Partiality Is Not Mercy: A Response to Jeremy Faison
Jeremy Faison recently published a response directed toward those of us who identify as abolitionists. Throughout his article he speaks of mercy, redemption, restoration, and forgiveness. Every Christian should rejoice in those truths because the Gospel is the only hope for guilty sinners. Our disagreement is not over whether God forgives sin but whether God has authorized the civil magistrate to make a distinction that He never makes in His Word.
Early in his article, Faison writes, "I believe those who perform abortions and profit from ending innocent life should face serious legal consequences. But I believe the mother should be treated differently." That statement is the foundation of his entire argument, yet it is never established from Scripture. Abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being. Faison says as much himself. Once that truth is acknowledged, Christians should ask where God distinguishes between the abortionist and the mother in matters of civil justice. Scripture either makes that distinction or it does not. I have yet to find a passage where it does.
Instead, God's Word repeatedly commands judges to reject partiality. Leviticus 19:15 commands, "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment... in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour." Moses repeats that command in Deuteronomy 1:17 by forbidding judges to "respect persons in judgment," and James carries the same principle into the New Testament when he writes, "if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin" (James 2:9). Those passages reveal God's own character. Justice is not measured by who committed the act but by what was done. The moment sympathy becomes the standard instead of righteousness, justice has already been corrupted.
Faison argues that many mothers are frightened, pressured, abandoned, or convinced abortion is their only option. None of those claims establish a biblical exception to justice. Scripture never teaches that fear removes guilt, that pressure nullifies personal responsibility, or that difficult circumstances authorize judges to show partiality. God's standard of justice does not change according to the circumstances surrounding the offender. The magistrate is commanded to judge righteously, without respect of persons, and God never creates one standard for the abortionist and another for the mother. Hardship may explain why someone is tempted to sin, but it has never transformed sin into righteousness or relieved anyone of accountability before God. Christians should be careful not to create exceptions that God's Word never creates.
One of the greatest weaknesses in Faison's article is not what it says but what it never proves. He quotes Micah 6:8, Romans 3:23, and the account of the woman caught in adultery, but none of those passages define the responsibility of the civil magistrate or establish that mothers who intentionally murder their unborn children are exempt from justice. The account of the woman caught in adultery is especially important because it is so often misunderstood. Jesus was not overturning God's law or teaching that civil justice should be set aside. The men who brought the woman before Him were acting hypocritically. Leviticus 20:10 required that both the man and the woman be held accountable for adultery, yet only the woman was brought before Christ. The application of the law was selective, exposing the very sin of partiality. Jesus rebuked their hypocrisy and called the woman to "go, and sin no more," but He did not establish a principle that one willing participant in a sin should be exempt from justice while another is held accountable.
Quoting passages about mercy and forgiveness does not answer a question about civil justice. Romans 13 does. There Paul says the magistrate "beareth not the sword in vain" because he is "the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." God has given the Church the ministry of reconciliation through the Gospel, while He has given the civil magistrate the responsibility of punishing evil. Confusing those two callings obscures both. The Church is called to proclaim forgiveness in Christ to repentant sinners, while the magistrate is called to administer justice according to God's righteous standard.
The same concern appears when Scripture speaks of false balances and unequal weights. Proverbs declares, "A false balance is abomination to the LORD," and again, "Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD" (Proverbs 11:1; 20:10). The principle is clear… God hates unequal standards. He does not judge by one measure in one case and another measure in the next. If abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human being, then justice cannot honestly punish the abortionist while excusing the mother who willingly procured the same act. Applying one measure to the abortionist and another to the mother is precisely the kind of unequal judgment that Scripture condemns.
My concern is not that Jeremy Faison speaks about mercy. Christians should never stop speaking about mercy. My concern is that he asks believers to embrace a distinction he never establishes from the Word of God. Arguments built on sympathy may move our emotions, but Christians are called to test every argument by Scripture. Until someone can demonstrate from God's Word that mothers who intentionally procure abortions are exempt from civil justice, we should be careful not to call partiality righteousness or unequal weights justice simply because the conclusion feels compassionate.
The good news of the Gospel is that justice and mercy are not enemies. Every one of us deserves God's judgment. Every abortionist, every mother who has murdered her unborn child, every father who encouraged their unborn child to be murdered, and every one of us reading these words stands guilty before a holy God. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners by doing what none of us could do for ourselves. He lived the righteous life we failed to live, bore the judgment our sins deserved, and rose again in victory over sin and death. Forgiveness is not found by escaping justice but by trusting the One who satisfied it. Christians should never weaken God's standard of justice in an attempt to magnify His mercy, because the cross demonstrates both perfectly.
