We recently observed Memorial Day as a nation. It has been a national holiday since 1971 and has been observed in the United States since 1868. We remember those individuals who fought and died for our nation. They took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. This dedication resulted in the loss of their lives. So, why is this significant? It is significant because human life is significant. In fact, it is sacred. We should never become casual with or indifferent to the loss of human life.
But, why is human life sacred? It is sacred because the Lord has deemed it so. Genesis 1:27 states, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Humanity, regardless of ethnicity, is made in the image of God. Being made in the image of God communicates worth. This principle is developed throughout Scripture. The Lord told Noah, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Gen. 9:6). Why is a man’s life required for taking another man’s life, according to Genesis 9:6? The answer, God made man in his own image. Francis Schaeffer once commented, “The ironic fact is that humanism which began with man’s being central eventually had no real meaning for people. On the other hand, if one begins with the Bible’s position that man is created by God and in the image of God, there is a basis for that person’s dignity.”[1]
When we reach Exodus 20 and the ratification of the Mosaic Law, we read the sixth commandment which says, “You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:13). The Hebrew word רָצַח translated here as “murder” occurs 47 times in the O.T. It describes the causing of death in another individual. It has a range of meaning. The Dictionary of Biblical Languages comments, “This action can refer to an accident, manslaughter, or premeditation.”[2] So sacred is human life in the eyes of God that he said, “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exod. 21:22–25). Look at the passage one more time. An unborn child’s life and physical well-being were viewed as equivalent to a grown man’s life and well-being. The age of a human being is not related to his or her value. All human life is sacred. It is sacred because every single one is made in the image of God.
The New Testament upholds the sacred nature of human life. Jesus upheld the sixth commandment saying, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment’” (Matt. 5:21). Paul reiterates the same truth, “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Rom. 13:9). The apostle John writes, “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:12–15). Scripture is abundantly clear regarding the sacredness of human life. We should never become too casual with or indifferent to the loss of human life. Francis Schaeffer once wrote, “People today are trying to hang on to the dignity of man, but they do not know how to, because they have lost the truth that man is made in the image of God. . . We are watching our culture put into effect the fact that when you tell men long enough that they are machines, it soon begins to show in their actions. You see it in our whole culture — in the theater of cruelty, in the violence in the streets, in the death of man in art and life.”[3] Sinclair Ferguson once preached, “When a society removes God from the situation, it inevitably removes the truth about man from the situation. When we remove God, we take away our identity, the image of God. Sadly, we no longer know who we are.”[4]
The sacredness of human life is anchored in the reality that every person has been created in the image of God. Born or unborn, old or young, healthy or unhealthy, rich or poor, male or female, and every ethnicity bears God’s image. There is inherent worth and dignity in every person because God has made it so. Thus, we honor those who died in service to this nation because human life is sacred. So valuable are human lives that the Son of God laid down his own life to redeem those made in the image of God. Let us, by the grace of God, see human life as God sees it.
[1] Francis A. Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. Wheaton, Illinois.: Crossway, 2021.
[2] James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
[3] Francis A. Schaeffer, Escape from Reason: A Penetrating Analysis of Trends in Modern Thought. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2006.
[4] Sinclair Ferguson, “The Hope of God’s Image Bearers.” Ligonier Sermon, 2020. https://youtu.be/VmAgUE5SiKc