Healthcare professionals often recommend vaccines as a valuable tool to help prevent contagious diseases from harming us and others in our communities. But the topic of vaccinations can be controversial, as the Covid-19 pandemic shows. Some say that vaccines are too important to skip, while others say they’re not necessary. What does the Bible say about vaccines? Learning the biblical wisdom we can apply to this vital topic can help us make the best decisions about vaccines.
Why Christians Should Be Educated on Health, Medicine, and Vaccines
We should be informed on what the Bible says about vaccines, health, and medicine because God calls us to be lifelong learners who are engaged with important topics in our communities. It’s vital to understand what’s in the news, and to think critically about it, using the minds God has given us. Jesus speaks about the importance of learning in Matthew 11:29: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” The Holy Spirit will be a “Counselor” who “will teach you all things” Jesus promises in John 14:26. In my book Wake Up to Wonder, I describe research that shows how lifelong learning benefits our well-being, and why it’s vital to prioritize learning day by day to keep growing spiritually. I also explain how habits such as reading and conversations with others can help us discover not just information, but inspiration as well. God always has something new and wonderful for us to learn!
Learning about the topics of health, medicine, and vaccines helps us take good care of our bodies, which are temples of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 points out: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” In order to make the best decisions about taking care of our bodies, we must do our best to stay informed regularly about what’s happening lately with health, medicine, and vaccines. We also need to prioritize seeking God’s wisdom about what we learn. We should make sure we’re getting our news from credible, trustworthy sources rather than social media, where anyone can post anything, regardless of whether or not it’s true. Then, we should reflect on what we’ve learned and pray about it, asking God to lead us to respond wisely.
What Does the Bible Say about Vaccines?
The Bible doesn’t mention vaccines specifically because vaccines hadn’t been invented yet when the Bible was written. However, the Bible does include verses that speak to important concepts relating to vaccines. We can apply that wisdom to our lives to make the best decisions about vaccines. Biblical wisdom that relates to vaccines breaks down into two important key concepts. The Bible says that we should:
1. Take good care of our health, including preventing disease when possible. Our bodies are gifts from God, and as such, we need to treat them as well as possible. Psalm 139:13-14 celebrates how wonderfully God has created human bodies: “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.” Vaccines can help protect our wondrous bodies from becoming ill unnecessarily. Romans 12:1 urges us to take good care of our bodies as an act of worship: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.” Just as the verses we explored earlier from 1 Corinthians 6 describe how our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, so does 1 Corinthians 3:16-17: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.” By getting vaccinated to protect our temples from diseases, we can express gratitude to our Creator. The Bible presents an example of preventive medicine in 1 Timothy 5:24, which advises: “Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.” Vaccines are a modern form of preventive medicine.
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2. Love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and he emphasizes that doing so is vitally important. In three of the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke – Jesus tells people that the two greatest commandments of all are to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Matthew 22 records the same conversation that Mark 12 and Luke 10 do about Jesus’ answer to people who asked him what is most important to live faithfully. Matthew 22:37-40 notes: “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” As we live out this highly important call, Jesus also urges us to pay special attention to the most vulnerable people in our community. Jesus tells us a parable in Matthew 25 about caring for “the least of these,” which includes people who are sick as well as poor or in prison. In Matthew 25:40, Jesus says, “… ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” This call from Jesus includes people with underlying health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to becoming infected, becoming seriously ill, and dying from communicable diseases – such as elderly people, and the many people with medical conditions that leave them immunocompromised. These “least of these” people are all around us, and Jesus is counting on us to do what’s right to help protect their health as well as our own. Many Bible passages encourage us to help others. Romans 12 emphasizes how we are all connected, saying in verse 5: “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others,” and in verse 10: “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Vaccines can help us be faithful to God’s call to care for others because every person who gets vaccinated helps to stop the spread of a contagious disease in the greater community.
How Should Christians Respond to Different Opinions on Vaccines?
The different opinions that Christians have shared regarding vaccines have unfortunately caused great pain and division in relationships – especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed millions of people worldwide. All the stress of dealing with a deadly contagious disease has been compounded by arguments among people about vaccines. Too often, Christians – whom God has called to lead others with love and wisdom – have instead argued with each other.
But God wants us all to enjoy healthy relationships in which we listen to and learn from each other with love and respect. Proverbs 27:17 points out that: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” It’s important to keep conversations going with our family of believers about topics that affect us all, like vaccines. The BioLogos Foundation, which works at the intersection of faith and science, promotes discussions about vaccines. Many Christian leaders have spoken out about the organization’s vaccine statement, which is continuing to spark thoughtful conversations among believers.
God has given us the freedom to choose for ourselves what to do regarding vaccines. But as we choose, we have the responsibility to make informed and faithful decisions. We’re allowed to do anything, but not everything is beneficial, as 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 says: “‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say – but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’ – but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”
No matter what different opinions we have about vaccines, we must try to love each other as we talk, keeping in mind that we’re brothers and sisters in God’s spiritual family. Conversations about vaccines may spark fear, but God always calls us away from fear and toward his love that casts out fear. 1 John 4:18-21 declares: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”
Conclusion
So, what does the Bible say about vaccines? The Bible doesn’t specifically mention vaccines because vaccines hadn’t been invented yet when the Bible was written. But the Bible has a lot to say about taking good care of our health and taking good care of others. Those biblical concepts can help us as we make decisions about vaccines.
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Whitney Hopler helps people discover God's wonder and experience awe. She is the author of several books, including the nonfiction books Wake Up to Wonder and Wonder Through the Year: A Daily Devotional for Every Year, and the young adult novel Dream Factory. Whitney has served as an editor at leading media organizations, including Crosswalk.com, The Salvation Army USA’s national publications, and Dotdash.com (where she produced a popular channel on angels and miracles). She currently leads the communications work at George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being. Connect with Whitney on her website at www.whitneyhopler.com, on Facebook, and on X/Twitter.