What Does the Bible Say About…Birth Control?

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. (Psalm 127:3-5; ESV)

When talking about birth control, the subject must be looked at in the overall context of family planning and reproductive rights. The reason being is that birth control is one of several means used in family planning. In general, family planning can be defined as the ability “to assist individuals in determining the number and spacing of their children through the provision of education, counseling, and medical services.” This definition comes from the Office of Population Affairs, a branch of the US Department of Health and Human Services (www.hhs.gov). According to the World Health Organization (www.who.int), “Family planning allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births. It is achieved through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of involuntary infertility. A woman’s ability to space and limit her pregnancies has a direct impact on her health and well-being as well as on the outcome of each pregnancy” (emphasis added). Therefore, we must look at the over-arching concept of family planning as it pertains to the topic of birth control specifically.

If there is an over-arching idea driving family planning, it is this: Family planning is all about control. Look at the language used in the above quotes: “Determining the number and spacing of their children;” “Allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children.” Let’s not leave the timing and size of our family up to chance, fate, or God, but let’s take matters into our own hands and try to dial into the perfect family size for our budget and situation. The idea of control is a matter of individual liberty. If I can control when and how many children I have (or don’t have), that gives me a level of control which contributes to my overall individual freedom. Birth control has opened the way for sexual freedom. Couples can engage in sexual intercourse (whether pre-marital or post-marital) with a greatly reduced risk of unwanted pregnancies.

We can debate ad nauseam the ‘benefits’ of increased individual liberties. My personal take on it is that individual liberty is often a euphemism for the freedom to be selfish. We are losing the sense in which freedom comes coupled with responsibility. Family planning seems harmless, and many will make the argument that what good is it to bring unwanted children into the world? People should be allowed have children when they’re ready to have children; nothing can be more detrimental than to bring children into the world into families that aren’t mature enough or ready enough to raise them. In a lot of ways, I would agree with that sentiment, but is the solution birth control, or is the solution that parents raise their children more responsibly? Birth control seems more to me a way of allowing people to ‘have their cake and eat it too.’ Even before my time, if people ‘fooled around’ and got pregnant, it was expected of them to get married and raise that child. Now the ‘option’ is open to them to abort the child if they don’t want it, and people applaud their ‘choice’ in the matter.

Well, what does the Bible have to say on the topic of birth control? Surprisingly (or maybe not so) the Bible has little to say directly to the topic of birth control. Let’s face it, the concept of contraception may have been around for a long time, but the means and methods have been limited until very recently. Probably the oldest method of contraception is coitus interruptus (or ‘interrupted sex’). This is where the male withdraws prior to ejaculation. It’s not terribly reliable as you’re never quite sure if you’ve pulled out ‘in time.’ There is one Biblical example of coitus interruptus and it is found in Genesis 38:9. Let’s see this verse in context:

It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him. And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. (Genesis 38:1-10, emphasis added)

What we have here is a failed case of levirate marriage. Ancient Near East culture practiced levirate marriage. In short, the practice is that if an elder brother died before producing any children, the younger brother’s duty was to take his older brother’s wife as his own and any children produced would be his older brother’s children for the purposes of inheritance, etc. What Onan did was engage in coitus interruptus because he didn’t want to produce children for his dead older brother. We find out in v. 10 that God judged him for his wickedness. Now some Christian anti-birth control zealots will point out that Onan’s wickedness was his practice of coitus interruptus. I think it makes more sense, given the overall context of the passage, that the sin of Onan was not producing offspring for his older brother. This is not to say that God necessarily approves of birth control in general (that would be to swing to the opposite extreme, which is equally unwarranted).

So if the Bible says precious little regarding birth control, what’s the point of this article? The point is to find Biblical principles to help us guide our living. The duty of Christians is obedience to the Lord, and in order to be obedient, we need to know how to order our lives in accord with what Scripture teaches. I believe that we can find some Biblical principles in this specific matter that can help us navigate these ethical waters.

First and foremost is to see how the Bible views children, and for that I want to look at Psalm 127 (quoted in part above). In general, Psalm 127 is a song of ascents written by King Solomon. The theme of this psalm is that human toil is meaningless without the Lord’s blessing. Within that context we see that children are considered by God as his special blessing to us. Children are called a “heritage from the Lord” and a “reward.” Children are likened as arrows to a warrior. A warrior without arrows isn’t much of a warrior and therefore the man who “fills his quiver with them” is considered blessed and won’t be put to shame. It should be clear that children are highly favored in God’s eyes. That shouldn’t surprise us since way back in the beginning, part of the creation mandate to Adam and Eve was to “be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). God created man in his own image and he commanded Adam and Eve to fill the world with the image of God. Even though that image is marred by sin, children still bear the image of God.

Another thing to note is that in Ancient Near East culture, barrenness was seen as bearing God’s disapproval. Consider Sarah, who was barren for so long and rejoiced when she finally gave birth to Abraham’s son. Another example of this can be found with Jacob’s favored wife, Rachel. In Genesis 30:1, she is recorded as complaining to Jacob to give her children lest she die, and when she finally gives birth to Joseph, she says, “God has taken away my reproach.” So we see that fertility was seen as God’s blessing and barrenness as a curse (whether real or perceived).

If children are seen as a blessing by the Lord, we should also note that the Lord is sovereign over the womb. In Genesis 18, God, in a theophany, tells Abraham that Sarah will have a child on the appointed day. Abraham and Sarah have, presumably, been trying for decades to have natural children with no success; and here God comes and tells them that they will have a child by this time next year. In Genesis 20:18, we see God “closing the wombs” of the house of Abimelech to protect Sarah from being violated. God opened Leah’s womb because she was unloved by Jacob (Genesis 29:31). God also opened Rachel’s womb (Genesis 30:22). We see part of God’s covenant blessings to Israel were fruitful wombs (Deuteronomy 28:11). The converse was also true as part of the covenant curses (Deuteronomy 28:18). Finally, we see Hannah in 1 Samuel 1, had her womb closed by God for a time until she gave birth to Samuel. I can go on, but this should suffice to demonstrate that God is sovereign over the human womb.

One of the purposes of creation was to create a world in which God’s image bearers filled the earth and loved and worshipped him. With the advent of the fall, while that image is twisted, the original creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply is still in place (Genesis 9:7). God wants us to create and raise a godly offspring, and we are to trust God for the timing, number and provision for our children. So while the Bible doesn’t say anything directly regarding birth control and family planning, it does provide the principle that God is in control of who has children and how many.

Before moving on to application, I want to mention that there are cases of ‘family planning’ in the Bible. The most prominent case is that of Abraham and Sarah. Because Sarah had been barren for so long and because God had promised Abraham an heir, she and her husband took matters into their own hand. Sarah convinced Abraham that it was a good idea to have a child by Hagar, Sarah’s servant. That child was Ishmael. This birth caused an untold amount of strife between Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. Additionally, when Isaac was born, Ishmael was not very fond of him, and he and his mother had to be put out. What makes matters even worse is that is it widely believed that Ishmael is the progenitor of the Arab people, who are bitter enemies with the Jews to this day. The moral of that story is it is often disastrous when we take matters into our own hands. God is sovereign, and when we jump the gun on his sovereignty, we may pay the price.

Bottom Line: In the space that’s left, I want to address some specific questions that may surround this issue.

Does God actually forbid the use of birth control? There is no direct commandment against birth control, but I believe, based on the foregoing analysis, that God frowns upon its use. Here is the crux of the matter: If God is in control of the womb, what message does using birth control send? It sends the message that I (we) want to be in control of our own wombs (as I mentioned earlier). The bottom line is that due to our sinful nature, we want to be sovereign over our lives (including our reproductive lives). We want to have our fun, and then when we’re ready we’ll have kids. This is an inherently self-centered viewpoint. It implicitly sees children, not as a blessing from the Lord, but an unwanted hindrance to a care-free lifestyle.

Another point to make in this regard is that birth control carries with it an inherent lack of faith. One of the arguments for using birth control is why bring children into the world that I cannot afford? While couched in sensible terms, this is an implicit lack of trust in God to provide for the children he blesses you with. This argument is stronger in our culture because we have somewhat lost the concept of extended family. We’re so individualistic that our families are spread out throughout the globe. This wasn’t the case in Bible times. The extended family nearly always lived together. This provided a network of support for children to grow up in. So while I can be empathetic to this argument, it is somewhat irrelevant. We should trust God for children and the means to provide for them. If all else fails, then don’t have sex! You can’t get pregnant if you’re not trying, right?

Now I don’t want to be dogmatic regarding this because the Bible is not black and white in this area. My analysis is based on extrapolation regarding the Biblical data. As such, this may be an area that falls under the heading of Christian Liberty. If you feel free in your conscience to use birth control, then I offer the following suggestions. Not all birth control is created equal. There are those types that prevent the fertilization of the egg by various methods (e.g., condoms, diaphragms, and spermicides). There are those that prevent ovulation through a hormonal system (e.g., the ‘Pill’). There is also voluntary sterilization such as tubal ligations and vasectomies. On the other hand there are those forms of birth control that induce abortions should conception occur. This final class of contraception is clearly wrong since, Biblically speaking, abortion is murder.

Should barren couples pursue fertility options such as in vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, or artificial insemination? What makes this an ethical quagmire is the fact that IVF requires the fertilization of a dozen or more ova, of which only two or three are implanted into the uterus with the remaining embryos being frozen. Unless the couple is unsuccessful in bringing the baby to term or they want additional children, the remaining embryos are discarded or donated for research purposes (such as embryonic stem cell research). This amounts to the discarding or destruction of human life – clearly a sin in God’s eyes. As much as I don’t want to be unsympathetic toward the pain of others due to barrenness, the ethical ramifications of IVF would lead me to believe that the potential good that may come out of it does not outweigh the actual harm that is coming out of it. Again, God is sovereign over the womb. If God has ‘closed a womb,’ then we must be willing to trust God in this.

Regarding the other methods mentioned (surrogate motherhood and artificial insemination), there is the potential problem of introducing a third party into the situation (i.e., the surrogate mother or sperm donor). The ideal situation is for procreation to take place in the bounds of marriage between one man and one woman. These methods introduce a third party into the picture, and we know what happened to Abraham, Sarah and Hagar (Genesis 16). Again, I’m not sure I would go so far as to say it’s wrong or sinful, but when we attempt to take matters into our own hands – i.e., usurping God’s sovereignty – we end up reaping unintended consequences.

So what is a barren couple to do? Adoption is the answer. The Bible frequently describes God as deeply concerned over the fate of widows and orphans (e.g., Psalm 68:5), and having Christians adopt unwanted orphans is one of the means God uses to enact such care. James 1:27 describes the care of orphans and widows as an example of “pure and undefiled” religion. It was said of the early Christian community that they would go out at nights and rescue children in the Roman world that were discarded for one reason or another; that is a concrete sign of Christian love and compassion. Furthermore, adoption is a perfect picture of what God has done for us in Christ.

I want to re-emphasize that barrenness is a delicate subject, and I don’t want to trample on people’s feelings or be insensitive, but God has his reasons for everything he does. The question is do we trust in God and his providence, or do we take matters into our own hands. It could very well be that God has closed a womb in a particular case in order for that couple to share his love toward some neglected children elsewhere. Not too many couples who have been blessed with their own children consider adoption.

In closing, the topic of birth control is a touchy one with many Christians, especially Protestants. Many will see this as an issue of Christian Liberty or an issue of privacy in which the church should not interfere. However, I am not aware of any church that really deals with this issue head on. Many pastors defer to the individual couple’s prerogative without offering any Biblical counsel. That is wrong. The church should be able to counsel in situations like this. If the church doesn’t provide any answers, then people will seek counsel from the world; and we know the world isn’t sympathetic to the cause of Christ. The church needs to be delicate and sensitive to the needs of the individual, but it also needs to make people aware of God’s principles which can be discerned through careful study of his word. My firm belief is that Christians should not engage in the utilization of birth control, nor should they seek any of the alternate means of fertilization currently available. Christians should trust in God’s sovereignty and providence when it comes to children; they are a blessing, not a burden. Finally, for couples dealing with barrenness, adoption is the preferred option; not only to avoid ethical potholes, but also to show God’s love to orphans.