When Our Bodies Belong To God

A fetus in a woman’s body is not like a kidney or other organ that has always been part of her. Her well-being does not depend on the fetus. She can live with the fetus or without it. The fetus is something new that will be in her body for a time but then will naturally depart from her. The fetus is not like a tumor or other growth that may threaten the health and even the life of a woman and needs to be destroyed. In the vast majority of cases, the fetus does not threaten the health or life of a woman. It does put significant demands on her, but she ordinarily can continue with her activities much as before the fetus showed up. The fetus is unlike both a kidney and a tumor in that it is the result of the arrival of an element from a body that is not hers joining an element of a body that is hers and becoming a body that is neither of theirs with its own distinctive human DNA and its own form and function very early on. The fetus is not part of a woman’s body. It is in her body but it is the body of a distinctly personal human being and therefore has its own rights that must be defended along with the woman’s. The fetus is not her body and therefore it is not her choice.

For a Christian, this is true even of our own body. God created our body; therefore, it belongs to Him. “It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves” (Psalm 100:3). He provides everything for our bodies; therefore, we are His. “They all wait for You to give them their food in due season” (Psalm 104:27). Above all, He has redeemed us – including our bodies in the resurrection – out of our sin & death into Christ’s righteousness & life. Therefore, we – including our bodies – are His. “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20). Read More»

Kit Swartz | “His Body, His Choice” | September 30, 2022

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