Does Human Life Begin At First Breath?

Either life is by spontaneous generation of evolution, or it is a supernatural act of God.

"...then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." (Genesis 2:7 ESV)

According to the Bible, human life begins before a person takes their first breath. The Bible says that a human person is already alive in the womb.

Adam was the only human created from "the dust from the ground." Eve was the only human created from the rib of Adam. This does not mean that all males are made from "dust," and females are made from a man's rib. That has never happened since because the creation of Adam and Eve was distinctly unique. This is how the first human lives began, not how all human lives begin. Nothing in this passage says that human beings are formed out of dust from the ground and born in lifeless bodies that only God can breathe life into after birth. The Bible is not speaking about the beginning of every individual human life but rather the beginning of humanity as a whole race. This truth is seen elsewhere in Scripture.

"The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand. Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay." (Job 33:4-6 ESV)

Elihu, who made the statement, was not formed out of clay. His point had to do with the nature of humankind, not the process by which each person becomes a human life. The verses "the breath of the Almighty gives me life" and "I too was pinched off from a piece of clay" imply that God's breathing of life into a human being was a one-time act for Adam only and not all humankind. At that point, the breath of God continues forward in every human being.

Although there is not 100% consensus among scientists, 96 percent* believe it is an empirical and irrefutable fact that individual human life begins at conception when the 23 chromosomes of the father's sperm fuse with the 23 chromosomes of the mother's egg to create a single-cell embryo/zygote containing 46 chromosomes with 30,000 genes combined to determine its own unique DNA code containing all of a person's physical characteristics: sex, facial features, body type, the color of hair, eyes, and skin.

The fertilized egg immediately travels down the Fallopian tube into the uterus, where the lining is preparing for implantation. At first, the cells will divide into two groups: two into three for a millisecond, verifying a unique life has begun, then into four, four into eight, and so on, just moments after conception. The zygote then divides again and again in a process called differentiation. Some cells develop into the temporary placenta and are essential for implantation. Other cells develop into the various parts of the baby and increase by dividing rapidly into a ball continuously changing in size and shape called a blastocyst and implants itself in the uterine wall about six days after fertilization until day nine. It is implantation that makes the baby more likely to survive. Cells continue to multiply exponentially and develop into specific body parts during the embryonic and fetal development of the child. The term fetus is used beginning at the eighth week of development.

The Bible tells us that an unborn child is a complete human person from the moment of conception when the sperm fertilizes the egg. When the umbilical cord is severed at birth, the child is not independent of its mother. Without care from someone, it would soon die.

LIFE IN THE BLOOD

The Bible says that life is in the blood, which the Old Testament affirms (see Genesis 9:3-6). A human person has lifeblood flowing through them in the womb and receives oxygen from its mother long before they have breath. A baby is not property or a thing to be discarded and has the attributes of self-consciousness in the womb. Esau and Jacob "struggled together within" their mother's womb (Genesis 21:22, 25:22). The Bible clarifies that a human being is regarded as a separate and distinct life from the moment of conception and deserves to be protected.

The New Testament also refers to the consciousness of a baby.

"And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb..." (Luke 1:41 ESV)

A baby born prematurely has the same signs of life and self-consciousness as a baby that went through nine full months of development in the womb.

The Greek word "brephos" used in the New Testament for infants already born is the same word used for infants in the womb (Luke 2:12 and Luke 1:41), without specifying the precise moment they became a "brephos." The intentional killing of a 'brephos' at any point is murder.