Day 6 of 14
Human Life: From Conception to the Grave
A consistent ethic of life
Scripture Readings
Today's Reading
Read Psalm 139:13-16: "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
Then read Genesis 9:6: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
Reflection
The sanctity of human life is one of the Bible's most foundational principles — and one that modern politics has fractured into competing concerns. The political right tends to focus on the protection of unborn life. The political left tends to focus on the protection of life after birth — opposing poverty, racism, war, and the death penalty. The Bible demands a comprehensive ethic that encompasses all of these.
Psalm 139 is one of the most intimate passages in Scripture. David marvels at God's knowledge of him before he was born — formed, knitted, seen, written in God's book. This is not abstract biology. It is the language of personal relationship. God knows and values human life from its earliest moments.
Genesis 9:6 grounds the prohibition against murder in the imago Dei — the image of God stamped on every human being. To take a human life is an assault on God's own image. This principle does not distinguish between lives that are politically convenient to protect and those that are not. It does not say "you shall not shed the blood of the innocent" — though that is certainly included — it says "whoever sheds the blood of man." The scope is total.
Francis Schaeffer, writing in the late 1970s, saw where the devaluation of human life was heading. In Whatever Happened to the Human Race?, co-authored with future Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, he warned: "The cheapening of life always starts at the peripheries. What is allowed for the weakest and most helpless of society will eventually be used against the strong." Schaeffer was concerned about abortion, euthanasia, and infanticide — but his principle applies far more broadly. Whenever we treat any category of human beings as expendable, we erode the foundation on which all human rights rest.
Tim Keller extended this vision pastorally: "The church must be the kind of community where every life, from the womb to the nursing home, is treasured because every life bears the image of God." A truly pro-life ethic is one that cares about the unborn child and the pregnant mother in crisis, the prisoner on death row and the victim of the crime, the refugee fleeing violence and the community receiving them.
This is uncomfortable for everyone. Those who champion the unborn must reckon with their record on poverty, healthcare, and racial justice. Those who champion social justice must reckon with the claim that life in the womb deserves protection too. The consistent ethic of life that Scripture demands is broader, deeper, and more costly than any political party is willing to embrace.
Going Deeper
Examine your own convictions honestly. Where is your ethic of life robust, and where does it thin out? A biblical commitment to human dignity does not allow us to choose which lives matter. Every image-bearer — at every stage, in every condition — is precious to God.
Key Quotes
“The cheapening of life always starts at the peripheries. What is allowed for the weakest and most helpless of society will eventually be used against the strong.”
“The church must be the kind of community where every life, from the womb to the nursing home, is treasured because every life bears the image of God.”
Prayer Focus
Pray for a deeper reverence for human life at every stage — and ask God to show you blind spots in your own ethic of life.
Meditation
If every human being bears the image of God, what practical implications does that have for how you think about the unborn, the elderly, the disabled, the prisoner, and the enemy?
Question for Discussion
Schaeffer warned that the cheapening of life always starts at the peripheries. Where do you see human life being devalued today — and does your concern extend equally to all stages and conditions of life, or are there blind spots you need to examine?