Biotechnology

The Human Creature, Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

Continuing reflection on the workshop titled Faith on the Edge: Christian Ethics in Fertility, Birth Control, and Genetic Engineering, presented by Dr. Robert W. Weise.

In the first post in this series, I showed we frame our thinking about biotechnology by distinguishing between Creator and creature. Today, we continue framing our thinking by holding a proper understanding of the human creature.

First, Genesis records God’s creation of the universe and all living plants and creatures, including humans:

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them'” (Genesis 1:27).

Second, humans bear the image of God (imago dei) from conception as these passages testify:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knerw you, and before you were born, I consecrated you…” (Jeremiah 1:5)

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalms 139:13-14).

Third, God becomes man in the incarnation. God identifies with his human creatures by being incarnated as a zygote, an embryo, a fetus, an infant, a child, an adolescent, a teenager, and an adult. Just as all human life begins at conception and develops through several stages, so did the incarnated Son of God.

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23)

We have framed our thinking about biotechnology. Before we can engage the hard questions about the use of biotechnology, we need to first establish the framework in which we will make our evaluation. So far, we have established:

1. The clear distinction between Creator and Creature.

2. Humans are made in the image of God, which we bear from the moment of conception.