All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

The Only Sufficient Standard

Paul, in writing to his protege Timothy, reminds him of the sacred writings that made him wise for salvation. He gives him the only sure and certain foundation for his work as a servant of God: the holy scriptures. It is the sacred writings that are God-breathed and act as the infallible authority for the man of God to the end that he be fully equipped for every good work. 

These good works are the fruit of salvation. They are the righteous deeds that have been prepared for every believer to accomplish in the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:8-9). As one body, the church has been united to the Savior who is uniting all things to himself in heaven and on earth (Ephesians 1:9-10). Having made peace by the blood of his cross, he is in the process of restoring a fallen creation back to God (Colossians 1:19-20).

The Lord of Life and the Culture of Death

From the very beginning, humanity has been plagued by the natural, sinful inclination towards death. Sin came into the world through one man, and the result was death (Romans 5:12). The condition of all those born in Adam is enmity with their Maker. They will not hear divine wisdom because they love death (Proverbs 8:36). Human beings are under the dominion of death by the power of sin, causing them to satisfy their fallen passions in various ways.

Child murder is chief among these fallen passions, and it has persisted from the earliest stages of history. Virtually every culture has practiced child sacrifice and the shedding of innocent blood. Murdering the unborn, infanticide and the exposure of children was seen as commonplace, and our day is no different. In contrast to this is the gift of life given by God Himself. He is the Creator of all life, the giver and taker of every life. He is the source of life and all life flows from him, teeming in the abundant fruitfulness. This gift culminates in the creation of mankind as God makes man in his image, setting him apart from other things he made as the crown of creation.

This is the basis for human dignity and the sanctity of life. Men and women were created to be fruitful and multiply within the context of the human family through the process of ordinary generation. The first birth and God’s gracious gift of conception point to the need for a new birth granted by the Lord of Life. God Himself entered into his own fallen creation through the womb of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit as a human embryo, fully God and fully man (John 1:1,14). 

Laying Siege to the Kingdom of Darkness

The child who was born into the world that would grow up to die and reign was instantly confronted with demonic opposition in his earthly ministry. As the resurrection and the life, the mission of the Messiah was to overthrow the stranglehold of sin and death that the Devil held over humanity. The Enemy was not prepared to go quietly into the night. Christ viewed his mission as an offensive onslaught against Satan’s kingdom (John 12:31, Luke 11:21-22). The Apostle John elucidates this cosmic conflict in his epistle:

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

-1 John 3:8-9

The implication of this text is clear. Christ saw his own work as destroying the works of Satan and the expectation is that all those born of God will follow in his footsteps. Armed with the weapons of warfare and clothed with the armor of God, which includes the sword of the Spirit, Christians are to equip themselves to engage in the ancient struggle that began in the Garden of Eden. All those who bear the name of Christ are embroiled in the war between the Seed of the woman and the Seed of the serpent (Genesis 3:15) and are commanded to put his works to death as far as the curse is found.

Abortion is an enemy, and like all enemies it will be placed under the feet of Christ, who is now enthroned in heaven, conquering through his people on earth as they do battle and subdue his enemies (1 Corinthians 15:25). This means that the battle for life is a fundamentally religious conflict for the believer. There is no room for approaching the issue of abortion from a neutral perspective. It is spiritual by nature because at its root the line of hostility runs directly through human hearts that are in rebellion against their Creator. The answer for this dilemma is not exposing the adversaries of life to the facts of biology, but to God’s law and gospel contained in the pages of Scripture. 

It is the light of the living word that shines into the darkness of unbelief, causing men and women to be born again to a living hope. The living word confronts the unbeliever and calls him to change his whole life in terms of it, supplying Spirit powered obedience that brings true transformation to individuals and the culture. It is the unchanging standards of justice contained in God’s law that provide the framework for curbing the insatiable bloodlust of a lawless and disobedient nation of idol worshippers. 

Conclusion

Scripture is sufficient to equip the church for her high calling of tearing down the demonic stronghold of child sacrifice. It provides the man of God with transcendent authority and a sure foundation of knowledge to apply the infallible truth of divine revelation to the public realm. Abortion is an evil work of Satan. Yet, God has seen that his people are fitted for dismantling the devices of the Adversary. The task of destroying it is the high honor of the Lord’s Saints. It is the Bible that equips the man of God for all of his work. Christians that want to win in the fight for life and bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ must be completely committed to this truth. In the final analysis, it is the metric that determines our success.