I have heard many such things – MISERABLE COMFORTERS are ye all
Shall vain words have an end?
OR what emboldens thee that thou answers?
I also could speak as ye do – IF your soul were in my soul’s stead
I could heap up words against you – and shake mine head at you
BUT I would strengthen you with my mouth
and moving of my lips should assuage your grief
Though I speak – my grief is not assuaged
and though I forbear – What am I eased?
Job says God has turned him over to sinnersverse 7- 11
BUT now HE hath made me weary
YOU have made desolate all my company
And YOU have filled me with wrinkles – which is a witness against me
and my leanness rising upon me bears witness to my face
HE tears me in HIS wrath – who hates me
HE gnashes upon me with HIS teeth
mine ENEMY sharpens HIS eyes upon me
They have gaped upon me with their mouth
they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully
they have gathered themselves together against me
God hath delivered me to the ungodly
and turned me over into the hands of the wicked
Job affirms his innocenceverse 12- 15
I was at ease – BUT HE hath broken me asunder
HE hath also taken me by my neck – and shaken me to pieces
and set me up for HIS mark
HIS archers compass me round bout – HE cleaves my reins asunder
and does not spare – HE pours out my gall upon the ground
HE breaks me with breach upon breach – HE runs upon me like a giant
I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin
and defiled my horn is the dust
Job wants a mediator between him and Godverse 16- 22
My face is foul with weeping – and on my eyelids is the shadow of death
not for any injustice in mine hands – also my PRAYERis pure
O earth – cover not thou my blood
and let my cry have no place
Also now – BEHOLD – my WITNESS is in heaven
my RECORD is on high
My FRIENDS scorn me
BUT mine eye pours out tears unto God
O that one might plead for a man with God
as a man pleads for his neighbor
When a few years are come
THEN I shall go the way whence I shall not return
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 2I have heard many such things: miserablecomforters are you all. (5999 “miserable” [‘amal] means trouble, anxiety, harm, wearisome, vexation, weariness, distress, distressing, or anguish)
DEVOTION:Here are three people who think that they are “friends” of Job but all they do is cause him more anguish than he already has. Two of them have spoken and called him a sinner. The third one has spoken twice not and called him a windbag and someone who will not listen to good advice from his friends.
Job replies to what has been said so far and calls these three “friends” people who have caused him more anguish rather than genuine comforters. It has to be hard for Job to listen to them as he is sitting in ashes wondering what God is really doing in his life.
He has faced more than any of us would want to face in our lifetime and yet he is experiencing this right in front of us because it is recorded in the Word of God for our learning.
The New Testament instructs us concerning the patience of Job and yet as we read to this point in the book and find that he has wanted to die rather than continue with the life he is presently experiencing. He questions what God is doing in his life. He has “friends” are just causing him more distress and tells them so.
Honesty is something that God wants us to express to HIM in a manner that shows HIM respect but we are to communicate our thoughts and feelings when we are going through them. HE expects that of us as HE expected it of Job.
Too often we just don’t say anything to HIM in our prayer life concerning things that are happening. Job gave us an example that showed that he told the LORD how he was feeling and expected God to answer or deal with him in a way that he could understand.
CHALLENGE: Honesty with the friends is important. Job told his “friends” what he thought of them regarding their comfort. If our friends don’t understand our present circumstances we need to let them know if they are comforting or hurting us.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 5But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief. (2820 “asswage” [chasak] means to restrain, refrain, spare, preserve, hinder, hold back, keep back, punish, or spare)
DEVOTION:The theology of Eliphaz was wrong. He believed that only good things happen to those who are following the LORD. He believed that only sinners had bad times. Apparently his life supported this philosophy. Job had a different set of believes.
He thought the purpose of God could be moved forward even if those that were followers of the LORD had bad things happen in their lives. He was a case in point. He believed that he would have been a proper friend to someone who was going through hard times by holding back any more grief than was necessary. He would have been a good comforter to his friend. He would have strengthened his friend through his hard times without condoning sin.
Job tells his “friends” that if they were in the same position he would have tried to keep back their grief. He would have been a good comforter. He was not comforted by their comments. He called them miserable comforters.
He wished that there would be a man with God who would plead his case before God. He said his prayers were pure.
We have human friends who will stick closer than a brother during hard times. We have a Divine Comforter who can give us the peace that passes all understanding in hard times. We have an advocate before the Father in Christ. Praise the LORD.
When our friends are going through hard times, what kind of comforters are we? I can praise the LORD that I have had friends who have been good comforters when I have gone through hard times. My prayer is that I will be a good comforter to those who are struggling.
It is my prayer that each of us has some friends who will help us through the hard times in our life. It is my prayer that I am such a friend to those who know me.
CHALLENGE: Be a good comforter to those who are struggling. If you are struggling confide in a friend. If you are encouraged, encourage others. Don’t be like Job’s “friends.”
: 7But now GOD has made me weary: YOU have made desolate all my company. (8074 “desolate” [shamem] means to tremble, to be or make uninhabited or deserted, to cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly, to be astonished, or to be laid waste)
DEVOTION:How much more honest could Job be when he is talking with the LORD? He doesn’t put any punches when talking to the LORD. He puts it all on the line. He informs the LORD of his feelings and waits for an answer.
When we look at the life of Job we might say “How could the LORD allow so much in one person’s life.” Yet HE did. HE allowed more than we think we could handle without breaking. However, God knows the limits of each of us and knows just how much we can handle at any given time.
Remember it is the LORD who gave us life and HE knew what we were going to experience before the foundation of the world. HE is omniscient. Nothing surprise the LORD regarding the comments Job stating to HIM.
In this prayer or conversation Job informs HIM that he is on his face to the ground. He is as low as he feels he can go. He just is completely beyond understanding what is happening.
He misses his children. It seems that as a parent he would rather the LORD had hurt him or taken him and not his children. It is never easy when a child dies before a parent. His ten children died in one day. It is beyond our understanding what he felt.
If any have lost children they understand a little of what Job was going through. Children need to understand that godly parents feel their pain more than those who seem to not care about what is happening in their children’s life.
Christian parents should always be there for their children when they are hurting. Family is important to the LORD and it needs to be a priority to HIS children.
CHALLENGE:If your children are struggling as a believer you need to be praying for them and asking the LORD what your part is in comforting them during their trials. Children need to do the same for their parents. It seems like every family can go through times of the LORD allowing one or the other to go through rough times.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 9HE tears me in HIS wrath, who hates me: HE gnashes on me with HIS teeth, mine enemy sharpens HIS eyes upon me. (2786 “gnashes” [charaq] means to grind together, grind the teeth in rage against, or a grinding or grating action of the teeth, with several possible associative meanings:anger, scorn, or anguish)
DEVOTION:The LORD seems to be angry with Job. Job even thinks that the LORD hates him. This is not true but it is a feeling that he was feeling at the present time. He had in his mind that God should treat him better than he was presently being treated.
Do we deserve good treatment from God? The answer to that question was what Job was asking himself and we need to ask ourselves this same question when we are experiencing hard times.
Most believers seem to think that once they become believers the LORD owes them something. Yes, HE has promised believers things in HIS Word. Other believers have experienced blessings at times and we think that we should as well. So why is Job experiencing all these problems if he is a believer? Does God really hate him? The answer of course is NO!!
Why does God allow those who are not believers to give believers a hard time? Why does the LORD allow fellow believers to give each other a hard time? Is this HIS plan?
These three “friends” who claim to know how God works are not to be condemning Job but looking to the LORD for guidance. The instructions that believers are given in their relationship to each other is to show love. This doesn’t mean that we condone sin but that we are working to restore a brother or sister in their relationship to the LORD without causing them more pain.
If we don’t understand what they are going through than we need to try to encourage them and pray for them regularly. The unsaved world is just going to judge a believer and put them down as much as they can.
CHALLENGE:What should we be doing to a fellow believer when they are suffering?
: 17Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure. (2134
“pure” [zak] means clear, in a state of ritual cleanliness or free of
guilt and sin, or righteous)
DEVOTION:The only way a human can be free of guilt and sin is if the LORD forgives him. We all have to confess our sins and HE Is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
So Job is saying that he has kept short accounts with God and has confessed his sins regularly with the sacrifices require of the LORD. He was sure that he was on the right page with God but he didn’t understand what was happening now.
God tests all HIS servants. I am glad that HE has not sent “friends” like Job’s “friends” to comfort me when I am in need of confession of my sins. HE has sent many trials my way and HE has done the same for every believer to cause them to mature in their faith. HE is not sending judgment but testing to see how we handle what HE allows in our lives.
I am glad for most of my testing from the LORD. There a few I would have liked not to have but HE has been faithful to see me through them all.
Job was at his wits end but he still turned to the LORD for answers because he knew that his “friends” didn’t have the answer. They were more of discouragement rather than an encouragement while he was going through all that wss happening in us life.
We don’t know why God tested Job in this way but it was not in hate but in love. HE wanted Job to understand that the LORD blesses and the LORD takes away but we are to praise HIS name at all times.
It is not easy to praise the LORD when we are going through a trial that we don’t think we deserve but we have to remember that we deserve hell for eternity. HE is gracious in allowing Job and us to see both sides of HIS forgiveness and trials.
CHALLENGE: Remember that God loves HIS children and always does what is best for them even when it seems like it is all wrong. Accept what HE allows in your life and praise HIM.
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16:2 So far Job’s friends had taught him nothing, had given no usable advice, and in general had aggravated his condition rather than alleviated it. So he branded them “miserable comforters.” “Miserable” translates ʿāmāl, one of the last words Eliphaz had spoken, translated “trouble” (15:35). According to 2:11 these three had come to Job “to sympathize with him and comfort him.” To this point there has been none of either. The lesson is, “Helpful advice is usually brief and encouraging, not lengthy and judgmental.”
(Alden, R. L. (1993). Job (Vol. 11, p. 182). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
2–5. Assuming that Eliphaz has spoken for the others, Job dismisses them all contemptuously as miserable comforters, which Rowley (p. 144) explains as ‘comforters who increase trouble instead of ministering comfort’. In the Hebrew phrase ‘comforters of trouble’ Job has picked out the word translated ‘mischief’ in 15:35 to throw back at Eliphaz. It is easy to talk; but, Job asks, how would they feel if they were in his place and he spoke like that? If there is antithesis between verse 4b and verse 5, Job is claiming that, if their positions could be exchanged, he could do much better than they have done in the role of comforter. But verse 5 could be sarcastic. (Andersen, F. I. (1976). Job: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 14, p. 194). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
16:1–5. What disappointing consolers these so-called friends turned out to be! They told Job nothing new (cf. 9:2), and they were miserable comforters (lit., “comforters of trouble,” ‘āmāl, the same word Eliphaz had just used, 15:35). They compounded rather than eased his trouble. Furthermore they babbled with long-winded speeches and arguments (cf. “blustering wind,” 8:2; and “hot east wind,” 15:2), unlike good counselors who console and listen. Apparently Job was surprised that Eliphaz came back at him a second time as if something ails him (you in 16:4–5 is pl., but in v. 3b it is sing). (Zuck, R. B. (1985). Job. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 738). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
A plea for sympathy (Job 16:1–14). Job’s friends still had not identified with his situation; they did not feel his agony or understand his perplexity. Job had already called them deceitful brooks (see 6:15) and “worthless physicians” (13:4, NIV), but now he calls them “miserable comforters” (16:2). All of their attempts to comfort him only made him more miserable! As the saying goes, “With friends like you, who needs enemies?” (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Patient (p. 60). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
16:2 I have heard many such things: Beginning with a rare direct allusion to what the previous speaker just said, Job belittles his friends as miserable comforters. To paraphrase Job: “Speaking of trouble, rather than comforting me in my troubles as a good counselor should, you have increased my trouble despite your claims to the contrary.” (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1997). The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version (Job 16:2). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.)
16:2–5 Sorry comforters are you all. Job’s friends had come to comfort him. In spite of 7 blissful days of silence at the outset, their mission had failed miserably, and their comfort had turned into more torment for Job. What started out as Eliphaz’s sincere efforts to help Job understand his dilemma had turned into rancor and sarcasm. In the end, their haranguing had heightened the frustrations of all parties involved. If the matter were reversed and Job was comforter to his friends, he would never treat them as they have treated him. He would have strengthened and comforted them. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Job 16:2–5). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
Ver. 2. I have heard many such things, &c.] As those Eliphaz has been discoursing of, concerning the punishment of wicked men; many instances of this kind had been reported to him from his preceptors, and from his parents, and which they had had from theirs, as well as Eliphaz had from his; and he had heard these things, or such-like, told many times from one to another, as Ben Gersom interprets it; or frequently, as the Vulgate Latin version, yea, he had heard them his friends say many things of this kind; so that there was nothing new delivered, nothing but what was crambe millies cocta, the same thing over and over again; insomuch that it was not only needless and useless, but nauseous and disagreeable, and was far from carrying any conviction with it, or having weight and influence upon him; that he only gave it the hearing, and that was all, and scarce with any patience, it being altogether unapplicable to him: that wicked men were punished for their sins, he did not deny; and that good men were also afflicted, was a very plain case; and that neither good nor hatred, or an interest in the favour of God or not, were not known by these things; nor could any such conclusion be fairly drawn, that because Job was afflicted, that therefore he was a bad man: miserable comforters are ye all; his friends came to comfort him, and no doubt were sincere in their intentions; they took methods, as they thought, proper to answer such an end; and were so sanguine as to think their consolations were the consolations of God, according to his will; and bore hard upon Job for seeming to slight them, ch. 15:11. to which Job here may have respect; but they were so far from administering divine consolation, that they were none at all, and worse than none; instead of yielding comfort, what they said added to his trouble and affliction; they were, as it may be rendered, comforters of trouble, or troublesome comforters, which is what rhetoricians call an oxymoron; what they said, instead of relieving him, laid weights and heavy pressures upon him he could not bear; by suggesting his afflictions were for some enormous crime and secret sin that he lived in the commission of; and that he was no other than an hypocrite: and unless he repented and reformed, he could not expect it would be better with him; and this was the sentiment of them one and all: so to persons under a sense of sin, and distressed about the salvation of their souls, legal preachers are miserable comforters, who send them to a convicting, condemning, and cursing law, for relief; to their duties of obedience to it for peace, pardon, and acceptance with God; who decry the grace of God in man’s salvation, and cry up the works of men; who lay aside the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, the consolation of Israel, and leave out the Spirit of God the Comforter in their discourses; and indeed all that can be said, or directed to, besides the consolation that springs from God by Christ, through the application of the Spirit, signifies nothing; for if any comfort could be had from any other, he would not be, as he is called, the God of all comfort; all the creatures and creature-enjoyments, even the best are broken cisterns, and like the deceitful brooks Job in ch. 6. compares his friends to, that disappoint when any expectations of comfort are raised upon them. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 3, pp. 324–325). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
1–2. The retort Job makes on Eliphaz, is to the same amount as before. He had already heard much reasoning of the same kind; but what can reasoning do to assuage the sorrows of an heavy heart. He had before told both Eliphaz and his companions, that they were physicians of no value, (chap. 13:4.) and here he adds that they were miserable comforters. But, Reader! is not the same kind of observation still more applicable, when considered as referring to a soul seeking salvation; to an awakened sinner, who is truly anxious to be informed how to find peace with God: are not those miserable comforters, who would send the poor distressed creature to his best endeavours, to his repentance, tears, and the like, instead of directing him to Jesus, to God’s pardoning love and mercy in the blood and righteousness of his dear Son, and to the sweet comforts and influences of the Holy Ghost? Can any thing be more plain, than that a guilty sinner needs a holy Saviour; and short of this, the enquiring soul comes short of all! Precious Lamb of God! be thou my consolation, for without thee I should be miserable for ever. (Hawker, R. (2013). Poor Man’s Old Testament Commentary: Job–Psalms (Vol. 4, p. 59). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)
FROM MY READING:
Acts 16
Paul travels to Macedonia, Achaia, and Greece, carrying the Gospel. INSIGHT
During World War II, many soldiers “got religion” while in their foxholes under enemy fire. Because many of those “foxhole conversions” were not genuine, some people become skeptical of anyone who professes Christianity under stressful circumstances. Yet there are many, including the Philippian jailer, who will testify that some “foxhole conversions” are genuine. Be sensitive to the Lord when you are under stress. He may use that very situation to help you get your life into perspective. (Quiet Walk)
DIVINE ATTRIBUTES OF CHRIST For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 1 Corinthians 15:27 The Bible ascribes to Christ certain divine attributes. For instance, omnipotence. Hebrews 1:3 says that He upholds “all things by the word of his power”–no stronger statement than that is possible. “All things are put under him” (1 Corinthians 15:27). Then omniscience is attributed to Him. In John 2:24-25 you will find the claim, “he knew what was in man.” It was not necessary for anybody to tell Him. Then omnipresence is attributed to Him also. Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I.” In Matthew 28:20 He says, “And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end.” And in John 3:13 there is a very striking statement: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” He said those words while He was on earth “the Son of man who “is in heaven.” And, indeed, the apostle Paul writes that He “filleth all in all” (Ephesians 1:23)–again a very comprehensive statement. Another divine attribute is His eternity: “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). We also have statements about His immutability: He cannot change. Hebrews 13:8 tells us, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Then, of course, the Bible asserts His preexistence. Colossians 1:17 tells us, “And he is before all things.” In John 17:5 He prays, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” A Thought to Ponder: The Bible ascribes to Christ certain divine attributes. (From God the Father, God the Son, pp. 267-268, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
The Righteous Judge “That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25)
People often make erroneous judgments. Even those who are officially appointed or elected to judge others are sometimes mistaken, and so we have a whole system of appeals courts. Yet even the Supreme Court, composed as it is of fallible human beings, often seems to be wrong. But as Abraham recognized long ago while interceding for the people in Sodom, we can be confident that the Judge of all the earth will do right!
He not only can judge our actions in relation to His revealed will but can also discern thoughts and motives and, therefore, “judge the secrets of men” (Romans 2:16), and He will do so in absolute rightness. Furthermore, “he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). “The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:…and my judgment is just,” asserted the Lord Jesus (John 5:22, 30). To those who reject or ignore His redeeming love, relying instead on their own worth, “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27). To those who have been redeemed through saving faith in Christ, there will, indeed, be a Judgment Day, but it will be for dispensing of rewards for faithful service rather than for salvation, and this also will be done righteously. “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day” (2 Timothy 4:8). (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?” . . . I said, “Here am I. Send me!” Isaiah 6:8
When Swedish missionary Eric Lund felt called by God to go to Spain to do mission work in the late 1890s, he immediately obeyed. He saw little success there, but persevered in his conviction of God’s calling. One day, he met a Filipino man, Braulio Manikan, and shared the gospel with him. Together, Lund and Manikan translated the Bible into a local Philippine language, and later they started the first Baptist mission station in the Philippines. Many would turn to Jesus—all because Lund, like the prophet Isaiah, responded to God’s call.
In Isaiah 6:8, God asked for a willing person to go to Israel to declare His judgment for the present and hope for the future. Isaiah volunteered boldly: “Here am I. Send me!” He didn’t think he was qualified, for he’d confessed earlier: “I am a man of unclean lips” (v. 5). But he responded willingly because he’d witnessed God’s holiness, recognized his own sinfulness, and received His cleansing (vv. 1–7).
Is God calling you to do something for Him? Are you holding back? If so, remember all God has done through Jesus’ death and resurrection. He’s given us the Holy Spirit to help and guide us (John 14:26; 15:26–27), and He’ll prepare us to answer His call. Like Isaiah, may we respond, “Send me!”
However, while it is the Holy Spirit alone who does this work, HE does it by means of truth. And so in a “lower sense” it was required of Paul, and it is required of every Christian witness also, to “open the eyes” of unbelievers by the presentation of truth. This is their need, and this is our duty. One plants, and another waters. But it is God who gives the increase. This in brief, is Warfield’s understanding of the role and function of the apologist. (p. 74-5 The Theology of B. B. Warfield by Fred G. Zaspel)
Daily Hope
Today’s Scripture
Acts 25:13-27
When I was in high school, I began to play chess during study halls and soon in other places whenever I could. It was a fascinating game that pitted two adversaries trying to overcome each other and capture the king. It seemed that there was always a strategy and counter-strategy that needed to be considered before each move!
Paul had stood before two governors and had been left in prison for over two years as his case was delicately tossed from one to another. No one wanted to free an innocent man even though they freely admitted he had done no wrong to merit this treatment or death that the Jewish delegation had demanded (v.25)
In a chess game, the pawn is the least valuable piece on the board and often is sacrificed in order to preserve and position a more powerful piece to overcome the adversary. The chess strategy in Acts pits the Jews against the Romans, and the pawn appears to be Paul as he sits and awaits the decisions of the players of the game. The players had moved Paul but neither side had determined to eliminate him from the game. The Romans had now made a move and a new player is entering the strategy and will begin to interact with Paul. This new piece to the chess match is King Agrippa. He is more powerful than both governors who had preceded him.
In a chess match the two opponents match skills and each seek to win, but in life there is a third party that oversees and controls the play. This unseen party determines the play and the elimination of the chess pieces. Of course, this unseen party is the Lord and while Festus, Agrippa and the Jews did not always acknowledge Him, Paul depended upon Him completely.
Many times, it appears that you are a chess piece that is being moved arbitrarily by forces beyond our control. Our employer, the government, and officials have the authority to move you left, right, forward or backwards at times, without any thought of your desires. May we like Paul, lean upon the One that is unseen but is so very present in the lives of believers. May Paul’s words echo in our heart and mind today, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Philippians 4:11).
With an Expectant Hope, Pastor Miller
A Profile of Moral Collapse: President Biden, Abortion, and the Culture of Death
Almost fifty years after Roe v. Wade, abortion remains the moral issue in American public discourse and politics.
There are very few profiles in courage in American politics. This seems especially true when it comes to the defense of unborn life. The political predicament of a pro-life politician is this – the political class and the New York-Hollywood-Silicon Valley axis reward those who abandon pro-life positions and condemn those who refuse to surrender.
A particularly important profile in moral collapse now resides in the White House. The story of President Joe Biden’s slippery shape-shifting on the abortion issue is both revealing and horrifying.
Brace yourself.
In response to the law in Texas that outlaws abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, the fury of the Democratic Party and its national leadership has reached new levels of apoplexy.
The fury has been predictable given the state of the Democratic Party and its commitment to abortion on demand. On Thursday and Friday of last week, President Joe Biden made comments condemning the law, calling it “un-American” and ambiguously described “whole of government” efforts to oppose the Texas legislation.
The president, however, made another statement that deserves particular attention. For decades, Joe Biden rooted his views on abortion in his constantly repeated identity as a “devout Roman Catholic.” He routinely describes himself as Catholic, and has repeatedly affirmed his agreement with Catholic doctrine affirming the absolute sanctity of unborn human life. The central contradiction of Joe Biden’s public persona is that he has constantly claimed Catholic identity and “persona” pro-life convictions, while refusing to defend unborn life with any legislative consistency. From the beginning, he has opposed national efforts to reverse Roe v. Wade, which was handed down by the Supreme Court the very year that Joe Biden joined the United States Senate.
This is important – Joe Biden has made clear, more than once, that he personally believes life begins at conception.
Until last Friday, that is, when, in condemning the Texas law, President Biden said: “I respect those who believe that life begins at conception – I respect that. Don’t agree but I respect that.”
With those words, President Biden, the “devout Roman Catholic,” threw the doctrine and teaching of the Roman Catholic Church out the window. Those of us who have been watching the moral collapse of Joe Biden knew this moment had to come. It came just days ago, but the story of Biden’s surrender to the radical pro-abortion position has been progressing over decades, slowly, and then suddenly.
Tracing the “evolution” of President Biden’s view on abortion is vital for understanding our present moral crisis. The chronicle of his views on the sanctity of life encapsulates the trajectory of the Democratic Party. It tells us about the worldview divide in the United States. It tells us a great deal about where we are as a nation and how easily a politician’s convictions can evaporate in seconds.
Consider this timeline:
1972: Joe Biden, who identified as a devout Roman Catholic, ran for the United States Senate from Delaware. Biden’s Roman Catholic identity largely shielded him from questions about abortion. His election to the Senate came a year before the moral convulsion of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.
1976: In the wake of Roe v. Wade in 1973, a bipartisan group of law makers gathered around what became known as the Hyde Amendment, which prevented the federal funding of abortions. The central issue was the understanding that American taxpayers, millions holding pro-life convictions, should not be forced by taxation to pay for abortions. Joe Biden supported this Amendment, voting for it in 1976. For context, the Hyde Amendment in 1976 did not carve out exemptions for rape or incest. He held this position supporting for forty-five years—that is until he didn’t. Biden bragged constantly about his principled defense of the Hyde Amendment. But, as we shall see, all that changed within 24 hours in June of 2019, when Biden knew he had to reverse his position if he had any chance of gaining the 2020 Democratic nomination.
1977: Senator Joe Biden voted against allowing Medicaid to fund abortions in the event of rape or incest.
1981: Joe Biden voted for a Constitutional amendment process that would have allowed states to overturn Roe v. Wade. He later described that vote as, “The single most difficult vote I’ve cast as a US Senator.” In that same year, he reaffirmed his opposition to federal funding of abortion in the cases of rape or incest. NPR News reported that Biden was “one of just two Democratic senators from the Northeast to vote to end federal funding for abortion for victims of rape and incest.”
1982: Joe Biden’s view shifted. A year after voting for the constitutional amendment that would have allowed states to overturn Roe, he reversed his vote. He cast a vote against the same constitutional amendment that he voted for in 1981.
1983: As a Senator, Joe Biden voted against allowing federal employees to use health insurance to pay for abortions.
1986: Senator Biden told the Catholic Diocese Newspaper, “Abortion is wrong from the moment of conception.” NBC News also reported that he “seemed to offer the National Conference of Catholic Bishops moral support in pushing for limits, noting that the most effective pro-life groups are those who keep trying to push back the frontier.” Speaking of that frontier, Senator Biden said, “I think medical science is moving the frontier back so that by the year 2000, we’re going to have more and more pressure, and rightfully so in my view, of moving back further and further the circumstances under which an abortion can be had.”
1987: After a scandal erupted over Biden’s use of a British politician’s speech, he withdrew from the race for the 1988 Democratic Party presidential nomination. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden orchestrates the effort to reject President Ronald Reagan’s nomination of a conservative legal scholar, Judge Robert Bork, to the Supreme Court. Biden facilitates the opposition to Bork, citing the need to defend abortion rights and other court precedents.
1994: Senator Biden wrote a letter to his constituents regarding a debate over the Clinton administration’s healthcare proposals. He bragged that on no fewer than “fifty occasions,” he voted against federal funding of abortion. He said, as a matter of principle, “Those of us who are opposed to abortion should not be compelled to pay for them.”
2006: Still in the United States Senate, Joe Biden told CNN that he was the odd man out among Democrats on the issue of abortion. He explained that he did support bans on abortion later in pregnancy, and he supported a ban on federal funding for abortions. He said, “I do not vote for federal funding for abortion. I voted against partial birth abortion to limit it, and I vote for no restrictions on a woman’s right to be able to have an abortion under Roe v. Wade. I made everybody angry. I made the right angry because I won’t support a Constitutional amendment or limitations on a woman’s right to exercise their Constitutional right as defined by Roe v. Wade, and I’ve made the women’s groups and others very angry because I won’t support public funding and I won’t support partial birth.”
Here, we see then Senator Biden trying to situate himself as a thoughtful moderate—a middleman not beholden to either side in the abortion debate. Of course, this posture, cast as political courage, just serves to underline the contradictions in Biden’s position.
2007: Biden published his New York Times bestselling book, Promises to Keep, which anticipated his run for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2008. He described himself as personally opposed to abortion and middle-of-the-road. He stated, “I refuse to impose my beliefs on other people.” That language was the common moral evasion offered by politicians who supported abortion but claimed a religious identity that was pro-life. Figures such as Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, New York Governor Mario Cuomo, and many others, repeated this argument constantly. Liberal Catholic politicians tried to thread the needle of remaining faithful to Catholic doctrine while, on the other hand, satisfying their political base. To do this, the refrain of “not imposing my personal beliefs” became constant. But where is the consistency in believing that abortion is a grave moral evil and yet defending it as a “constitutional right?”
In Promises to Keep, Biden held to the belief that life is sacred and that abortion is wrong, but he said that he refuses to impose that view on others. He described, in his book, an exchange between himself and another senator in an elevator. Biden wrote of himself, “Well, my position is that I personally am opposed to abortion, but I don’t think I have the right to impose my view on something I accept as a matter of faith on the rest of society. I’ve thought a lot about it and my position probably doesn’t please anyone. I think government should stay out completely.”
The Senator responded to Biden, suggesting that Biden’s view was nonsensical and politically unhelpful, to which Biden quipped:
“Well, I will not vote to overturn the court’s decision. I will not vote to curtail a woman’s right to choose abortion, but I will also not vote to use federal funds to fund abortion. . . . Yeah, everybody will be upset with me, except me. I’m intellectually and morally comfortable with my position. . . . I’ve made life difficult for myself by putting intellectual consistency and personal principles above expediency. I’m perfectly able to take the politically expedient way on issues that don’t seem fundamental, especially when a colleague I trust needs help, but by and large, I follow my own nose and I make no apologies for being difficult to pigeonhole.”
In a way that should have been embarrassing, Biden presented himself in this autobiography as a paragon of moral courage—he claimed to live by intellectual consistency above political expediency. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
2008: When it comes to the abortion debate, the fundamental question everyone must answer is this: When does human life begin? The only consistent answer to that is from the moment of fertilization, and, in 2008, Joe Biden said, “I’m prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life beings at the moment of conception.”
Upon reflection, those words, however, meant something different than what many Catholics and virtually all evangelical Christians would mean. Biden rooted his belief regarding the sanctity of life in his own personal faith, not in any absolute truth. For Biden, as a matter of faith clearly meant not as a matter of policy.
2015: Now serving as vice-president of the United States, Joe Biden gave an interview to America Magazine, a prominent Catholic periodical. The interviewer, Matt Malone, asked the vice-president about positions that he held which collided with the bishops, especially on issues like abortion. Oddly, Malone asked, “Has that been hard for you?”
Biden responded, “It has been, it’s been hard in one sense because I’m prepared to accept de fide doctrine on a whole range of issues as a Catholic, even though, as you know, Aquinas argued about in his Summa Theologica, about human life and being when it occurs. I’m prepared to accept as a matter of faith—my wife and I, my family—the issue of abortion, but what I’m not prepared to do is impose a precise view that is born out of my faith on other people who are equally God-fearing, equally as committed to life, equally as committed to the sanctity of life. I’m prepared to say that to other God-fearing, non-God-fearing people that have a different view.”
This was quintessential Biden. Here, he continues to try to thread the political needle. He tries to affirm his belief in the de fide doctrine of his church regarding abortion and the sanctity of human life. De fide, by the way, means an absolute doctrine of faith. To disagree with de fide doctrine is oppose official doctrine. Thus, while Biden attempts to position himself as in line with his church’s teaching, he also states that he will not use public policy to defend that view, even when the issue at stake is nothing less than human life.
2019: At this point, things for Joe Biden move quickly as he tries to keep up with the pro-abortion progression of his own party. By 2016, the Democratic platform had called for the elimination of the Hyde Amendment and for opposition to any restriction on abortion.
In a crucial 24-hour period, with Biden’s chance at the 2020 nomination slipping away, he reversed himself in a 180-degree turn. His supposed stand on conviction just evaporated. On June 5, 2019, Joe Biden reaffirmed his commitment to the Hyde Amendment. Twenty-four hours later on June 6, Joe Biden did a complete turn. He said, “If I believe healthcare is a right, as I do, I can no longer support an amendment that makes that right dependent on someone’s zip code.”
In other words, even as Biden had claimed intellectual consistency over political expediency, he surrendered a nearly fifty-year-old core conviction—and he did so, to be clear, because he so desperately wanted the 2020 nomination. Once it became clear that he would not be allowed within 100 yards of the Democratic nomination for president while clinging to Hyde, he sang a different tune, coming out as aggressively opposed to the Hyde Amendment.
2021: Biden ran in the election on a radically pro-abortion agenda and has made good on his promises. In 2021, he issued a series of executive orders such as striking down the Mexico City Policy, which limited American funds used for abortions and abortion advocacy overseas. He reinstated Title X funding for Planned Parenthood. He seeks the repeal of they Hyde Amendment and fully supports a taxpayer funded system for abortions on demand. His presidential appointments, ranging across the government and the judiciary, have been predictably “progressive.”
Then, last Friday, came Biden’s final act of surrender.
On September 3rd, 2021, Joe Biden stated, “I respect those who believe life begins at the moment of conception. I respect that—don’t agree—but I respect that.”
So much for courage and conviction. So much for resisting the headwinds of political expediency. A half-century career of stating that life begins at conception and that the American taxpayer should not be forced into paying for abortions is now gone. This was a spectacular reversal on a fundamental issue of morality.
This sad story is not just about an American politician’s compromise. It is not even just the story of an American president and his political “evolution.”
The story of Joe Biden raises important questions we all must answer: How will we define when human life begins? Will we stand upon that conviction, no matter the cost?
Our answer to those questions is, make no mistake, a matter of life or death.
