Pro-life And Adoption
Written by Jared Burkholder | Pastor of Outreach and Connections
In the pews of churches across America, at the election polls, at marches and protests, in front of abortion clinics, and at pregnancy centers, conservative Evangelicals have overwhelmingly held to a pro-life position. Abortion, choice, and life remain some of the most polarizing political issues and continue to engender significant debate in popular and judicial arenas alike. Even after the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the fight for access to abortion continues to rage, especially in California. Those involved in legislation and in pregnancy center ministries have been on the front lines of seeking to both end the murder of the unborn and promote the care of moms and dads facing difficult situations. Yet Christians who want to be involved in pro-life ministry have another incredible opportunity to serve through foster care and adoption. Quite simply, if those who do not want babies choose to preserve life, then homes that do want them and will care for them, are vitally needed.
While nearly 60% of Americans affirm that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, 77% of White Evangelical Protestants believe the opposite, that abortion must be illegal in all or most cases.(1) Evangelicals are more involved in adoption work than the rest of the country - with 5% of Evangelicals being involved in adoption compared to only 2% of the rest of the country.(2) In terms of expressed interest Evangelicals are again ahead of the national curve, with 38% of Evangelicals articulating serious consideration for adoption compared to only 26% of the rest of the country.(3)
Yet the gap between those who express opposition to abortion and those who express a willingness to consider adoption is vast. With half a million children in foster care in the United States already(4) and with an estimated 17.6 million children globally who have lost both parents,(5) this conversation matters in real life. More important to our context, Los Angeles County has over 22,000 kids in the foster care system.(6)
The theological convictions that call Christians to stand against the practice of abortion beckons Christians towards holistic care, particularly in the area of adoption. To stand in the pro-life movement beckons Christians to be truly for all of life.
Among others, three reasons stand out why Christians should care about the orphan:
1. The Image of God
2. The Doctrine of Adoption
3. The Biblical Mandate to Care for the Marginalized
1. The Image of God
The image of God lies at the heart of why Christians stand so vociferously against abortion. That God has placed his image on every human, infusing them with dignity, worth, and purpose invalidates any other argument that might support the termination of human life through abortive methods. Genesis 1 outlines that God created man in his own image. The terms image and likeness are significant here. Tselem, the Hebrew word for image, speaks of more than mere physical similarity. “The meaning is more that of concrete representation; the word does not have to be restricted to ‘material form,’ but it rather means a ‘representation’.”(7)
Similarly, the word for likeness, demut, “is often used to create a simile by comparing two unlike things. In other words, demut can mean something being approximately like an original.”(8) These words and the surrounding context indicate that man, “was formed in God’s copy; which has to do with man as a direct and original representation of God.”(9) Genesis 9, Jeremiah 1, and Psalms 8 and 139 also affirm the dignity of human life in the eyes of God.
“The convictions that aim at eliminating abortion should move Christians beyond mere opposition to abortion and towards care for the whole person, for their whole life.”
While there are many ways to enact whole-life care, adoption offers the chance for those who advocate for life to care for that same life after birth. Christians must find practical ways to stand for the Bible’s teaching on the value of life. The image of God in man must cause Christians not to care less about abortion but, rather, more about continuing advocacy and care for life beyond birth.
2. The Doctrine of Adoption
While the Scriptures outline an unmistakable witness to the image of God in man, the doctrine of adoption also holds an incredibly significant place in the grand narrative of redemption. Adoption indicates the plan of God to not merely treat the justified sinner as a charity case, doling out salvation from a distance. Rather, it reflects the heart of God to truly enact a fatherly relationship with those he saves. In this sense, adoption serves as a unifying principle for what God is doing in the world. “Adoption in the Bible is not simply a matter of a few proof texts; it is woven into the fabric of the Biblical witness.”(10)
The clearest description of this doctrine comes in Galatians, where Paul identifies the Christian as “sons of God” (Gal. 3:26). He goes on to say that Christ came, “to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Gal. 4:5).” While the concept of adoption was not prevalent in Jewish culture, “The term rendered ‘adoption as sons’ corresponds to Latin adoptio and connotes the status and ‘the full rights of sons.’ Since the institution of adoption was not Jewish but was widely known in Greek and especially Roman law, Paul most likely drew the term from the Hellenistic world.” (11)
Coupled with several strong biblical examples of adoption, the call to incarnate the love of Christ and protect life demands the inclusion of adoption in the ethic of what it means to be pro-life. Linking the Imago Dei to the doctrine of adoption beckons Christians to think more expansively about what opposing abortion should look like.
3. The Biblical Mandate to Care for the Marginalized
James 1 pushes the narrative beyond potential involvement in orphan care, establishing a baseline of sincere Christianity that defines maturity, at least in part, through involvement in care for the marginalized. James writes, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world (James 1:27).” Contextually, James has highlighted the imperative of a faith not merely heard and believed but enacted in life. He decries those who might peer into truth, then walk away from it, unchanged.
Care for the marginalized is a distinctly Christian ethic and one found in many other places in Scripture. Concern for the widow, the sojourner, and the poor appears throughout the pages of the Old Testament. This emphasis on caring for the sojourner, for instance, finds no parallel in the ancient world. In societies that actively sought to oppress and marginalize those not from their ranks, the many instructions to care for the foreigner in the Old Testament offer a unique calling.
While the Old Testament presents examples and instruction of care for the marginalized and the orphan, the New Testament also emphasizes care for the downtrodden. Numerous instances in the life and ministry of Christ find him reaching through the crowds towards those rejected by society. Christ’s willingness to touch and heal a leper in Mark 1 demonstrates his concern for the dignity and worth of that leper over and above social concerns of interacting with such people. In Matthew 19, rather than be bothered by the distraction of children present, Christ beckons them to come to him and affirms their value in his eyes. In John 4, Christ intentionally pursues a woman seeking to hide in plain sight. While society around her has condemned and ostracized her because of her sin, Jesus offers not only forgiveness but an invitation to be made whole and restored. Mary’s Magnificat, in Luke 2, mirrors the language of 1 Samuel 2 and Psalm 113, highlighting God’s intention to elevate the downtrodden.
James’ call, then, to visit and care for the orphan and widow is not a new idea. Throughout the Scriptures, the heart of God for the marginalized jumps off the page. The call of the Christian life comes not only in resting in the finished work of Christ but also in incarnating that love towards others.
The image of God in man, the robust theology of adoption in the Scriptures, the call to mirror God’s love towards the lost and the hurting, and the specific instructions to care for orphans and widows must lead the church to see the beautiful imperative of foster care and adoption.
“Christians have an incredible opportunity not only to advocate for the lives of the unborn, but to receive them after birth, caring for them and pointing them to Jesus.”
And doing this incarnates the love of Christ in a beautifully specific and wonderful way. Certainly, not every family can or even should serve on the frontlines of fostering and adopting. Yet many more families could do indeed foster and adopt and more still could provide support and care for these children and these families. Whole-life care, more than any protest or legislation, best reflects the image and heart of God in mankind.
To find out more about how you can help, visit the Engage Center and learn about Grace Baptist’s Foster, Adoption, and Orphan Care ministry.
(1) “Public Opinion on Abortion.” Pew Forum, https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/.
(2) “Five Things You Need to Know About Adoption,” Barna Research, https://www.barna.com/research/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-adoption/.
(3) Ibid.
(4) Tony Merida and Rick Morton, Orphanology (Birmingham: New Hope Publishers, 2011), 51.
(5) Jedd Medefind et al., The Gospel and Adoption, The Gospel for Life Series, ed. Russell Moore and Andrew T. Walker (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2017), 66.
(6) https://dcfs.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Monthly-DCFS-Data-Fact-Sheet-April-2024.pdf
(7) Oladotun Paul Kolawole, “God’s Image in Man: A Biblical Perspective,” Journal of Biblical Theology 2 (3): 43.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Ibid.
(10) David Prince, The Gospel and Adoption, 6.
(11) Ronald Y. K. Fung, The Epistle to the Galatians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1988), 182-183.