God and Life

What is God's relationship and attitude towards human life? When does the Bible say about the beginning of human life? All life begins with God. He is the Creator. All life and all things both issue forth from him and are sustained by him. The angelic host were created by him; the physical universe came into being by him. One cannot read the beginning chapters of Genesis without being awed by God's creative genius and power.

Creation of Human Life

The beginning of human life is recorded in Genesis 2.7,

"Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being".

We see a vital, intimate, and inseparable relationship between God and his creation of man. In the verse above God breathed (Heb. xpanf) into man's nostrils the breath (Heb. hmf#fn&:) of life. The Hebrew word for God's breathing (xpanf) carries the sense of breathing out, blowing, and expiring. Man is seen as passive, inanimate, and dead until God breathes into him. When he does, man becomes a living being (Heb. #$pene). The word translated "being" is the Hebrew word (#$pene). It carries the sense of a living being, breathing creature, soul, and person. Man is fully formed, ready for life, but dormant and lifeless until God breathes into him. Only when God gives man life by his own breath does he become alive. The beginning chapters of Genesis speak of God's creating the physical world, plant life, and animals. But when the creation of man is recounted, God is seen as being directly and intimately involved in this creation. Man is special.

We learn from the first chapter of Genesis that man is created in the image of God. According to the account,

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness ; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them'" (Gen. 1.26-27).

Penalty for Violating the Sacredness of Human Life

To impress upon mankind the sacredness of human life, God instituted capital punishment. He gave man the responsibility and authority to exercise it. In Genesis 9.6, God told Noah,

"Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man."

Human life is so sacred to God that if one takes it in a act of murder, then that person's life is to be taken. Some have argued that it is uncivilized and inhuman to execute murderers. God prefers mercy to judgment but he has delegated to man the responsibility of insuring the respect for human life. God has given him the authority and command to execute those who treat the value of human life trivially. The Old Testament commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" is an unfortunate translation and has led to much confusion and argumentation. A better translation is "Thou shalt not murder" since the Hebrew word for "kill" is xcarf. This word is used in the Scriptures chiefly for murder and manslaughter. It is also used for capital punishment. It is never used of warfare nor of killing animals and God is never its subject. In the New Testament, Jesus affirmed capital punishment in his statement in Matt. 25.51-52:

"And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, 'Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword'".

Paul made a similar statement in Romans,

"For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil" (Romans 13.3-4).

In both of these instances "sword" is a metonymy for capital punishment.

Warfare is also a legitimate form of killing delegated by God to man. In a fallen world, warfare, tragic as it always is, preserves the balance of power between nations and serves to protect a nation's freedom from those who would destroy it. Warfare and alliances of national entities also serve to prevent world government. Some believe world government is desirable and would beneficially to mankind. But the Bible is clear that God opposes since it can only lead to the concentration of evil and global oppression. This is why God confused the language at the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11).

The Ongoing Relationship of God in Human Life

We have seen from the above Scriptures the intimate relationship of God in the creation of man. What do the Scriptures say regarding God's relationship to man in the normal course of birth? The Scriptures declare that God's relationship to man begins in the womb.

With regard to Jacob, which as a term, refers to both the individual and the nation, God says that he made Jacob and formed him from the womb.

"But now listen, O Jacob, My servant, And Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus says the LORD who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you, 'Do not fear, O Jacob My servant; And you Jeshurun whom I have chosen'" (Is.44.1-2).

"Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, 'I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone'", (Is. 44.24)

Isaiah the prophet said that God called him from the womb:

"Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me. He has made My mouth like a sharp sword, In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me; And He has also made Me a select arrow, He has hidden Me in His quiver. He said to Me, 'You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory'. But I said, 'I have toiled in vain, I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity; Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD, And My reward with My God'. And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength)", (Is. 49.1-5)

Job, one of the earliest figures of the Bible, and his book, which is probably the oldest book in the Bible, testified to God's relationship with him in the womb. He said,

"What then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him? Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb" (Job 31.14-15)?

Jeremiah's testimony is similar to Isaiah in that he says that God knew and called him from the womb. He said,

"Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations'" (Jer. 1.4-5).

The psalmist's prophetic testimony in the Messianic Psalm 22 is that his being and identity were established in the womb. The psalmist wrote,

"All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, 'Commit yourself to the LORD; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him'. Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother's breasts. Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother's womb" (Ps. 22.7-10).

In Psalm 139, the psalmist spoke of the omnipresence of God and that we are intimately and inseparably linked to him. He noted that God's wove and formed him in the womb with the following verses:

"If I say, 'Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night', Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them".

In Luke's gospel, he says that an angel of the Lord prophesied to Zacharias while he was serving in the Temple, at the altar of incense. The angel told him that he would have a son and that he was to name him John. Furthermore, the amazing part of the prophecy was that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit while he was in his mother's womb. Luke wrote,

"For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb" (Luke 1.15).

Like the prophets, the apostle Paul had a testimony about God and his calling. Paul said,

"But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood", (Gal. 1.15-16)

From the Scriptures we learn that each of us has been created in the image of God. God breathed into the first human being the breath of life and he became a living soul. God is intimately involved with each of us while we are yet in the womb. From the Scriptures we learn that human life is sacred. It is to be reverenced for it is holy. To take life apart from the constituted authority God has given man is to hold God's creation in contempt.

tw~| a)gapw~nti h(ma~j kai\ lu/santi h(ma~j e)k tw~n a(martiw~n h(mw~n e)n tw|~ a(i/mati au)tou~.

Š1998 Don Samdahl. Anyone is free to reproduce this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold.

Updated July 31, 2003