Why abortion is a Gospel issue
In the past few days, thousands of pro-choice people are marching in favor of the so-called “right to choose” because of the leak of a looming Supreme Court decision regarding abortion. Many believe this leak was perpetrated by a Supreme Court clerk or insider who wanted to garner widespread backlash with the hope of influencing the court’s decision before the final vote.
Many on the left are also trying to incite a frenzy of fear by saying that some of the justices on the court will soon attempt to overturn interracial and same-sex marriage. These two far-fetched scenarios are attempting to connect Supreme Court conservative judges to racism and bigotry (fomenting even more popular protests). The Supreme Court is now under tremendous pressure and likely more divided than ever between those who hold more of a progressive view and those with a conservative ideology.
I.E., As a contrast to Judge Alito’s leaked opinion, last year, his colleague, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, compared an unborn child to a brain-dead adult who merely responds to stimuli. This devaluation of human life is horrific, especially coming from somebody who sits on the highest court of the United States!
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In my opinion, most reasonable citizens on both the left and right side of the political spectrum agree that racism is abhorrent, however anti-racists who are pro-choice compromise when it comes to human life. Furthermore, in the past, I found it interesting that a pro-choice person, like the former governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, said that he approved abortion up until the time of birth. This same governor had pictures of himself, in his college yearbook, depicted in BlackFace and another of him wearing a KKK hood.
Not coincidentally, Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, was an avowed White Eugenicist. She started abortion clinics in Black communities and openly said she wanted to exterminate the Jewish and Black races. Margaret Sanger said, “We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.” Planned Parenthood, through the years, was also caught in recorded telephone conversations admitting their racist tendencies against minorities. (To know more about the racist history of Planned Parenthood, read this article in The Washington Times.)
Anti-racism and the pro-life cause go hand in hand. An accurate and consistent sanctity of life position has to include both the values of pre-birth and post-birth (respect, dignity, and protection for all people) if it will be legitimate.
Historically, the Church has always been pro-life. This is proved by some of the earliest extra-biblical documents such as Didache, the epistle of Barnabas, and the writings of some great church fathers, like Tertullian, Cyprian, Athenagoras the Athenian, and more.
Galatians 3:28 makes it clear that for believers there is no such thing as class or gender discrimination since we are all one in Christ. Additionally, since humankind is made in the image of God, as His crown jewel of creation, God forbids the murder of another human being (Genesis 1:27, Psalm 8, Genesis 9:5-6). Scripture says God hates the shedding of innocent blood. Who can be more innocent than a pre-birth human?
He even forbids the murder of a human being in His top ten list of commandments (Proverbs 6:17, Exodus 20:13). Hence, to devalue human life with ideologies and activities that promulgate racism, sex trafficking, slavery, abuse, or abortion, is contrary to the Gospel since Jesus took upon Himself human flesh (not the flesh of an animal or nature of an angel) to save us (John 1:14, Hebrews 2:14). Consequently, it is impossible to have a true Gospel without Jesus adorning a flesh and blood human body.
This means that if there was no incarnation (Jesus becoming human), there could be no cross. Without the cross, we have no Gospel. It is also not a coincidence that the first act of worship concerning Jesus’ Advent came from a babe in the womb (Luke 1: 41-44). It is also interesting that Elizabeth blessed the fruit in Mary’s womb. She referred to Mary as “the mother of my Lord” while Jesus was still in the pre-birth stage.
She viewed a pre-birth baby, Jesus, as her Lord.
I contend that we cannot separate abortion and the pro-life position from the Gospel. God made humans in His image and likeness, and Jesus’ innocent blood was shed to redeem believers (Genesis 1:28). Therefore, the shedding of innocent human blood is an affront to God because His Son’s precious blood was spilled to save the life of fallen humanity.
Considering the above, it is a gross misapprehension of the nature of the Gospel when someone considers abortion a very political issue and not a Gospel issue. Those with this view fail to understand that when we objectify a post-birth human with sex trafficking, slavery, abuse, racism, or treat an unborn human baby as a mere blob of flesh or fetus, we devalue Jesus’ humanity. We treat the blood of the Covenant as a common thing, and we undervalue the price He paid to save us.
Truly, both abortion and racism are Gospel issues that should obligate all believers to stand up for the sacredness of human life.
In conclusion, the implications of this “pro-life” Gospel should profoundly affect both our internal convictions and public positions, or else the Gospel has no practical application, and the Church cannot function as the Salt and Light of the world. Indeed, abortion is both a Gospel issue and a policy issue which then incontrovertibly connects both faith and politics.
Dr. Joseph Mattera is an internationally-known author, consultant, and theologian whose mission is to influence leaders who influence culture. He is the founding pastor of Resurrection Church, and leads several organizations, including The U.S. Coalition of Apostolic Leaders and Christ Covenant Coalition.
To order his books or to join the many thousands who subscribe to his newsletter, go to josephmattera.org
