Bible Catechism: The Doctrine of Man

Question 6 | How should we treat human life?

Answer | Every person has been given life by God and is made in Him image. Thus, all human life is precious and ought to be treated with respect according to God’s commands.

Scripture | Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

Explanation | With this question, we are looking at the application of the distinctness of human life. Or, to put it another way, because man is distinct from the rest of creation and because our distinctness is related to the way that we uniquely image God, then should we treat humans a certain way? Yes, we should. But how should we treat human life?

All human life ought to be treated with respect. I’m going to work backwards through the answer to our question above, which is a bit different than I’ve typically done in previous questions and answers. What do we see in our answer’s last sentence? First, we ought to treat all human life with respect. Ought to means that this isn’t optional. This is something we must do. Second, we ought to treat all human life with respect. This means that every person is to be treated with respect because they are human. So, no human is excluded. And, our respect for every human is not based upon whether or not we like them or are similar to them in looks, language, location, the length of our lives, or the way we live. Third, we ought to treat all human life with respect. By this I mean, for example, that human life should be treated with more respect than animal life because it is human life. So, we aren’t to treat any human as an animal, nor are we to treat any animal as a human. Rather, we are to treat every human as a human. Fourth, we ought to treat all human life with respect. This means that the way we behave toward other people should be consistent with who they are as humans. And, our behavior includes not only what we say and do to others, but even what we think and believe about others.

But, how do we know what it means to respect all human life? God tells us in the Bible. That is, we are to treat other people according to God’s commands. All throughout the Bible, we see both how God expects people to treat others, but also how people end up mistreating others. Because of sin (which we’ll look at soon), treating others appropriately is difficult. Many times, we don’t want to treat others appropriately.¹ Other times, we may not even be sure what’s the most appropriate way to treat others.² And then, sometimes, the most appropriate treatment of others may require some form of punishment or disciple.³ However, most of the time—as the Bible consistently tells us—we should treat others with respect.⁴ But, what does normal, everyday respectful treatment of others look like? Let me give you two examples. First, God told the nation of Israel that He wanted them to love their neighbors (Leviticus 19:18). And, He gave them the law so that, among other things, they would know what loving their neighbors meant (Romans 13:8-10)—honoring their fathers and mothers, not murdering, not committing adultery, not stealing, not lying about others, and not coveting what others have.⁵ Second, Jesus told His disciples that they should avoid mistreating others—by treating others the way they want to be treated (Luke 6:31). And, He also instructed them on how to respond if others mistreated them—by loving their enemies and doing good to those who hate them (Luke 6:27-30).⁶

But, why should we treat all human life with respect? Because all human life is precious. What does precious mean? We often use precious to describe things that are valuable to us—things we treat differently than other things, things we treat carefully not carelessly. And, in this way, all human life is precious. Like we saw in our previous question and answer, God values human life. And, He values human life because of who He made us to be as humans. To put it another way, He values us not based upon what we do (or don’t do), nor based upon what we value (or think is valuable). Human life, because it is human life, is precious. We often value things that are close to us or things that we think add value to our lives in some way. That is not how God values human life. Remember, He doesn’t need us. He is sufficient in Himself. We don’t add any value to Him.⁷ Rather, because of who He made us to be as humans, we all are uniquely valuable because we are human. So, all human life, because it is human life, is precious. From the child being formed in his mother’s womb, to the old person who is about to die. Every male, and every female. Whether you’re from one nation, tribe, language, and people, or another. No matter if your skin is light, dark, or in between. Whether you have a lot and are able to do a lot, or don’t have much and aren’t able to do much at all. From the righteous, to the wicked. If a person is human, they are precious and ought to be treated with respect.⁸

And, why is all human life precious? Because every human has been given life by God and is made in His image. Since we’ve already talked quite a bit about this truth, let’s take a slightly different approach and think about it by looking at our verse above. Notice that our verse mentions that man is made in God’s image. But, what’s interesting is why this truth is mentioned here. It is mentioned to provide the reason why human life should be taken seriously. In Genesis 9:6, God is talking to Noah following the flood, and He tells him how humans ought to treat someone who wrongfully kills (or murders) another person. (By the way, shedding “the blood of man” means to kill someone, not just to make them bleed.) And, what does God tell Noah should happen to the person who murders someone else? That person should be killed—“by man shall his blood be shed.” Wait, aren’t we supposed to treat human life with respect? Absolutely! Then, why would God encourage killing another human who has murdered someone else? As I’ve already mentioned, there are some situations where it isn’t easy to determine the most appropriate treatment of others. However, while this verse presents one such situation, it is also a clear and sober demonstration of the preciousness of human life. How? By commanding what should be done when it is wrongfully ended. Let me put it like this. How do you demonstrate the preciousness of a thing? One way is to declare its replacement value. Meaning, according to God, what is the cost of ending a human life wrongfully? A human life. Why? Because humans are made in God’s image. So, animal life is not valuable enough to cover the cost of human life. And, human life is too valuable to cover the cost of animal life. Why? Because we are made in God’s image, not animals.

This is what the Bible teaches about humans.

____________________

¹ Proverbs 21: ¹⁰ The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes. (See also, Proverbs 1:10-14; Proverbs 13:2; James 4:1-3)

² Proverbs 26: ⁴ Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. ⁵ Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

³ Proverbs 13: ²⁴ Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. (See also, Proverbs 3:11-12; Proverbs 15:10; Proverbs 19:29; Proverbs 21:11; Proverbs 26:3)

⁴ Proverbs 3: ²⁷ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. ²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it"- when you have it with you. ²⁹ Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you. (See also, Proverbs 14:21, 31; Proverbs 24:28; Proverbs 26:18-19)

⁵ Exodus 20: ¹² "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. ¹³ "You shall not murder. ¹⁴ "You shall not commit adultery. ¹⁵ "You shall not steal. ¹⁶ "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. ¹⁷ "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

⁶ Matthew 5: ⁴³ "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”

⁷ Deuteronomy 7: ⁷ It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁸ I will include, here, a few examples that demonstrate the range of human life that is precious to God. However, the most emphatic demonstration of the value of all human life is the fact that God makes “no distinction” when it comes to who needs salvation and who can be saved—while “all have sinned,” all can be “justified by his grace as a gift” (Romans 3:21-30). That is, Jesus’ death is equally for any human. Here are a few other examples that relate to the above paragraph: Psalm 116:15; Psalm 139:13-16; Ezekiel 38:11; 1 Corinthians 12:22-25; Galatians 3:28; Revelation 5:9-10.