Abortion and the secret providence of God

Looking back at the year 2022, one of the most momentous events to occur in the United States was the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022. For over a half-century the establishment of the abortion licence has swept over the entire world relentlessly. Abortion has become one of the cultural exports of the post-Christian West. It has become a widespread method of birth control and a major enabling factor in the tide of sexual promiscuity that has destroyed the traditional family and created a culture centered on the gratification of the autonomous self.

Any significant reversal of the trend toward abortion permissiveness must be treated as highly significant. It is only natural for Christians to ask: “What does it mean?”

Christians used to look to the doctrine of divine providence for guidance on such thorny questions. But the Christian doctrine of providence has fallen into neglect these days.

One reason for this neglect is surely the close relation between the doctrine of the decree (election) and the doctrine of providence. The doctrine of providence teaches that God is in control of all things in nature and history and that history is God directing all things to their appointed destiny in Jesus Christ. Modern people have little patience for such a strong doctrine of divine sovereignty. Ours is a democratic age in which human beings naturally think of themselves as in control. In fact, reserving the right to kill one’s own offspring if one deems it necessary is a perfect example of how extreme the modern cult of autonomy has become.

Still, we desire to know what the reversal of Roe means. Does it foreshadow a complete reversal of the abortion licence in the near future? Or does it portend deepening conflict, perhaps to the extent of a second civil war? Will the effects of this decision be felt only in the United States, or will they have worldwide implications?

The purpose of this column is not to make predictions; the purpose is, rather, to offer some reflections on divine providence that may help us as we grapple with such questions.

For help we can turn to one of the deepest thinkers on such matters in the history of the church, Augustine of Hippo (354-430). Augustine lived through the fourth century, the period in which Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. His conversion occurred in the exuberant period when many bishops believed that the scriptural promises of Christ’s kingdom coming to earth were being fulfilled. Since the apostolic age, Christians had suffered under official persecution, but suddenly the government was promoting the faith and society was being reformed. Caesar had ceased to be the Antichrist and had become a servant of Christ!

Yet, less than 30 years after Augustine’s conversion, the Western Roman empire suffered the unbelievable shock of the sack of Rome in 410. The eternal city was ransacked by an army of barbarians. And this had happened only after Rome had abandoned her old gods and embraced the God of the Christians. How could this be? In a brief time, as history is measured, Christianity had gone from a persecuted minority to a ruling majority to a defeated and demoralized empire.

It may have been the fact that Augustine lived through this tumultuous period of history that enabled him to grasp certain essential truths about divine providence.

First, history is not a straight line, but a series of ups and downs that render it inscrutable to us. All attempts to make predictions are therefore perilous. As finite human creatures imprisoned in time and space, we can only make sense of history in retrospect. We can discern the hand of God judging the nations once it has happened, but we cannot predict when it will occur.

Second, good and evil will remain mixed within both the earthly city and the church throughout history. There are better and worse political entities in the world but no perfectly good ones and few perfectly bad ones. And we must be careful not to put the institutional church on a pedestal either because it contains wheat and tares that will only be separated on the Day of Judgment.

Third, the essence of the Christian life, therefore, necessarily is faith. We walk by faith not by sight. We journey through this world as pilgrims who seek a better city. Gains and losses in politics are real, but not finally decisive. We seek the Righteous Judge who will impose perfect justice on a day we do not yet know but really believe will come.