Exodus 21: 22-23

The Personhood of the Child (verse 22)

In verse 23, if serious injury occurs, even accidentally, the penalty was
life for life.

From the context, If serious injury refers specifically to the child the
mother is bearing. The Middle Assyrian laws have the same pattern.
First the penalty for injuring the mother, then the penalty for injuring the
child.

The vitality, soul, or personhood of a breathing creature is referred to by

nephesh.

Dr. Bruce Waltke, of Dallas Theological Seminary, states that nephesh

(soul, life) refers to man being a soul, not jut having a soul. Thus soul
refers to a body animated with life from God.

An unborn child therefore, is a soul and subsequently terminating its life

is terminating a body animated with the life of God.

The term nephesh shows life and personhood.

Gen. 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
soul.

Gen. 1:27 Man was created in what? Gods image.

The child in the womb is regarded as human life whose life begins at
conception:

Psalm 51:5Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from

the time my mother conceived me. At the time of conception man
 is in a state of sin according to Scripture therefore, his moral and
spiritual faculties are present, even as an unborn baby. Abortion
terminates these faculties.

Psalm 139:13-16 .. 13For You formed my inward parts; You wove

me in my mother's womb. 14I will give thanks to You, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And
my soul knows it very well.
15
My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; 16Your 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.

Jeremiah 1:4-5Jeremiah speaking, 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."

God knew Jeremiah before he was conceived. And God knows each and
every tiny boy and girl killed in the womb by abortion.

Biblical Christian leaders and theologians in church history John

Calvin, Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Billy Graham, Dr. Francis
Schaefferhave all opposed abortion.
So do Orthodox Jews.

Barth said, He who destroys germinating life kills a man. Barth also
spoke of the Modern sin of abortion.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book, Ethics stated, Destruction of the

embryo in the mothers womb is a violation of the right to live. To raise
the question whether we are here already concerned with a human being
or not is merely to confuse the issue. God certainly intended to create a
human being:this human has been deliberately deprived of his life.
And that is nothing but murder.

The so-called exceptions view goes up against Gods Word and the
truth of the sanctity of all human life.

The worlds view that a woman has the right to her own body is not
Gods view I Cor. 6:19,20 : Do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You
are not your own. You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your
body.

It cost Jesus Christ His life to die for your sins and mine

Just as each of us must individually ask Christ to forgive our own sins,
we each much glorify God in our bodies and encourage others,
Christians and non-Christians to do the same.

Unlike Greece, Rome, or Egypt which, in their pagan customs, exposed

unwanted children, Israel emphasized life.

The Assyrians cuneiform law shows the penalty for a woman who
procured an abortion to deathshe was hung as a disgrace on a stake.
Someone has said that the Old Testament writers would have shared the
abhorrence of the Assyrians at artificially induced abortion. Why is
that many believers dont?

Weve seen the prematurity of the case and the personhood of the
child.. and finally,

THE PENALTY FOR THE CRIME verse 23-25

 Mischief (serious injury) is to either the woman or the child
allows for the penalty of life for life.

The lex talonis as seen here was legal redress, since the unborn child, as
well as the person born, both have identity.

According to the lawthe punishment was to be commensurate to the

crime.

The unborn child, at all stages of development was termed a living

being according to lex talonis, since nephesh was attributed to it.

This is extremely critical to our discussion. Although lex talonis allowed

for a settlement or compromise for unintentionally killing (cf. Num
35:31), the murder of an unborn child (who has identity and is nephesh)
required life for life.

The passage shows no distinction between child and mother, but

between penalties for no serious injury and serious injury.

Remember, abortion is willful, not accidental. The charge for one who
critically injures an unborn child is criminal negligence.

To be criminally responsible for destroying the unborn child is to forfeit

ones life, in the legal sense, whether the sentence is literal or not.

What is the just equivalent for the death of a baby?

All the Scriptural data here makes it clear that the child is a separate
and distinct human life because a distinct penalty is imposed if his or her
life is taken. The child in the womb is a person.

Many Christians need to wake up to what has been know for

centuriesabortion, for any reason, attacks the image of God.

Not only does abortion (murder) attack the dignity of man, but it violates
the law of God. Gen 9:6 declares human life sacred because it is made in
Gods image, not only because it is nephesh.

We must remember again and again, the serious injury described in

verse 23 was accidental, but abortion is a planned, calculated execution
of a growing child made in Gods image.