"Personhood" at the Heart
of the Pro-Life Debate

Link: "Personhood Movement Explodes in 32 States"

The Biblical basis of personhood
Personhood is not a theory, not a philosophical concept, and not something that pro-lifers invented to give credence to their moral and political viewpoints: Though the term "personhood" is not found in our modern translations of the Bible, it represents a foundational teaching of Biblical anthropology which, among other things, discloses that human life begins at conception.

’ve never heard a sermon on personhood, you’re not alone: Biblical anthropology—the doctrine of man—is not considered a high value topic by many pastors and Bible teachers these days.

What does the Bible say about personhood?
Before God created the heavens and the earth, He created personal spirit beings—namely angels. After the earth was created, God created animals, birds, and fish, which are referred to as “creatures” (Genesis 1:21, 24, 2:19, etc.). “Creature” is from the Hebrew term nephesh, which literally means “soul.” Scriptures indicate that God also gave animals spirit or a life center (Genesis 7:15, 22; Ecclesiastes 3:21). Because animals possess bodies, are soulical, and have a spirit or life center, they have biological and immaterial abilities to function in their physical environment. However, while soul and spirit are attributed to animals, animals are not personal beings; that is, they are not created with godlike personhood. Furthermore, they lack a sense of “self” and thus self-determination, do not have a sense of morality, and do not have perpetuity of life—their existence ends at the time of physical death.

Man is not merely another species of animal, but a personal being—a spirit being in a physical body. We read of this in the Genesis account of the creation of the first man, Adam.
Adam was a person. God first created a “man” from the dust of the ground. But he was not complete. For then God created that unique personal aspect of Adam—the spiritual Adam—in His image, and integrated it with the “man” body. This is all described in Genesis 2:7: “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” “Breath of life” in this verse is translated from the original Hebrew term, neshamah (ruach elsewhere). Both terms are sometimes translated “spirit,” but neshamah is more precise in that it can mean “person alive” or “living person” (The term used in reference to the procreated spirit part of man is usually ruach.) So, it can be said that God created Adam in a spiritual state as a “living person,” and placed him in the body of the “man” formed of dust. That is, Adam was given personhood at the time he was created by God.

God is said to be active in the creation of Adam’s descendants—Eve, on delivering her first child, proclaimed: “I have gotten a man child with the help of the Lord” (Genesis 4:1). From that event on, every person was procreated in Adam’s image (human nature, consisting of body, soul, spirit, and natural life), and also as a “person” or spirit-being created by God “in His likeness” (Genesis 5:3, James 3:9). God is “your Maker” (Isaiah 17:7) “who made you and formed you from the womb” (Isaiah 44:2).

The “hidden person of the heart”
In the New Testament we find reference to that aspect of a person which is created by God in His image and which is distinct from procreated human nature. It is referred to as the “hidden person [literally, man] of the heart...which is precious in the sight of God” (1 Peter 3:4).

“Person” is an English word, of course, and it usually denotes the whole person. But there is another English term that seems to most closely capture the biblical meanings of “living person” and “hidden person.” That word is personhood. During my research in writing The Christian’s New Heart several years ago, I found personhood used in the sense of God-created, unique spirit being in Practical Christian Theology, by Floyd H. Barackman.
God-created personhood, along with human nature (body, soul, and spirit) comprise a human being.

The godly features of personhood
Personhood is created by God in His image, according to Genesis 1:26, 27, 9:6; 1 Corinthians 11:7. Personhood gives its godly features to the body, soul, and spirit, and those three give features of human nature to personhood. The life that animates a person (either Adamic natural and everlasting life or Christ’s supernatural and eternal life) determines the moral or ethical nature of a person.

Barackman, among others, suggests that personhood has four features which correspond to God’s personhood:

1. Essential spiritual being. Barackman refers to this as “selfhood.” It is what we refer to as “I,” “me,” and “self,” and which is capable of self-awareness, self-determination, and self-expression.

2. Uniqueness. This is what makes each person an individual—a unique spirit being who is distinct from all others.

3. Morality. This is the innate ability to recognize and distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, truth and lies, love and sin, and to express them through behavior. The Bible refers to this as the natural law which God “writes on the hearts” of all people (Romans 2:14, 15).

4. Perpetuity. God creates personhood to last forever. Enjoined with procreated life, soul, and spirit at the time of conception, it gives everlasting existence to the spiritual heart or spiritual self.

Note that God does not impart diety to humans, because diety is unique to God’s personhood.

The chamber-parts of the spiritual heart
Now, let’s consider those other aspects of the spiritual “you.”

Just as the physical heart is a vessel of working muscles and has distinct chambers, the spiritual heart (inner or spiritual self) can be illustrated as a “vessel” with “chambers” that also are working “parts.” The Bible calls those chamber-parts the soul and the spirit (not to be confused with “living spirit” or personhood). References to them are found throughout Scripture.

We’ll look first at a reference in the book of Proverbs: “The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the innermost parts of his being” (Proverbs 20:27; see also v. 30 and Psalm 51:6, 7). “Spirit” in Proverbs 20:27 carries yet another meaning of the term: disposition or attitude. But the phrase I want to draw your attention to is “innermost parts” or inner parts.” Translated from the Hebrew, cheder gezer, it literally means “chamber-parts.” Cheder is found several times in the Old Testament, usually in reference to chambers or rooms in buildings. But in the Proverbs and Psalms passages it is used with gezer to mean chamber-parts of our innermost being or spiritual heart. So, Proverbs 20:27 can be amplified: “The attitude of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching the spirit and soul chamber-parts of his spiritual heart.”

You will notice in my illustrations that I’ve arbitrarily assigned the soul chamber-part to one side of the heart and the spirit chamber-part to the other side. No one really knows exactly how those two parts, along with personhood, are configured by God in the heart and within the body, so please understand that my drawings are intended only for conceptual purposes.
There are three more Scriptural references to the chamber-parts of our spiritual heart that we will consider. The first is found in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Note in this verse that the two chamber-parts (spirit and soul) and the body are subjugated to “your,” which addresses personhood. Collectively, personhood, soul, spirit, and body comprise the whole person in all of its spiritual and physical aspects.

Oswald Chambers observes in Biblical Psychology (page 99) that the soul and spirit are centered or located within the spiritual heart: “The Bible...makes the heart the soul center and the spirit center as well.”

Reference to the soul and the spirit as two distinct parts or aspects of the heart is also found in Hebrews 4:12: “For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Personhood, soul, and sometimes spirit work as a unit in developing thoughts and intentions.)

Isaiah gives us a third biblical reference: “At night my soul longs for Thee, indeed, my spirit within me seeks Thee diligently” (Isaiah 26:9). In this verse, “my” and “me” are concepts of self developed in personhood working through the soul and sometimes the spirit.

It is important to understand that Isaiah’s spirit was not his personhood, his soul was not his personhood, and his spirit and soul combined were not his personhood. Personhood is created by God, and a person’s soul and spirit are procreated by a man and a woman. Spirit and soul are inseparably enjoined with personhood by God at the moment of conception to comprise the spiritual heart—the inner person or inner self—within the zygote (fertilized egg).

How you became a living person
Your personhood was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26, 27; Acts 17:28), and your sinful human nature (body, soul, spirit and life) was procreated in Adam’s likeness (Genesis 5:3; 1 Corinthians 15:49). God “fashions the hearts” of all people (Psalm 33:15) by combining personhood with procreated human nature. David wrote this Psalm: “For Thou didst form my inward parts. Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to Thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works” (Psalm 139:13-14a).


The above animation illustrates how you became a living person. At the time you were conceived in your mother’s womb, a sperm from your father fertilized an ovum within your mother which formed a zygote in the fallen likeness of Adam. This Adam-like micro-organism had a spirit, natural life, a soul, and the DNA from which your body developed.

While your just-conceived zygote had all the necessary elements to become like Adam in terms of body, soul, spirit and life, it did not have Adam’s personhood. In fact, it was without any personhood. Procreation produced only a zygote. That organism, in and of itself, was not a person. However, at the moment that organism was conceived within your mother’s womb, God created your personhood, unique and morally innocent in His spirit-being image (Genesis 1:26, 27, 9:6; Malachi 2:10; 1 Corinthians 11:7; James 3:9). He placed your personhood into the zygote, where it became united with the soul, spirit, life, and physical elements that would become your body. Together, your personhood, spirit, life, and soul comprised your spiritual heart. From that moment on, you were a living human being; you were a person. And, after you were born and began to mature, you became self-aware, self-determining, and self-expressing (Job 12:10; Isaiah 42:5, 57:16; Jeremiah 38:16).