The idea that we ought to be pro-children—whether in bearing, adopting, fostering, or serving—runs across all of Scripture. When Jesus showed unusual favor to women, children, and other underdogs of the ancient world, he was continuing God’s pattern throughout the Old Testament, where he repeatedly elevates candidates who were small in the eyes of the culture: widows, the second-born, the outsider, and the child.

Scholars have attested, over and over, to the importance of multiplication and offspring in Scripture’s story. The motif of “seed” (children, descendants, offspring) runs from Genesis to Revelation. It’s integral at every major moment: creation, fall, Israel, Jesus, church, and new creation. God’s first commissioning of humanity to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28)— spreading his image around the earth—is finally fulfilled in the last pages. Revelation depicts God’s kingdom as a “city” comprised of “the nations” (Rev. 21), “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev. 7:9).

Historically, the church has flourished when these motifs have fueled its imagination. The early church stood out from Roman culture in its embrace of women and children and its vibrantly pro-life stance that included adopting infants who were left to die. The church’s growth through underdogs surprised its detractors. And to give ourselves for the least of these, including children, continues to be a uniquely Christian hope.

—How Stanley Hauerwas Inspired Us to Have More Kids