Scripture and the Beginning of Human Life
Biologically there is little debate that a new human life commences at conception, when a sperm cell fertilises an ovum. However, it is sometimes suggested that the Bible does not necessarily confirm this, or that the Bible is unclear about when life's value begins (ideas of ensoulment or personhood), perhaps suggesting it begins at some other point, between conception and birth, or even at birth itself. The following scriptural evidence demonstrates that the Bible is in fact clear that conception marks the beginning of a new life with full value and personhood status.
Individual Testimony
A number of figures in Scripture reflect on conception as the beginning of their life. Job, for example, looks back to the night he was conceived as the moment he came into existence. (Not all Bible translations are as literal as the Hebrew, which explicitly mentions conception).
“Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’” (Job 3:3)
Similarly, David recognises that he has been as sinner, and hence a human person, from the same point.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me. (Psalm 51:5)
This is also why figures like Job and Jeremiah, in their darker moments wish that their lives had ended within the womb (Job 10:18–19; Jer 20:17–18). This would not be necessary if they were not alive from this point!
17 “Why did you bring me out from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
18 and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave. (Job 10:18–19)
15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father,“A son is born to you”, making him very glad.16 Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity;let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon,17 because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb for ever great.18 Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame? (Jeremiah 20:17–18)
There is a seamless continuity to human development, which is nicely summarised in Hosea 9:11 – albeit in reverse order – conception, pregnancy (literally, time in the womb), birth.
Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception! (Hosea 9:11)
Conception and Birth
Additionally, within the Old Testament nearly 40 instances follow the pattern: x conceived and gave birth to y.
The first instance is in Genesis 4, where Eve conceives for the first time and gives birth to Cain.
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” (Genesis 4:1)
This pattern is so pronounced that one biblical scholar can write, “[w]ithout exception, when the birth of a child is referred to, hrh [to conceive] is followed by some form of the vb. yld, [to give birth] either immediately or later in the narrative. Thus there is no case in the OT of a woman conceiving but not carrying her child full term, for reasons of disease/injury to the fetus or abortion.” (Victor P. Hamilton, in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, ed. Willem VanGemeren, 5 vols (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1997), 1:1057-58.)
Whenever conception is explicitly mentioned, the birth of a child always follows. This captures the desired state of affairs within the Old Testament, with unborn children developing from conception to full term.
Why bother to mention conception, if this does not indicate the biological beginning of life?
Life and personhood do in fact commence at conception. And the introduction and naming of some of the most significant biblical figures naturally indicates this, e.g., Isaac (Genesis 21:2), Jacob (Genesis 25:21), Moses (Exodus 2:2), and Samuel (1 Samuel 1:20).
And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. (Genesis 21:2)
And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. (Genesis 25:21)
The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. (Exodus 2:2)
And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the Lord.” (1 Samuel 1:20)
Elsewhere Scripture ascribes conception to God (Ruth 4:13). God’s sovereignty in opening the womb, allowing a woman to conceive is a common place (Genesis 29:31; 30:22; 1 Samuel 2:21, etc.). This would be strange to mention, if life did not begin at this point.
When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. (Genesis 29:31)
Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. (Genesis 30:22)
Indeed the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the young man Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord. (1 Samuel 2:21)
So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. (Ruth 4:13)
My Embryo
Psalm 139:16 arguably depicts the human embryo.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them. (Psalm 139:16)
The Hebrew word behind “unformed body” (NIV) or “unformed substance” (ESV) could be translated “embryo” – in fact one Bible version (the International Standard Version, ISV) does translate it this way. At any rate, what is significant is that even at this early (embryonic) stage, the psalmist identifies it as my unformed substance/body/embryo – personal identity already exists at this point. And God is involved with his life from this time.
Job 10:10 describes a similar stage of human development, prior to skeletal formation. Job’s metaphor portrays his body being poured out like milk and curdled like cheese. Again God (“you”) is the one in control and guiding this stage of Job’s development.
Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese? (Job 10:11)
Ecclesiastes 11:5 also presents a vision of the child alive within the womb. The translation of this verse is disputed, it may be speaking of God’s breath or spirit entering the body (Hebrew, “bones”) of the child in utero (e.g., ESV), or of the child’s body growing in utero (e.g., NIV). Either way, the unborn child is a living organism from conception.
As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. (Ecclesiastes 11:5)
Jesus
Jesus very much fits into the established Old Testament pattern of God’s involvement with life from the womb. The difference being that whereas in the Old Testament God forms the child in the womb, within the New Testament God actually becomes a child in the womb.
The beginning of Jesus’ human life is his conception, and this is mentioned by Matthew (Matthew 1:18, 20) and Luke (Luke 1:31; 2:21), who is particularly clear in tracing the beginning of Jesus’ life, his name and identity to his conception in Mary’s womb.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:20)
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. (Luke 1:31)
And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. (Luke 2:21)
Conclusion
With such emphatic, repetitive, and unambiguous drumming of the point that human life begins at conception, with full value and moral status, can there be any doubt as to the biblical answer to this question?
Can any meaningful case be raised for some other specific point to which the Scriptures point as the beginning of a human person?
Finally, can it make any biblical sense to speak of a human being that is alive (we know this is the case from conception, biologically speaking) yet devoid of the image of God and a spirit or soul?
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