The Hope of the Believer . . .

WHEN LIFE BEGINS

Cecil Hook  

This is not another essay denouncing the horrible abortion epidemic that has swept America in our generation. This deals with a doctrinal dilemma.

I am presuming that you believe in and respect the sanctity of human life that begins at conception. Even though some may question that a new life is formed at the very moment of conception, they can set no definite time between conception and birth as the point of it beginning, and few will contend that it is only at birth that a new human life is initiated.

Here is the doctrinal dilemma. We have taught with much emphasis that a person, in being born of the water and the Spirit, is not in a newness of life until baptism. We have contended that life does not begin with faith, but at baptism. Even though the new birth is analogous to the physical birth, we have been saying that physical life begins at conception and that spiritual life begins at birth.

A baby does not suddenly come to life at birth. Birth does not bestow or initiate life. Birth is the result of life that began at conception. During gestation there are varying stages of development in reaching the point or parturition, or birth. Birth is a confirmation of what has been taking place in the womb and an initiation of the life into a different environment, but it does not make non-life into life.

Because life begins in the womb does not mean that it will be born. It may be aborted at any stage of development, or it may be stillborn. Traditionally, we have not thought of the earliest stages of life as having individuality. In later stages, miscarriages and stillborns have been given names and burials.

Spiritual life is initiated when the sinner begins to believe the gospel. With the first assenting faith, a person becomes a disciple of Christ, a learner. Being begotten, or conceived, by the gospel, a person's faith should continue to develop to the stage of obedience. However, it may be aborted at any point and never be born of the water and the Spirit. As long as the person is growing in belief, and not disbelieving, there is continued life. If that person dies on the way to the baptistry, he dies as a disciple, and there is assurance that God will receive that life. If that learner's faith is aborted, there can be no hope.

Baptism does not give life. The life begins with the conception. Baptism confirms the changes that have been working in the individual in that life process. It becomes a public declaration of the saving faith of the disciple and the Spirit is given as a seal or witness. Baptism is an initiation into a new environment and relationship. Without baptism the life ends. But baptism does not initiate the life. If the believer refuses baptism, he refuses the continuation of his life. In similar manner, the freedom of Israel from Egypt began and progressed in their faith, their preparation to leave, the Passover, and their move toward the Red Sea. They could have stopped their progress and/or turned back on either side of the Red Sea.

Traditionally, we have let Catholic sacramental concepts influence our thinking concerning baptism. A sacrament is considered to be a specific ritual through which God pours a special grace into the soul. We have long contended that the grace of life is poured into our souls at the moment of baptism while we taught inconsistently at the same time that we are begotten by the word of God. There can be different stages of life but not two beginnings.

Rather than ruling out the necessity of baptism, my teaching here only modifies its meaning and importance. Salvation is by faith which is accepting and obedient. When one reaches a point of disbelieving or disobeying, he no longer has saving faith. The believer who refuses to be baptized reaches that point.