“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.” (Genesis 9:6)

What is the estimated price of bearing God’s image? Is the human body really worth that much? I have once heard that if all things were being weighed equally the fair market value for a healthy body could go anywhere from $1 (the estimated monetary worth of the elements that make up the body) to $500,000 if you were to seek to sell your healthy organs on the black market. I once read that a properly functioning heart can fetch up to $118,000, but the brain has almost zero trade value because it is next to impossible to transplant. 

Someone once told me that if my brain could be transplanted I may be able to find a buyer who would be willing to pay five bucks. What does my sister even know about neurology and brain transplants that makes her think she is some kind of expert about the trade value of my brain? It makes me mad because I know I could get at least $15 for it!

Popular philosophers like Peter Singer have argued that worth should be determined by a human being’s output and consciousness, even saying that some monkeys have more of a right to exist than Homo sapien babies and severely handicapped people. So to Dr. Singer, the life of a person like Bill Gates must be infinitely more valuable than a person in a coma. Even the Fuhrer agreed to this.

But the deeper question that must be answered is “What does God think?”

I think the answer is clearly stated in Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” This single verse speaks volumes concerning worth. Let me break it down:

(1) God sees past our shattered visage: We are not as we were meant to be. It is true that we carry his image, it is also true this image has been bent, twisted, marred, and muddied. Underneath all the aging skin and the crooked smile is priceless heavenly potentiality. For those of us who believe in Him, we have been promised bodily resurrection. “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.”

(2) The pain and suffering we are undergoing now, cannot be compared to eternal existence: People are myopic when it comes to our pain, which leads us to ask in mournful moans and minor keys, “Will all this suffering ever be worth it?” The answer is, in heaven, our pain won’t ever be remembered. Every tear will be wiped away. Ask a mother how this is even possible, she knows. Labor has never, ever negated the wonder of the child that is born. And this is true even when labor feels like hell. My wife had four children and the exact moment the child was born labor became a distant memory. In fact, from that moment on the pain is rarely talked about. And then the joy increased as the relationships with her children grew. How can you even compare the meaningful memories that brought your child to a full-grown adult to the relatively fast nine months of difficulty that pregnancy required to deliver them into this world? I pity the woman who can only think about the pain.

(3) Glory is a state of being that has no reference point to anything we know now: That which we are promised in heaven is impossible to grasp and understand. So to base your opinion about eternity on your inability to understand is foolish and silly. It is like a kid who has never been to Disney World telling you why Epcot Center is a waste of time to spend money at. Many an atheist is more convinced of the significance of their present suffering than the infinite wonder and possibilities that are offered by life beyond the grave.

The truth is, no one alive has ever been to the other side of the grave. So how can anyone be sure of what is there? It is both bad logic and crippling nihilism. Nihilism — the belief that life, and especially suffering, is meaningless — is born from blind ignorance which leads to pride. Pride always replaces God with Self; I become God, and since I cannot create or conceive of anything but failure in the suffering of the present and ultimate despair buried dead in the grave, existence has no value.

But since God can see beyond the grave, he knows our future and our new existence and glorified being which adds value to our present worth. We have worth both now, because we bear his image, and later, because we will see his face and we will become like him. This is not based on human price-value indexes or fair market trading value of tradable services, it is based on God’s creative decree. When God made us he said, “We are good.” The creator always gets to set the price of a thing.

This is called Sanctity. God determines value, priceless value, and as Genesis 9:5-6 says, if you break it, you pay for it. And it will cost you your own life.

So even if you feel unworthy, or your neighbor thinks you are useless, or your dad thinks you have failed him, none of that matters. Human beings do not set the value of a soul, only God can. That is why life is precious, as Psalm 139:13-14 says, 

“For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.”

This weekend is Sanctity of Life Sunday, a time the church recognizes the infinite value of life. In doing so, let’s take the opportunity to appreciate the beauty found in each specially created being — seeing them as God does.

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For more insights on the value of a soul, be sure to check out these short stories by Christopher J. Weeks: