(More Bible Studies Available @ www.marktabata.com)
It is written:
Galatians 5:19-21-Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
In the NKJV of the Bible, the word “sorceries” here as a footnote that reads “or drugs.” The Greek word is pharmakeia, from which we get our word “pharmacy.” Originally, this word had reference to the good use of drugs, for healing. Later, it had came to refer to the abuse of drugs; and finally, to how witches used potions in the practice of divination (hence, the common translation of “sorcery” in many English translations). Among other things, this word testifies to the abuse of drugs, and how people who abuse them become susceptible to demonic influence. However, what is especially interesting is how this word was also used to refer to abortion in the ancient world.
“Writing to the Christians in Galatia about A.D. 55, St. Paul issued a catalogue of sins (Galatians 5: 20). One of the sins mentioned is pharmakeia, the making and administering of potions. This word has commonly been translated as “sorcery” (NRSV) or “witchcraft”( NIV) because potions were often made in a context of sorcery. However, it is quite likely that when Paul used the word pharmakeia in Galatians, he meant the practice of abortion, because administering medicinal potions was a common way of inducing abortions among the Greco-Romans. There is additional evidence in the New Testament in support of this argument. In Revelation 21: 8, where the Apostle John condemns “sexual immorality,” these two words are immediately followed by the plural word pharmakois, evidently because sexual immorality often resulted in unwanted pregnancies being aborted. That pharmakeia (pharmakon), as used by St. Paul in his letter to the Galatians and St. John in the book of Revelation, apparently refers to the practice of abortion has added support in extrabiblical literature, both pagan and Christian. Plutarch (A.D. 46–120), a pagan, uses pharmakeia to note that it was especially used for contraception and abortion purposes (Romulus 22 of his Parallel Lives). An early Christian document, the Didache, says that abortion is forbidden, and in so arguing, it uses the words ou pharmakeuseis (you shall not use potions). These words are immediately followed by “ou phoneuseis teknon en phthora” (you shall not kill a child by abortion). 31 Thus, this passage seems to link potions (drugs) with the killing of an unborn child. Clement of Alexandria (155–213), an early influential church father, identifies pharmakeia as an abortifacient. In criticizing women who conceal their sexual sin, he links abortion (phthora) with the taking of potions (pharmakois). 32 About the same time (around 190), Minucius Felix, a Christian lawyer, declared, “There are women who, by medicinal draughts, extinguish in the womb and commit infanticide upon the offspring yet unborn.” 33 About two hundred years later (in 375), Bishop Ambrose wrote that potions were used by well-to-do women to snuff out the fruit of their womb. 34 Similarly, St. Jerome in about 384 lamented that many women practiced abortion by using “drugs.” 35 And in the latter part of the fifth century, Caesarius of Arles, in one of his sermons, said, “No woman should take any drug to procure an abortion.” 36 In another sermon he again condemns abortion, and here too he links it with the taking of a pharmaceutical mixture (potiones in Latin). 37 Basil of Caesarea, a bishop in the latter half of the fourth century, asserted, “Women. . .who administer drugs to cause abortion, as well as those who take poisons to destroy unborn children are murderesses.”” (Alvin J. Schmidt, How Christianity Changed The World, 57-58 (Kindle Edition): Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan)
Very simply, abortion is generally nothing more than a form of birth control and casual murder. Yet thanks be to God, there is salvation possible for those who have taken the life of the unborn (as there is forgiveness available for all sin that a person will seek God’s forgiveness for).
Acts 2:38-Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.