Concerning SANCTITY OF LIFE
Alan R. Naas July 2022
Recently I was nominated to a committee assigned to the task of drafting an amendment clause to the bylaws of Truth for Today Ministry concerning the “Sanctity of Life” as it pertains to not only objections to abortions, but also objections to mandated injections that may contain fetal tissue.
Endeavoring to seek the truth about things, I have learned to question everything.
What does “sanctity of life” mean?
The term “sanctity of life” needs to be carefully defined and considered
The “sanctity of life” refers to the life of man (adam) or mankind.
To the general public perhaps “sanctity of life” just means that human life is special.
According to many religious statements about “Sanctity of Life” and the common use of this phrase in the world today, it is implied that all human beings are not only made in the image of God, but also “have” a soul which is “immortal” and continues to exist beyond this life. And this means that all human life is sanctified. But these tenets do not agree with the Scriptures.
Is this just a watered down perversion of Satan’s doing?
Let us look at the sanctity of life from a Biblical perspective.
The word “sanctity” is not found in our English Bibles.
Sanctity is a word that related to the following biblical terms:
Sanctification G38 hagiasmos purification, holiness
Sanctify H6942 qadash to make clean. Holy, pure G37 hagiazo to make clean, holy, pure
Sanctified H6942 qadash made clean, holy, pure G37 hagiazo to make clean, holy, pure
Sanctuary H6944 qodesh a sacred place, a holy thing, a saint G39 hagion, a sacred thing, holy place
Saint H6918 qadosh sacred, angel, saint, holy one H6922 qaddiysh holy (One), saint G40 hagios sacred, most holy, saint
Holy H6918, 6942, 6944 (above) G3741 hosios: holy
Holiness H 6944 qodesh (above) G3742 hosiotes: piety, holiness
Godly G2153 eusebes piously
Godliness G2150 eusebia piety, holiness
Sanctity is defined as: Holiness, the state of being sacred or holy: saintliness. *
Holy: A man is said to be holy when his heart is conformed in some degree to the image of God and his life is regulated by divine precepts.*
*Noah Webster’s 1828 American dictionary of the English language
Holiness means separated from sin which is the state of sinlessness
Are all men or all lives holy or saintly or sinless as defined above?
In the carnal world the word “holy” is rarely heard or read, except in a vulgar connotation.
All men are Biblically divided into two groups: those who are “in Adam” or those who are “in Christ”
1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Those “in Adam” remain in the state of sin.
Holy or holiness fundamentally means “separated from sin”. Jesus Christ died for all sins for all men for all time. Only those “in Christ” are said to be sanctified, holy, or saintly: sinless (1 Cor 15: 45-49).
Therefore, every human life has the potential to be sanctified either by faith or through faith.
Only by a faith in God (OT) or a faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, (NT) can one be said to be sanctified.
Therefore it is obvious that not every human life since creation began has been, or is, sanctified.
“Sanctity” means “sinlessness”
“Sanctity of life” then means holiness of life or saintliness of life or sinlessness of life.
Therefore the term “sanctity of life” cannot be applied to all human life.
According to the United States Constitution “life” is one of the inalienable rights of man: A RIGHT THAT CANNOT BE RESTRAINED OR REPEALED BY HUMAN LAWS.
Every human has the inalienable right to life (to be born) and then to be potentially sanctified.
Every human life today is created in the state of Adam’s transgression and can only become sanctified by a faith in the redemptive work of God in the sacrificial redeeming work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God: His death by the shedding of His blood for all sins, His burial for three days as proof of death, His resurrection to life from the state of death, and His ascension to the right hand of God His Father as satisfaction of His work of redemption for all sin for all men.
This sanctification is available to any living human being who believes it.
Peter Redmon taught a lesson at the Bible Forum in Peru, IN on Oct. 11, 2020 entitled
The Image and The Likeness of God
Peter compares Gen 1:26 with 1 Cor 15:45-49. Instead of the two words “image” and “likeness” meaning the same, as Dr. Bullinger notes in the Companion Bible as a figure of speech called Hendiadys “in the likeness of our image”, Redmon believes the two words mean different things. (Phi 1:10) Peter shows that the translation could read “let us make man in our image, and after that, in our likeness”.
While “image” means an outline or shadow, “likeness” means a carbon copy or fill-in.
Man is created in the image of God(s) and only through Christ is he made in the likeness of God.
If I may, I would like to take Peter’s lesson one step further,
Gen 1:26-27 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
When man (adam) was created, and before they sinned, he and the woman were created in the image and the likeness of God(s). Man’s physical shape or form is in the image of God(s).
How were they made in the “likeness” of God(s)? Were they created as invisible spirit beings? No. Could they have created things out of nothing? I don’t think so. But they had free access to the tree of life: which is for immortality, and they were created in a state of sinlessness… like God(s). So their “likeness” could be their state of “sinlessness”. This was the original “sanctity of life”. They were created sinless.
Turn to Genesis 3:5. Notice how the serpent double-deceived the woman when he said,
And the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
According to Gen 1:26 they were already “as Gods”: “after our likeness”! They were created “sinless”!! In this respect they were created in the likeness of God(s). They were at one with God(s).
Adam and the woman were created in the state of sinlessness: in the likeness, a carbon copy, equal with God(s). In the beginning they were pure, holy, sanctified.
After Adam and the woman sinned in Eden, a major change took place. They were no longer in the likeness of God(s). Not only did they lose access to the tree of life and remained mortal, but they were no longer “as God(s)”: sinless. They were no longer “in our likeness”. They were no longer at one with God(s).
How can I prove that? Let us consider Genesis 5:1-3
Gen 5:1-3 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God (sinless) made he him; 2 male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness (in the state of sin), after his image; and called his name Seth:
What was Adam’s “own likeness”? It was the state of sin.
After the fall of Adam, all his descendants are begotten in the image of Adam, which is the physical image of God(s), but we are begotten after the likeness of Adam: that is, in the sin of Adam: in the state of sin. We are not created in the sinless likeness of God(s).
Ps 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me
Ro 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned
Therefore, we (all men) are not begotten in the likeness of God(s); that is, sinless or sanctified.
We are created in the physical image of God(s) but in the likeness of Adam (in sin).
Because of Adam we are born not “at one” with God in his likeness, that is why we need “at-one-ment’.
Atonement means reconciliation. Reconciliation means “to call back into union”. *
If you could summarize the Bible in one sentence, I would suggest the following.
God wants us to be made in His likeness again by calling us back into union with Him again and to be at one with Him again.
Ro 5:8-11 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
2 Cor 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
Eph 2:16 and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
Col 1:19-20 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
The Old Testament word for “reconcile” is H3722 kaphar or H3724 kopher which means “to cover in bitumen or pitch”. The blood of Christ covers or covers our sins like the pitch covered the ark for Noah. These words also pertain to redemption and ransom.
God is Spirit. Every human is made in the image of God in the flesh, but since Adam sinned, man can only be made sinless in the likeness of God(s) through Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is Spirit/human; that is God/man. Christ is the only one born or begotten equal to and like God.
Phi 2:6 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 who, being in the form (image) of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with (like) God:
Human beings can only be sanctified through Christ.
1 Co 15:45-49 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall mane be made righteous
1 Timothy 2:3-5 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who desires all men to be saved (sanctified), and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
That is why Paul said in:
Gal 6:14-15 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature (creation).
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (new things come into being)
The sanctified man is a new creation, being not only in the image of God, but now also in His likeness: in Christ Jesus. In Christ we are made sinless like God(s): like we were originally designed to be.
The ultimate likeness will be accomplished in our resurrected state according to our respective dispensations.
Psalm 17:15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Philippians 3:21 who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Those who know the scriptures know that Genesis is counter-balanced by Revelation. In the end, after all sin is destroyed, all of God’s people will be sinless, in the likeness of God; when God is all and in all.
1 Cor 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
2 Peter 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
In the Day of God we will all be in His image and in His likeness again.
Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one (sum up) all things in Christ, which are in the heavens and which are on earth.
So the common use of the phrase “sanctity of life” as it applies to all human life is not based on the truth of the Scriptures and robs Christ of His sacrificial redeeming work on the cross.
“Sanctity of Life” is only acquired through the atonement for our sin by the shed blood of Christ.
No human life is “sanctified” until this is accomplished by belief and faith of this reality.
A fetus cannot be “sanctified”. Most of the population on the earth has never been sanctified.
All human life is unique and special as compared to other forms of life; but all human life is not “sanctified”.
So we must come up with some other way to express the value of all human life.
With the foregoing understanding, let us return to the term “sanctity of life”
Our beliefs concerning the sanctity of human life are founded on the inspired words of God in the Holy Scriptures as we have translated, interpreted and rightly divided.
All things are created by the Son of God, Christ Jesus,
He 1:2.Hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son, Whom He hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.
John 1:3 All things are made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that is made.
Col 1:15-16 who is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of every creature: For by Him are all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible or invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things are created by Him and for Him
Every creature (Greek animos, Latin anima) created by the Creator becomes a living soul (Hebrew nephesh) by the gift of breath (neshamah) from God.
Gen 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life (nephesh), I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
Gen 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath (neshamah) of life; and man became a living soul (nephesh).
Human beings are set apart from other living creatures (animals) in Christ’s creation by two ways:
1. All human beings are created by the Creator in the physical image of Christ (Gen 1:26), who is the image (a shadow or phantom resemblance, an outline) of the invisible God (Col1:15, He 1:3), as either male or female (Gen 1:27). Other creatures are not made in the image of God(s).
2. God is Spirit and gives each human being (man) upon its creation an invisible characteristic called a spirit (Hebrew ruach) which is manifested in states of mind and feeling thought, understanding, feelings, conscience, temperament, morality, will, etc.(Jo 32:8, Ps 104:30, Is 42:5, 1 Cor 15:44) Other creatures do not have this (psychological) spirit.
Therefore, human beings are different than other breathing animals and are given dominion over the other (lower) animals. (Gen 1:26, 1 Cor 15:39)
All human life is created by Christ and that life begins at conception (Ps 119:73, 139:13-16, Ecc 11:5, Je 1:4-5).
That is when the DNA of one parent combines with the DNA of the other parent to form a new and unique set of chromosomes (DNA) of a new human life. Each human life is said to be in the image and likeness of its parents (as a result of the combined DNA’s).
All human beings become living souls by the breath of God with a spirit given by God at conception (Gen 2:7, Job 33:4, Acts 17:25) and all human beings die when that breath given by God ceases and that spirit given by God returns to God. (Gen 6:3, Nu 16:22, 27:16, Jo 34:14, Ecc 12:7).
Every human being is created according to a design and purpose of its creator God (Col 1:16).
Every human being is a living soul which has a spirit and that spirit has the potential to be made in the likeness of God through Christ and thereby sanctified (made holy) by its Creator God at which time the human body becomes a temple of the Creator God. (1 Co 3:16, 6:19, 6:16).
Death has no power over the sanctified human spirit (John 3:16, 1 Cor 15:54, 2 Tim 1:9-10)
Every human life created by God has the inalienable right to be born in the flesh in the image of God.
Every human life has the inalienable right to be potentially born of the Spirit of God and take on the likeness of God and becomes thereby sanctified (John 1:12-13).
The soul (life) of every living thing and the breath of mankind are in the hands of God (Job 12:10).
Therefore, we believe that every human life has the inalienable right to life (to be born) and to have the potential to be sanctified.
We believe that the creation and/or termination of human life should be limited to the design, purposes and will of the Creator and should not be usurped by the will, design, or purposes of the creature; especially when that human life is, or becomes, physically or mentally helpless; such as the unborn, the undesired, the unaware, the unhealthy, the unstable or the unconscious.
Because every human life has the potential to be sanctified as stated above, we especially object to the harvesting and use of human body parts or fetal tissue for the commercial purpose and financial benefit of others. And we object to the artificial creation or control or termination of human life, from conception to death, outside the natural design by the Creator.