---
title: "“God accommodated human hardness — e.g., permitting certificates of divorce, or regulating rather than banning certain practices — so incremental accommodation on abortion is likewise acceptable.”"
description: "God accommodated human hardness — e.g., permitting certificates of divorce, or regulating rather than banning certain practices — so incremental accommodation on abortion is likewise acceptable."
type: "argument"
id: "def-mosaic-accommodation"
category: "Scriptural"
mode: "Defensive"
source_url: "https://www.abhortion.org/arguments/def-mosaic-accommodation.html"
---

# “God accommodated human hardness — e.g., permitting certificates of divorce, or regulating rather than banning certain practices — so incremental accommodation on abortion is likewise acceptable.”

**Category:** Scriptural · **Mode:** Defensive · responds to an objection

## The objection

**The claim:**

> "God accommodated human hardness — e.g., permitting certificates of divorce, or regulating rather than banning certain practices — so incremental accommodation on abortion is likewise acceptable."

_A pro-life incrementalist argument._

### The strongest version of this argument

Scripture does contain regulatory concessions to hardness of heart (Deut. 24:1-4 on divorce; various case laws), suggesting God works with people where they are. If God legislated by accommodation, perhaps a gradualist approach to abortion law is not obviously unbiblical.

## The response

Jesus explains the divorce concession precisely as a concession to hardness of heart that was never God's design ('from the beginning it was not so,' Matt. 19:8) — and divorce is not the taking of innocent life. Abolitionists argue you cannot generalize from a permitted lesser hardship to legalizing murder: there is no biblical concession authorizing the shedding of innocent blood, which Scripture uniformly treats as bringing blood-guilt on the land (Gen. 9:6; Num. 35:33). A permission regarding marriage cannot license a statute that authorizes killing image-bearers; the categories are not parallel.

## Discussion questions

1. How did Jesus characterize the certificate of divorce — as God's design or a concession to hardness?
2. Is there any biblical concession that authorizes the shedding of innocent blood? Why is that category different from divorce?

## Source transcript

Drawn from Does the Pro-Life Movement Hate Justice? (T. Russell Hunter, 'Justice Alone') — 'Maybe because God allowed certificate of divorce... therefore we don't have to do justice' — named as a scripture-twisting move..

## References

_The case here rests on the cited scriptures; see Related below._

## Related

**Related scriptures:**

- [Genesis 9:6](../scripture/genesis-9-6.md)
- [Leviticus 20:1-5](../scripture/leviticus-20-1-5.md)
- [Deuteronomy 16:20](../scripture/deuteronomy-16-20.md)
- [Proverbs 17:15](../scripture/proverbs-17-15.md)

**Related arguments:**

- [God commands 'justice, and only justice' — not partial or deferred justice](arg-justice-only.md)
- [“A bill that protects some children now is better than a bill that protects none and…”](def-some-justice-better.md)