Should Christians Celebrate the Overturning of Roe v. Wade?

Originally posted on July 1, 2022 on Friendship Baptist Church’s website.

Introduction

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Roe v. Wade was unconstitutional and kicked all abortion legislation back to the states. And instead of celebrating a major victory in the battle for the unborn and praying for the battles ahead, many Christians bickered and complained like a 0 -13 football team. God looked down on us with a smile while we pointed at one another with disdain. Numerous babies made in God’s image get to live in God’s good world while we whine about tone. 

What’s really going on are two separate sins colliding like a Prius and a Saturn during a street race. Some Christians—the rusty old Saturn supped up beyond its capacity—chose to celebrate the Dobbs victory like a bunch of pagans and act shocked that their neighbors called foul. Other Christians—the Prius with a collage of “tolerate” and “coexist” stickers graffitied on every side—chose to mourn the Dobbs victory like they are the pagans who lost and feel shocked to find no one's impressed. Or to change my metaphor, some Christians chose to show up to a four-year old’s birthday party drunk, clothed in body paint, and screaming something about beer pong. The other group of Christians, embarrassed by their frat-boy relatives, showed up to the party in mourning clothes and gave the gift of a politically-correct eulogy appropriate to all peoples and cultures—except four-year olds at their birthday party.

In what follows, I answer a few questions that, I hope, shed some biblical light on the situation.

Should Christians Celebrate the End of Roe?

First, is it ok to celebrate the end of Roe’s wickedness and the subsequent failure of future murders? Yes. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (James 5:16) and God answered fifty years’ worth of prayers. That’s worth rejoicing and singing over. And as you sing, remember the song book for God’s people is the psalter. A cursory look at the first few psalms indicate God’s people should praise Him when the wicked fail (e.g., Psalm 6:8-10; 7:12-17; 9:17-20; 12:1-8). So, not only is it ok to celebrate God ending Roe, it’s definitive of being God’s people. 

Refusing to celebrate because it may hurt people’s feelings shows you worship other people’s opinion of you. You would rather non-Christians praise you’re not like those "crazy evangelicals” than be counted among any evangelical—crazy or not—worshipping  the one true God. So, I'll be one evangelical gladly wearing the crazy label and say better is one day as a lowly evangelical in God’s court than thousands of days lauded elsewhere in the retweets of blue checkmarks (Psalm 84:10). 

Should Christians Gloat over Pro-abortionists?

Now, just answering that we should rejoice doesn’t answer how we should rejoice. The same Lord who commands us to celebrate when He answers our prayers is also the same Lord who commands us to celebrate in a particular way. As we witness the crumbling of secularism and feminism under the weight of their own absurdity, the easy response would be to rejoice like sinners. But the God who gave the victory in defeating Roe also gave restrictions on celebrating that victory. 

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Or the Lord will see it and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him. Proverbs 24:17–18

Following Christ means becoming the world’s enemy (John 15:8; 1 John 3:13). Even though we desire the salvation of anyone and everyone we meet, it doesn’t change the fact that many people we want to save consider us their enemies. Some of you may disagree thinking that true Christianity doesn’t make enemies. Overlooking the Christ of our Christianity was arrested, beaten, and executed by people who gladly volunteered to be His enemies, I challenge you to simply repeat Jesus’ gospel message of “repent and believe” to all your non-Christian friends on twitter and notice the response you receive. 

So, God doesn’t rebuke you for having enemies; He expects you will (Matthew 5:11-12). He even expects you to hate those who hate Him.

O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies. Psalm 139:19–22

Let that sink in. Christians have enemies and we should hate them. But how do we reconcile passages like that with passages like Matthew 5:43-48?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 

“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43–48

First, Psalm 139 shows God gets to define friend from enemy, not our petty emotions (Psalm 139:20,21). Our enemies should be those who hate God, not those who cut us off in traffic or call us names on Facebook. Second, we should hate our enemies like God hates His enemies. Our Father sends rain, loaded French fries, iPhones, and life-saving medicine to His enemies. He lavishes them with good gifts because He is a good God. Jesus calls us to act like sons of God and treat our enemies like our neighbors. Pagans hate with weapons of closed fists, curses, vandalism, and insults. For the Christian, we have been so transformed by the grace of God that our hatred looks like, acts like, and feel like love—because it really is. When we look at our enemy with hate, we do so through the nail scars of Christ, who turned former enemies into friends (Ephesians 2:13-16). When God commands us to hate our enemies and love our enemies at the same time, it’s an invitation to live out the gospel where love of sinner and hatred of sinner meet. Christians gave up their right to hate the way they want to. Since they belong to Christ now, they must love their neighbor and leave vengeance in God’s hands.

So, God doesn’t rebuke you for having enemies. He does, however, rebuke you for acting like one of His enemies in the way you treat your enemy. You don’t want to find yourself enjoying a win over the enemies of God only to find yourself among them. Which brings us to the next question. 

How Do Christians Celebrate the Dobbs Victory like Christians?

First, let the Psalms be your prayer and song. Many of us are not spiritually mature enough to celebrate this victory in the right spirit. But the Psalms help us celebrate in the right spirit because the Spirit who wrote them often reminds us of our own sin (Psalm 51:1-4). A humble and contrite heart He does not despise (Psalm 51:17).

Second, treat our enemies like God treats them—with patience, mercy, compassion, and love. 

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17–21

So, to Christians celebrating in an unchristian way, don’t arrogantly gloat like an unconverted pagan. Instead, boldly proclaim to Planned Parenthood the law of Christ, which shows them their sin, and the gospel of Christ, which shows them the Savior of sins. Either their sin will be consumed like Isaiah’s with the coal from God’s altar or like the fool who receives heaps on burning coal on his head. 

Third, let God do the gloating. When the wicked rage against God, He laughs with that knee-slapping, belly-shaking, tear-blinding cackle (Psalm 2:1-4). When we rejoice over Dobbs, we should rejoice like God’s contagious laugh finally got to us. The difference between righteous rejoicing and sinful gloating lies in who you’re looking at when you're smiling. For example, God commands Christians not to take vengeance when we are sinned against because vengeance is the Lord’s (Romans 12:19). Instead of looking to ourselves to enact vengeance, God commands that we trust Him to either provide earthly justice possibly or provide eternal justice definitely. Now, back to gloating, when we celebrate Dobbs by singing Psalms and hymns, we give God the glory and trust Him to win these battles for us.

Fourth, don’t sacrifice the approval of God for the approval of men. Many Christians want their unsaved friends and family to respond favorably to the gospel and God’s word. To that I give a hardy yes and amen. But our desire for others to respond favorably to the gospel can quickly mutate to them responding favorably to us. The good news of “God loves you so repent and believe” becomes the fake news of “God loves you and just wishes you loved yourself like He loves you.” Many Christians have softened their stance against abortion and muted their celebration over Dobbs because of a misguided desire for their pro-choice friends to like Jesus. These Christians fail to see that their pro-choice friends will always hate Jesus because He prohibits murder (Romans 5:20). This is why, instead, Christians should pray for their friend’s heart to change. The sooner Christians learn people aren’t converted with niceness but with the gospel, the sooner people in need of salvation will hear the gospel that will save them. 

Five, celebrate soberly. For us to celebrate the end of Roe means that Roe had a beginning. Since 1973, the Supreme court redefined the family as a “woman and her doctor” and permitted the slaughter of at least 60 million babies. Yes, let’s celebrate the eventual slowing rate of child murder. But don’t get drunk on victory. We need to keep our eye on similar victories in fifty legislatures. And at some point, we must also figure out how a nation with so many professing Christians can justify the slaughter of fellow image bearers. We’ve got a lot of work to do. 

Conclusion

Simply cheering that feminist, secularists, and abortionists have lost a major battle reveals a shallow heart. Instead, rejoice that God won, answered our prayers, and gave this nation an opportunity to repent. The difference is subtle but noticeable. There’s a difference between cheering for the team you love and cheering against the team you hate. Let’s rejoice that God wins, not that God even has enemies.