10 Key Bible Verses on the Sanctity of Life

This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series.

All commentary notes adapted from the ESV Study Bible.

1. Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. Read More

The resemblances (man is like God in a series of ways) allow mankind to represent God in ruling, and to establish worthy relationships with God, with one another, and with the rest of the creation. This “image” and this dignity apply to both “male and female” human beings. (This view is unique in the context of the ancient Near East. In Mesopotamia, e.g., the gods created humans merely to carry out work for them.) The Hebrew term ’adam, translated as man, is often a generic term that denotes both male and female, while sometimes it refers to man in distinction from woman (Gen. 2:22, 23, 25; Gen. 3:8, 9, 12, 20): it becomes the proper name “Adam” (Gen. 2:20; 3:17, 21; 4:1; 5:1). At this stage, humanity as a species is set apart from all other creatures and crowned with glory and honor as ruler of the earth (cf. Ps. 8:5–8). The events recorded in Genesis 3, however, will have an important bearing on the creation status of humanity.

2. Genesis 9:6

Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed,
for God made man in his own image. Read More

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. Here the principle of talion, a life for a life, is applied (see Ex. 21:23). This measured response is preferable to Lamech’s seventy-sevenfold vengeance (Gen. 4:24). Human life is to be valued so highly that it is protected by this system of punishment because God made man in his own image, and so to murder another human being is to murder what is most like God, and is thus implicitly an attack on God himself.

ESV Study Bible

The ESV Study Bible—created by a diverse team of 95 leading Bible scholars and teachers—features 20,000 study notes, 80,000 cross–references, 200+ charts, 50+ articles, 240 full–color maps and illustrations, and more.

3. Psalm 139:13–16

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
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. Read More

You Even Saw and Loved Me before I Was Born. These verses illustrate the point of Ps. 139:11–12 (the section begins with for, showing the connection to the previous) by describing a particular “dark place” where the Lord saw and cared for the singer, namely, his mother’s womb. God was active as the unformed substance (embryo) grew and developed; indeed he is the one who formed my inward parts and knitted me together. God saw him, and even had written in his book, every one of . . . the days that were formed for me. The worshiper realizes that, even before his mother knew she was pregnant, the Lord was already showing his care for him. His personal life began in the womb, and God had already laid out its course.

4. Matthew 6:26

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Read More

Human beings are of more value than animals (cf. Matt. 10:31; Matt. 12:12) because only humans, out of all God’s creatures, are created “in the image of God” (Gen. 1:27), because God gave the human race dominion over all the earth and all its creatures (Gen. 1:28), and because God loved human beings so much “that he gave his only Son” to die for our sins (John 3:16).

5. Luke 12:6–7

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. Read More

The observations about sparrows and the hairs of your head show God’s providential care over the smallest details of life. Of more value signals a “lesser to greater” argument: if A (the lesser) is true, then how much more B (the greater) must be true. That is, if God even cares about sparrows, how much greater is his care for every one of his own children, whose value is so much greater (cf. Luke 12: 22–31; see also note on Matt. 6:26). Fear not. Fear of God (Luke 12:5) results in not needing to fear anyone or anything else.

6. Exodus 20:13

You shall not murder. Read More

The sixth through eighth commandments present general prohibitions not to murder (Ex. 20:13), commit adultery (Deut. 5:14), or steal (Deu. 5:15). In doing so, they set minimum standards for Israel to be a just society and indicate the context in which the people will be called further to be holy and to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and might (Deut. 6:4–9), and their neighbors with goodwill and generosity (Lev. 19:18). Thus, while the prohibition against stealing is a basic principle of justice in Israel’s national life, the people are called to do more than refrain from taking another person’s possessions. They are to embody the Lord’s love for them by loving the stranger and sojourner as themselves (Lev. 19:33–34).

7. Matthew 5:21–22

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” Read More

Premeditated murder is prohibited by the sixth commandment (Ex. 20:13) and under OT law carried the death penalty (Num. 35:31). The prohibition is grounded in the fact that humans are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26–27; 9:6). Concerning unpremeditated murder (manslaughter).

angry. The dangerous and destructive effect of human anger is likewise stressed throughout Scripture (e.g., Prov. 20:2; 22:3; 29:22; 2 Cor. 12:20; Gal. 5:20; Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8; James 1:20). Anger typically entails a desire to damage or destroy the other person, either in some personal way or literally in the form of murder (cf. Matt. 5:21 and James 4:1–2). Calling someone a fool is closely related to anger, in that it represents a destructive attack on one’s character and identity. Thus Jesus warns that the person who violates another person in this grievous way is liable to the hell of fire.

8. Proverbs 24:11–12

Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work? Read More

This further expands on the call of Prov. 24:10 to act with strength of character amid difficulty. Although the circumstances of those taken away to death and stumbling to the slaughter are not specified, the themes of Proverbs make it likely that the images refer to those suffering under the injustice of the wicked (see Prov. 1:11–13) and possibly to those walking a path that leads to death (cf. Prov. 7:25–27). Proverbs calls the righteous to integrity of character that protects justice, proclaims the benefits of wisdom, and warns against living as if such things are unknown or do not matter (Prov. 24:12). Claiming ignorance of a widely known evil is no excuse for not rescuing the victims of slaughter, for God knows the true condition of the heart. The one who embraces wisdom can never be content with merely seeking the well-being of himself or of his family; he will also seek justice as widely as he can. That God will repay man according to his work (cf. Job 34:11; Ps. 62:12; Matt. 16:27; Rom. 2:6; 2 Tim. 4:14; Rev. 18:6) implies that a person’s deeds reveal the true state of his heart, whether he walks on the path of life or of death.

9. Luke 1:44

For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Read More

The baby in my womb leaped for joy pictures the unborn child at the sixth month of pregnancy as a distinct person, able to feel “joy.”

10. Exodus 21:22–23

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. Read More

These verses contain phrases that are difficult to interpret. The ESV offers a traditional understanding in the text and a more recent view in the footnote. The situation in view is a brawl between men. A pregnant woman nearby is accidentally hit. This results in either a premature live birth or a miscarriage where the child dies (her children come out; the plural “children” is probably a plural of indefiniteness, allowing for either a single or a multiple birth). This much is clear, but interpreters disagree about the exact meaning of the Hebrew traditionally rendered there is no harm . . . there is harm, and the judges determine. According to the traditional view, “harm” is suffered by either the woman or her baby. Depending on the extent of loss (death of the baby, injury to the baby, injury to the mother), the man who caused the injury shall pay “as the judges determine,” presumably according to the “eye-for-eye” principle. One implication is that the death of the baby seems to be judged according to the same principles that apply to the taking of other human life (e.g., the death of the mother). By whatever interpretation, the OT attributes human personhood to the developing baby in the womb (cf. Ps. 51:5 and note; 71:5–6 and note; 139:13–16); but the law also distinguishes between death due to willful murder and death due to negligence (see Ex. 21:12–14, 28–32). However understood, this law demonstrates the Bible’s concern to protect life, including life in the womb.