Bible Light: Abortion

Abortion

Scripture teaches that life begins with breath, a fetus is not yet a living person, and abortion is not murder.

In Judaism and Christianity, life is tied to breath. The Hebrew terms chayim (חַיִּים, life), ruach (רוּחַ, wind, breath, spirit), neshamah (נְשָׁמָה, breath), and nefesh (נֶפֶשׁ, living being, life, person) reflect an ancient understanding that breath and life are inseparably connected. In Genesis 2:7, God breathes nishmat chayim, “breath of life,” into the human, who thereby becomes a nefesh chayyah, a “living being.” In Ezekiel 37, it is only once ruach (breath/spirit) enters the dry bones that they live; and in Psalm 104, it is with ruach (breath/spirit) that life is created. It is with breath a human being is a living being.

MT Genesis 2:7

And YHWH God formed the man — dust from the ground — and breathed into his nostrils breath of life and became the man a living being.

In Exod 21:22–25 God distinguishes between a fetus and a living person.

MT Exodus 21:22–25

If men fight and they strike a pregnant woman, and her children come out, and there is no harm, he shall surely be fined, as the husband of the woman imposes upon him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

The LXX helps clarify. It began with a Greek translation of the Law, including Exodus, around 250 BCE, by seventy-two elder scribes selected by the high priest, who cross-checked each other’s work and collaborated on the final text. After completion, “the whole Law” was read publicly and approved. The LXX is also the form of Scripture most quoted by Jesus and His apostles.

LXX Exodus 21:22–25

If two men fight and strike a woman who is with child, and her child comes out not fully formed, he shall surely be fined, according to what the husband of the woman imposes, and he shall pay according to the assessment. But if it is fully formed, he shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

The Greek ἐξεικονισμένον means ‘having been formed’ and, as a perfect passive, also ‘done forming.’ A fetus, still unable to breathe, is not yet a fully formed person. Its loss was treated not as the loss of a living person under lex talionis — “eye for an eye” or “life for life” (Lev 24:19–20; Deut 19:21) — but as a fine.

If, however, the child came out fully formed and able to breathe, whether spontaneously or with assistance, but was injured in an eye, a limb, or some other manner, the standard for a living person would have applied: “eye for an eye”; or, if the child died, it would have been treated as murder: “life for life.”

As Thomas F. McDaniel, Ph.D., wrote in The Septuagint Has the Correct Translation of Exodus 21:22–23 (2012):¹

This law was so perfectly clear that Sprinkle (1993:247) well noted:

The penalty paid is assessed on the basis of the stage of the development of the dead fetus. The rationale for this view is that the later the stage of pregnancy, the more time has been lost to the woman, the greater the grief for the loss of a child, and the more difficult. ... Furthermore, Speiser’s view gains credibility in that penalties for miscarriage actually do vary with the age of the dead fetus in the parallel ancient Hittite Law §17, which states, “If anyone causes a free woman to miscarry—if (it is) the 10th month, he shall give ten shekels of silver, if (it is) the 5th month, he shall give five shekels of silver and pledge his state as security.

The Lord does not instruct us to treat a fetus as a living person, nor abortion as murder. Philo (c. 20 BCE–50 CE), a Jewish philosopher of Alexandria, wrote:²

And with respect to these matters the following law has been enacted with great beauty and propriety: “If while two men are fighting one should strike a woman who is great with child, and her child should come from her before it is completely formed, he shall be [mulcted] in a fine, according to what the husband of the woman shall impose on him, and he shall pay the fine deservedly. But if the child be fully formed, he shall pay life for life.” For it was not the same thing, to destroy a perfect and an imperfect work . . . .

Grace