Because everything that has been created finds it origin in God, in that sense, all of creation is sacred. At every step in creation, God declared it to be "good" (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). In creation, something God declared to be "good" meant that it was fulfilling it's created purpose, that it was reflecting the glory of God. In that sense, all of life is sacred.
But when God made human beings, God had a very special, unique purpose in mind. “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26). Somehow human beings were to reflect God's glory - God's "image and likeness" - in unique ways. In fact, human beings were to share in God's authority in creation. "And it was very good" (Genesis 1:31).
The creation account lays the foundation for our understanding of God's purpose and design for all God had made. But even after those first humans decided to go their own way, independently from their Father-Creator, the Bible continues to describe the unique sanctity of human life.
When Pharaoh commanded the Jewish midwives to kill male babies born to Jewish women, they refused to obey the command. As a result, God blessed them (Exodus 1:15-20).
In the law, God stated that if two men were fighting and one hit a pregnant woman, resulting in serious injury to the mother or the baby, "you are to take life for life" (Exodus 2122-23).
Job testified that God has fashioned him in his mothers womb (Job 31:15).
David understood that God has designed him with purpose and had uniquely formed him in his mother's womb (Psalm 139:13-16). "Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" (v. 16). In that sense, David had existed as a special human being in the mind of God before he was conceived.
When God called Jeremiah to a prophetic ministry, he assured him by declaring, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" (1:5).
The prophets acknowledged that the greatest act of idolatry possible was the pagan practice of sacrificing infants to their gods. "You sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags" (Isaiah 57:5)."Because you gave them your children's blood...I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath" (Ezekiel 16:36, 38). "On the very day they sacrificed their children...you will...bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you know that I am the Sovereign Lord" (Ezekiel 23:39, 49).
When the angel visited Mary he announced that she would conceive a son by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:31). At what point did the baby become the Son of God? Was the miraculous conception the pre-Jesus? the potential-Jesus?
Indeed, when the unborn John heard Mary's voice, he leaped in his mother's womb. "As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy" Luke 1:44).
So all human life, every human being, is uniquely sacred. There are no throw-away human beings. There are no accidental human beings. While the circumstances of their birth may reflect the fallenness of humans more than the glory of God, they have unique value and purpose.
And that means that every human being is to be treated as sacred. Every person is to be treated with equal respect and dignity, so much so that we are required to compensate for the weaknesses of the more vulnerable members of the community. "Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord" (Leviticus 19:14). Why would God require specific treatment of the deaf or the blind unless every person was to be treated with equal worth and dignity.
The Bible is very clear in stating that the Gospel is to put an end to human prejudice and discrimination. The three ways we most naturally and frequently discriminate against people - racism, classicism, and sexism - are specifically done away with in Christ. "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). The unique sanctity of human life requires us to see everyone as an equal.
In fact, the unique sanctity of human life is the heart and the foundation of Judeo-Christian morality and ethics. In recent years there has been a new appreciation of the value of pre-born human beings. However, that has not always translated into an appreciation of the equal value of post-born human beings. If our pro-life ethic stops at birth, we are falling far short of an understanding of what the unique sanctity of human life really means, and what the implications are for all of life. A biblical perspective on peace and justice issues must be included in our moral convictions.
So while many of these issues can be controversial in our society, I am interested in asking only one question: What does the Bible say? And then as Francis Schaeffer once asked, "How should we then live?"
