February 3rd, 2026
Creativity and innovation in bible interpretation are not badges of honor. Many twist the text to support their own beliefs or convictions. Recently, at a workshop on teaching God’s Word, the speaker recounted a sermon he had heard on David and Goliath. The Baptist preacher preached on the five smooth stones David picked up out of the brook, arguing that they represented the five keys to the Christian life. One stone represented church attendance, another tithing, and another the King James Bible!
This is just one poor example of Bible interpretation. When we read the Bible to find what we want to hear, we’ll often find it. But when we do serious Bible study, looking to discover the true meaning of a text, it is both rewarding and convicting, because it pierces our hearts and challenges our culture.
Those who identify as Pro-Choice Christians read the Bible looking for what they want to see. For example, because of the increasing moral bankruptcy of our society, “consent” has become the primary ethical value. In 1971, Judith Jarvis Thomson argued that a woman could end a pregnancy because the unborn child had “invaded” her body without her consent. This has evolved into the “bodily autonomy” (or “It’s My Body!”) argument for abortion.
Leaving aside the biological, ethical, and biblical refutations of this argument, it’s interesting to note that Pro-Choice Christians have a proof-text for this. Mary, did you know that your response in Luke 1:38 would one day be used to justify the murder of unborn children?
James Talarico, a Texas Democrat who has been a “rising star” over the past few years, recently made this argument on the Joe Rogan Podcast. The Texas Tribune reported:
Talarico tends to pick and choose which Bible passages fit his agenda, but this may be his most creative interpretation of all! Or perhaps I should say, it is the most destructive.
Mary is not “giving consent” in Luke 1:38; she is signaling her submission to God’s will for her life. In the larger context, the angel Gabriel is declaring to Mary what will happen. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the LORD will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33).
Later, the angel goes on, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…” (Luke 1:35). This does not sound like the Lord is making a request through His messenger. In fact, Talarico’s suggestion that the angel “asks Mary if this is something she wants to do” is completely absent from the biblical text!
Furthermore, consider Mary’s response: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord: let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Greek scholar Leon Morris wrote, “Mary’s response is one of quiet submission. Handmaid (doulē) means ‘slave-girl’; it expresses complete obedience. The slave-girl could not but do the will of her Master.”[2]
Mary is not the heroine of the story because “she gave consent,” but because she “recognized the will of God and accepted it.”[3] In the face of great sacrifice and an uncertain future, Mary submitted her life to the Lord.
In sum, biblical arguments for abortion not only do violence to the biblical text but also justify violence to unborn children made in the image of God. On these matters, we must not only teach what is true, “rightly dividing the Word of God” (2 Timothy 2:15), but also “reprove, rebuke, exhort with patient instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2).
[1] Talarico brings progressive view of religion to Senate bid
[2] Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 91.
[3] Ibid., 91.
This is just one poor example of Bible interpretation. When we read the Bible to find what we want to hear, we’ll often find it. But when we do serious Bible study, looking to discover the true meaning of a text, it is both rewarding and convicting, because it pierces our hearts and challenges our culture.
Those who identify as Pro-Choice Christians read the Bible looking for what they want to see. For example, because of the increasing moral bankruptcy of our society, “consent” has become the primary ethical value. In 1971, Judith Jarvis Thomson argued that a woman could end a pregnancy because the unborn child had “invaded” her body without her consent. This has evolved into the “bodily autonomy” (or “It’s My Body!”) argument for abortion.
Leaving aside the biological, ethical, and biblical refutations of this argument, it’s interesting to note that Pro-Choice Christians have a proof-text for this. Mary, did you know that your response in Luke 1:38 would one day be used to justify the murder of unborn children?
James Talarico, a Texas Democrat who has been a “rising star” over the past few years, recently made this argument on the Joe Rogan Podcast. The Texas Tribune reported:
In the Book of Luke, the Austin Democrat noted, Mary has a vision from God that she’s going to give birth to a baby who will bring down the powerful from their thrones. But, critically, before she becomes pregnant, Talarico said, an angel “asks Mary if this is something she wants to do, and she says, ‘if it is God’s will, let it be done.’”
“To me, that is an affirmation in one of our most central stories that creation has to be done with consent. You cannot force someone to create,” Talarico, an aspiring Presbyterian minister and U.S. senator, told Rogan, arguing “the idea that there is a set Christian orthodoxy on the issue of abortion is just not rooted in Scripture.”[1]
Talarico tends to pick and choose which Bible passages fit his agenda, but this may be his most creative interpretation of all! Or perhaps I should say, it is the most destructive.
Mary is not “giving consent” in Luke 1:38; she is signaling her submission to God’s will for her life. In the larger context, the angel Gabriel is declaring to Mary what will happen. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the LORD will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33).
Later, the angel goes on, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…” (Luke 1:35). This does not sound like the Lord is making a request through His messenger. In fact, Talarico’s suggestion that the angel “asks Mary if this is something she wants to do” is completely absent from the biblical text!
Furthermore, consider Mary’s response: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord: let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Greek scholar Leon Morris wrote, “Mary’s response is one of quiet submission. Handmaid (doulē) means ‘slave-girl’; it expresses complete obedience. The slave-girl could not but do the will of her Master.”[2]
Mary is not the heroine of the story because “she gave consent,” but because she “recognized the will of God and accepted it.”[3] In the face of great sacrifice and an uncertain future, Mary submitted her life to the Lord.
In sum, biblical arguments for abortion not only do violence to the biblical text but also justify violence to unborn children made in the image of God. On these matters, we must not only teach what is true, “rightly dividing the Word of God” (2 Timothy 2:15), but also “reprove, rebuke, exhort with patient instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2).
[1] Talarico brings progressive view of religion to Senate bid
[2] Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 91.
[3] Ibid., 91.
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