Culture Wars Article - Week 3

The Sanctity of Life: Valuing Every Image Bearer of God

Hayden Crompton, Teaching Pastor Upstate Church Greenville

We live in a moment where human life is often discussed in terms of usefulness, convenience, autonomy, and productivity. In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, our culture is catechizing us to believe that life only has value if it is wanted, planned, healthy, independent, or productive. When those conditions are not met, life can quietly be reclassified as expendable. 

But Scripture tells a much different story.

The Christian conviction regarding the sanctity of life is not rooted in politics, emotion, or tradition. In fact, the Christian conviction is not a political one at all; it’s a Biblical position. Christians root their stance in the very character of God and the truth of His Word. Life is valuable from the womb all the way to the tomb, because every human being bears the image of God. 

Cultural Lies and the Fruit They Produce

Every society is shaped by the stories it tells itself. Right now, our culture is telling several powerful lies about life. One lie says, “My body, my choice,” as if autonomy is the highest moral authority and personal freedom outweighs responsibility to others. Another lie claims that a person’s value is tied to their capacity. In other words, a person is valuable based on their intellect, independence, physical ability, or economic contribution. Still, another lie is whispered that some lives are more valuable than others. 

However, these lies don’t remain theoretical. Why? Something does not have to be true to influence how someone lives their life. In other words, lies believed lead to fruit produced. 

When autonomy becomes ultimate, the unborn become disposable. When productivity defines worth, the elderly become burdens. When strength is celebrated above all else, the disabled are marginalized. When convenience trumps compassion, the vulnerable are silenced. The result is a culture that often speaks about “human rights” while quietly redefining who qualifies for those rights. 

Christians must be clear-eyed about this: ideas, especially ideas tied to something outside of the truth of Scripture, have consequences. When we detach human value from God, we inevitably attach it to something else. 

The Biblical Foundation: Life and the Image of God

Against the shifting sands of culture, Scripture offers us solid ground. Genesis 1:26-27 tells us, “Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” This declaration is staggering in its simplicity and depth. Human life is not valuable because of what we can do, but because of Who we reflect. We are the only created things capable of reflecting the image of our Creator. This is the doctrine of imago Dei. The imago Dei means “the image of God.” Every life possesses inherent dignity, worth, and value. This is true regardless of age, ability, location, health, or stage of development. From the earliest moments of life in the womb to the final breaths at the end of life, the image of God remains. 

Psalm 139 also draws us deeper into this truth. David wrote that God formed his inward parts, knit them together in his mother’s womb, and knew him before he ever took a breath. This language is intimate, intentional, and personal. Why? Life is not accidental, it is Authored. 

This means that human life is not something we grant value; it has value because God has stamped His image upon us. The truth of that changes everything. 

Life From the Womb to the Tomb

To affirm the sanctity of life is to do many things, but two should come to the forefront of our minds. First, affirming the sanctity of life is to align your life and beliefs with the authority of God’s Word. Second, affirming the sanctity of life is the choice to reject selective compassion. We cannot say we value life only when it aligns with our preferences or politics. A consistently Biblical vision of life affirms: 

• Abortion is sin.
• Those who have had an abortion can be forgiven by the grace of Jesus. 
• The unborn in the womb is more than a fetus but a human life . 
• The child in foster care is valuable.
• The adult with disabilities is valuable.
• The refugee and the immigrant is made in God’s image and valuable..
• The poor and marginalized.
• The elderly nearing the end of life is made in God’s image and valuable.. 

The value of life is not a single issue; it is a biblical conviction that flows from the gospel. 

Jesus consistently moved toward the broken, the vulnerable, the overlooked, and the voiceless. He dignified those whom society dismissed, and restored value to those who had been written off. To follow Christ is to adopt His posture toward human life. 

Speaking for the Voiceless

Proverbs 31:8 tells us to, “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.” This is a call for Christians to have compassionate courage. To be stirred in such a way to speak up. Why? Christians should be grieved by the suffering and the devaluing of life in our culture, not numb to it. 

Most specifically, Christians should have righteous anger when considering the millions of unborn children whose lives end in abortion. In the United States alone, more than 1 million clinician-provided abortions occurred in 2024. Christians should also lament the fact that hundreds of thousands of children grow up without the security of a permanent family. The sorrow does not stop at birth and childhood. Across the world, we are seeing a growing number of medically assisted deaths under laws that broaden euthanasia and “medical assistance in dying.” In Canada, for example, there were 16,499 euthanasia deaths in 2024, accounting for nearly 5% of deaths in that country alone. 

These are not just numbers. These reflect brokenness in a world that has forgotten (or maybe just refused to believe) that life is valuable at every stage. They are reminders that we live in a culture wrestling over whether life is a matter of convenience or a God-given reality. 

The Gospel and the Value of Life

Ultimately, the sanctity of life is a gospel issue. Jesus did not come only to save souls; He came to redeem people. Real people. Broken people. Image bearers who have been marred by sin but not erased. The cross reminds us of two profound truths: the seriousness of sin and the immeasurable worth of life. Jesus considered humanity valuable enough to die for. That alone should shape how we see one another. 

When we value life, we reflect the heart of God. When we defend the vulnerable, we mirror the ministry of Christ. And when we live as people who believe that every life matters, we shine as light in a confused and broken world. 

Because the sanctity of life is rooted in the image of God, this is not merely something to agree with. This is something we as believers must live out. So, the question before us is not, “Do I believe life matters?” The question is, “What will I do because I believe all life matters?”