created “within the picture of God” (Gen. 1:27), as a result of God gave the human race dominion over all of the earth and all its creatures (Gen. 1:28), and since God liked human beings a lot “that he gave his solely Son” to die for our sins (John 3:16).

5. Luke 12:6–7

Aren’t 5 sparrows offered for 2 pennies? And never one in every of them is forgotten earlier than God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Worry not; you’re of extra worth than many sparrows. Read More

The observations about sparrows and the hairs of your head present God’s providential care over the smallest particulars of life. Of extra worth alerts a “lesser to higher” argument: if A (the lesser) is true, then how rather more B (the higher) should be true. That’s, if God even cares about sparrows, how a lot higher is his care for each one in every of his personal youngsters, whose worth is a lot higher (cf. Luke 12: 22–31; see additionally observe on Matt. 6:26). Worry not. Worry of God (Luke 12:5) leads to not needing to concern anybody or the rest.

6. Exodus 20:13

You shall not homicide. Read More

The sixth via eighth commandments current basic prohibitions to not homicide (Ex. 20:13), commit adultery (Deut. 5:14), or steal (Deu. 5:15). In doing so, they set minimal requirements for Israel to be a simply society and point out the context during which the individuals might be known as additional to be holy and to like the Lord with all their coronary heart, soul, and would possibly (Deut. 6:4–9), and their neighbors with goodwill and generosity (Lev. 19:18). Thus, whereas the prohibition towards stealing is a fundamental precept of justice in Israel’s nationwide life, the individuals are known as to do greater than chorus from taking one other individual’s possessions. They’re to embody the Lord’s love for them by loving the stranger and sojourner as themselves (Lev. 19:33–34).

7. Matthew 5:21–22

“You’ve heard that it was mentioned to these of previous, ‘You shall not homicide; and whoever murders might be liable to judgment.’ However I say to you that everybody who’s indignant along with his brother might be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother might be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You idiot!’ might be liable to the hell of fireplace.” Read More

Premeditated homicide is prohibited by the sixth commandment (Ex. 20:13) and underneath OT regulation carried the loss of life penalty (Num. 35:31). The prohibition is grounded in the truth that people are created within the picture of God (Gen. 1:26–27; 9:6). Regarding unpremeditated homicide (manslaughter).

indignant. The harmful and harmful impact of human anger is likewise harassed all through Scripture (e.g., Prov. 20:2; 22:3; 29:22; 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:20; Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8; James 1:20). Anger sometimes entails a need to break or destroy the opposite individual, both in some private manner or actually within the type of homicide (cf. Matt. 5:21 and James 4:1–2). Calling somebody a idiot is intently associated to anger, in that it represents a harmful assault on one’s character and identification. Thus Jesus warns that the one who violates one other individual on this grievous manner is liable to the hell of fireplace.

8. Proverbs 24:11–12

Rescue those that are being taken away to loss of life;
     maintain again those that are stumbling to the slaughter.
When you say, “Behold, we didn’t know this,”
     doesn’t he who weighs the guts understand it?
Doesn’t he who retains watch over your soul comprehend it,
     and can he not repay man in response to his work? Read More

This additional expands on the decision of Prov. 24:10 to behave with energy of character amid issue. Though the circumstances of these taken away to loss of life and stumbling to the slaughter will not be specified, the themes of Proverbs make it seemingly that the pictures seek advice from these struggling underneath the injustice of the depraved (see Prov. 1:11–13) and probably to these strolling a path that results in loss of life (cf. Prov. 7:25–27). Proverbs calls the righteous to integrity of character that protects justice, proclaims the advantages of knowledge, and warns towards residing as if such issues are unknown or don’t matter (Prov. 24:12). Claiming ignorance of a broadly identified evil is not any excuse for not rescuing the victims of slaughter, for God is aware of the true situation of the coronary heart. The one who embraces knowledge can by no means be content material with merely in search of the well-being of himself or of his household; he will even search justice as broadly as he can. That God will repay man in response to his work (cf. Job 34:11; Ps. 62:12; Matt. 16:27; Rom. 2:6; 2 Tim. 4:14; Rev. 18:6) implies that an individual’s deeds reveal the true state of his coronary heart, whether or not he walks on the trail of life or of loss of life.

9. Luke 1:44

For behold, when the sound of your greeting got here to my ears, the newborn in my womb leaped for pleasure. Read More

The infant in my womb leaped for pleasure footage the unborn youngster on the sixth month of being pregnant as a definite individual, capable of really feel “pleasure.”

10. Exodus 21:22–23

When males try collectively and hit a pregnant lady, in order that her youngsters come out, however there isn’t a hurt, the one who hit her shall certainly be fined, as the lady’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay because the judges decide. But when there’s hurt, then you definately shall pay life for all times. Read More

These verses comprise phrases which might be troublesome to interpret. The ESV affords a conventional understanding within the textual content and a more moderen view within the footnote. The state of affairs in view is a brawl between males. A pregnant lady close by is unintentionally hit. This leads to both a untimely stay start or a miscarriage the place the kid dies (her youngsters come out; the plural “youngsters” might be a plural of indefiniteness, permitting for both a single or a a number of start). This a lot is obvious, however interpreters disagree concerning the precise that means of the Hebrew historically rendered there isn’t a hurt . . . there’s hurt, and the judges decide. In accordance with the standard view, “hurt” is suffered by both the lady or her child. Relying on the extent of loss (loss of life of the newborn, damage to the newborn, damage to the mom), the person who brought on the damage shall pay “because the judges decide,” presumably in response to the “eye-for-eye” precept. One implication is that the loss of life of the newborn appears to be judged in response to the identical rules that apply to the taking of different human life (e.g., the loss of life of the mom). By no matter interpretation, the OT attributes human personhood to the creating child within the womb (cf. Ps. 51:5 and observe; 71:5–6 and observe; 139:13–16); however the regulation additionally distinguishes between loss of life because of willful homicide and loss of life because of negligence (see Ex. 21:12–14, 28–32). Nevertheless understood, this regulation demonstrates the Bible’s concern to guard life, together with life within the womb.

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