Joel M Bradshaw

39In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 

“43And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”–Luke 1.

Luke used a specific Greek word brephos both in verse 41 and 44 of our text today. Some people don’t view an unborn child in the womb the same way that they view a child out of the womb. The Bible here is blessedly clear. Luke used his specific word for a reason.

Besides these two instances, Luke used the same Greed word brephos two other times:

And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12)

And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. (Luke 2:16)

If you are reading this and question the worth or value of an unborn life, then you are not having your opinion influenced by the Bible. Luke used the same Greek word for John the Baptist in the uterus as for Jesus in the manger. Just let that sink in.

But there’s more. Luke two more times used the plural form brephe. Guess how they are translated?

Now they were bringing even infants to him that [Jesus] might touch them… (Luke 18:15)

[Pharaoh] dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. (Acts 7:19)

Peter also used brephe.

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation…(1 Peter 2:2)

The same Greek word is used for the baby in the womb and out of the womb. It is used so strongly as also to be a metaphor for a person’s growth in Christ. If you view the two human lives as having different worths or values, then you are biblically incorrect.

Your politics and social positions should be influenced by the Bible more than by other sources. The Holy Spirit used the precise Greek language to aid our moral understanding on this issue.–JMB