Mailbag: When Does Soul Enter?

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Here, we’ll go the safe, tried, and true route: the soul enters at the moment of conception.

That’s our view. That’s the current Church’s view.

Interesting was one famous near-death experiencer, who is ardently pro-life, and claimed that, during her sojourn to the afterlife, she learned that souls enter at different stages of fetal development depending on the person and situation.

If we accept that, it leaves us with what we started: that it is safest to assume life begins at the moment of conception.

In the mail, we received this, from correspondent Michael Thiel, who argues a viewpoint that is different, at some points startling:

“Regarding the unborn and abortion: The Septuagint version of Exodus 21:22-23 states that the death of an unformed child is not considered homicide. A formed or shaped child is considered homicide because it has a ‘soul’ (life) as in ‘life for life.’ This is how Philo interpreted these verses. The Constitution of the Holy Apostles even states that a ‘shaped’ child receives a soul from God in the interpretation of these same verses from Exodus. Augustine, Theodoret, and Thomas Aquinas concur. Muslims believe that ‘ensoulment’ begins at the fourth month. The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra says that ensoulment begins at the end of the fifth month, or at the beginning of the sixth month. 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriages by the 12th week. So, is it logical to assume that from the moment of conception, the unborn child has a soul? I think not.

So, when does the soul of the unborn receive ‘life’ or the ‘light’ in the spiritual sense?

“I think Genesis 2:7: ‘And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being”; is explained by John 1:4: ‘In him was life, and the life was the light of men.’ And John 1:9 ‘That was the true light that enlightens every man coming into the world.’

“We are given spiritual understanding at birth when God breathes into us His breath, the light of life,” Michael goes on. “Sin darkens the spirit and eventually brings death to the soul. Jesus came to save us from the darkness and death of sin. This is why He said we must be born again of water and of the Spirit.

“This is why Philo and early Church fathers condemned infanticide as most egregious, because not only does the infant have a soul, but God has breathed into our souls the spirit of life and light at birth.

“This is my perspective of course.

“In Jesus Christ our Lord, Michael Thiel, Plymouth, Minnesota”

We thank Michael for that, but have to go back to conception: God knew us before we were born, says Scripture. (“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations,” Jeremiah 1:5). If we were in existence before we were in the womb, we were there, one might posit, at conception.

[scroll past ad for more from Thiel]

[Footnote from the mail (Thiel): “I submit the interpretation of Philo, a Jewish scholar of the Torah, who lived at the time of the apostles. I submit the Jewish Christian writing of the Constitutions of the Holy Apostles. I submit the writings of various theologians of Christianity in the first 1200 years. I submit the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra. I submit that Muslims who believe the baby is ensouled in the fourth month. I submit that 11-22% of pregnancies are miscarriages by the 12th week.
(There is more to be said about the spirit of life and light at birth, only to say that the Greek word for ‘enlightens’ in John 1:9 is the same word that is used in (Heb. 6:4; 10:32) with regard to the impartation of the Holy Spirit, and at baptism in the early Church writings. Of course, there is a real difference from the soul being enlightened with a conscience at birth, and being sealed with the Holy Spirit with the impartation of the Holy Spirit at baptism, or confirmation. Darkness and sin results in the necessity of being ‘born again’ of water and of the Spirit. In addition, the Septuagint version of Gen.2:7 reads ‘and man became a living ‘soul’ (psuche). This is repeated by the apostle Paul in 1 Cor.15:45.)
“22 And if two men strive and smite a woman with child, and her child be born imperfectly formed, he shall be forced to pay a penalty: as the woman’s husband may lay upon him, he shall pay with a valuation. 23 But if it be perfectly formed, he shall give life for life, ” (Ex.21:22-23, Septuagint)
‘(137) And with respect to these matters the following law has been enacted with great beauty and propriety: “If while two men are fighting one should strike a woman who is great with child, and her child should come from her before itis completely formed, he shall be muleted in a fine, according to what the husband of the woman shall impose upon him, and he shall pay the fine deservedly. But if the child shall be fully formed, he shall pay life for life.” (Ex.21:22-23, Septuagint version) (138) On this account in one case, an uncertain penalty is affixed to an uncertain action; in another, a definite punishment is enacted by law against an act which is perfected, but with reference to what is done in an irreproachable manner, according to some act… For it is impossible that she who has been pregnant some time should miscarry, since it is fitting that the plant should be conducted to perfection by him who sowed it, but it is not strange if some mishap should befall the woman who was pregnant, since she was afflicted with a disease beyond the art of the physician”(Philo, the Preliminary Studies)
III. You shall not use magic. You shall not use witchcraft; for He says, You shall not suffer a witch to live. You shall not slay your child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten; for everything that is shaped, and has received a soul from God, if it be slain, shall be avenged, as being unjustly destroyed.” (Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, Book VII, section III)

Augustine, Theodoret, and Aquinas

Augustine (d. 430) and Theodoret (d. ~460) both directly address this passage in series of answers to questions about Exodus. Augustine’s full answer is not available online in English,2 but his position has been summarized as follows:
Based on the Septuagint text, Augustine feels constrained to accept the view that abortion before formation is not homicide. […] Early abortion is not counted as homicide because, while the soul may be present, it is in an insensible state.3
The reference to the Septuagint here is necessary because Augustine was using a version of the Bible that did not accurately reflect the meaning of the original Hebrew text. The Septuagint, translated into English, reads:
And if two men strive and smite a woman with child, and her child be born imperfectly formed, he shall be forced to pay a penalty: as the woman’s husband may lay upon him, he shall pay with a valuation. But if it be perfectly formed, he shall give life for life4 [emphasis added]
Given this translation, it’s not surprising that Augustine and Theodoret interpreted the passage the way they did. Theodoret provides more insight, particularly with respect to the case of the “unformed” fetus:
It is the general opinion that life is communicated to the fetus when its body is fully formed in the womb. […] If the infant comes out with human features—that is, fully formed—the case is to be considered murder, and the guilty party must pay with his own life. But if it comes out before it is fully formed, the case is not to be considered murder, since the miscarriage occurred before the animation of the child. Nonetheless, the party responsible is to make recompense.5
From this understanding, perhaps aided by Aristotelian philosophy, developed the doctrine of ensoulment, that is, that fetuses do not gain souls upon conception. For example, though Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) condemned abortion, he does not interpret this passage to mean that early (“pre-formation” and therefore “pre-soul”) abortion is murder:
He that strikes a woman with child does something unlawful: wherefore if there results the death either of the woman or of the animated fetus, he will not be excused from homicide, especially seeing that death is the natural result of such a blow.6 [emphasis added]

Nonetheless, these authors agreed that at least for some fetuses, this passage teaches that abortion is murder. At least partially due to a faulty translation, these authors held that early abortions were not murder, and some made it explicit that they were instead finable offenses.

https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/43100/how-have-commentators-historically-viewed-the-death-of-the-fetus-in-exodus-21

The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra:
“And God said:  Hear, O beloved Esdras.  As a husbandman casts the seed of the corn into the ground, so also the man casts his seed into the parts of the woman.  The first month it is all together; the second it increases in size; the third it gets hair; the fourth it gets nails; the fifth it is turned into milk;2513 and the sixth it is made ready, and receives life;2514 (soul) the seventh it is completely furnished; the ninth the barriers of the gate of the woman are opened; and it is born safe and sound into the earth.”
Muslim teaching on the fourth month of ensoulment

 11-22% of pregnancies end in miscarriages by the 12th week:

Sincerely, in Jesus Christ,
Michael Thiel/ Minnesota”]