In this passage, the Hebrew word maw-lay’ is translated “pregnant” (“with child” in other versions). The word means, “full, fullness, fully” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance). We learn from this that the womb of a mother is filled with child.

 

As soon as fertilization takes place, a baby’s genetic make-up is complete (“Fetal Development”, clevelandclinic.org). From that moment on, a mother is fully with child. It is not a tissue mass, but a human being made in the image of God, filling his or her mother’s womb.

16 times the Old Testament scriptures use haw-reh’ to refer to a pregnant mother; it means “conceive, with child” (Strong’s). Again, the Word of God is clear that a pregnant woman is “with child”, not “with bio-tissue”.

One such passage is Exodus 21:22. In the very first chapter after God gives the Ten Commandments, the Lord says, “²² If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely… ²³ if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life”. The Creator God Himself declared that if someone caused the death of a child in the womb, it was just as much murder as killing a child outside of the womb.

It must also be noted that in verse 22, the word yeh’-led is used to refer to the “fruit” or child. The word is used 89 times in God’s Word and denotes children both in the womb and out. 

To God, it matters not the child’s location (whether in a womb or not); the child is a precious human made in His image. 

In the New Testament, the Greek word brephos is used 8 times and translated “child, baby, or infant”. It is used in reference to Jesus both in Mary’s womb (Luke 1:41) and outside Mary’s womb (Luke 2:12). The idea that a baby isn’t a living child entitled to protection of the law until it is outside of the womb breathing on its own is completely obliterated by this word referring to one who has the breath of life both in the womb and out.

However, we have not yet answered the question as to when life truly begins. Most often we hear the argument that is most scientific – life begins at conception. This, though, is not necessarily scriptural. The Scriptures teach that life does NOT begin at conception, but BEFORE.

Life does not begin at conception – life begins in the mind of God our Creator! And since we “do not know the activity of God who makes all things”, we cannot be so presumptuous to think we know when God (who is outside of time) determined in His eternal plan for life to create each and every one of His image bearers.  

Humanity, therefore, has no right, let alone authority, to take the life of another human outside of the purview of the Creator’s authority and His eternal law found in His Book – the Bible. 

For more information about the abortion issue, consult the 3-part series entitled “America’s Molech Worship” recently posted at www.creationtruth.com/thescroll