capital punishment Should Christians support the death penalty? The answer to that question is controversial. Many Christians feel that the Bible has spoken to the issue, but others believe that the New Testament ethic of love replaces the Old Testament law. Old Testament Examples Throughout the Old Testament we find many cases in which God commands the use of capital punishment. We see this first with the acts of God Himself. God was involved, either directly or indirectly, in the taking of life as a punishment for the nation of Israel or for those who threatened or harmed Israel. One example is the flood of Noah in Genesis 6-8.
God destroyed all human and animal life except that which was on the ark. Another example is Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18-19), where God destroyed the two cities because of the heinous sin of the inhabitants. In the time of Moses, God took the lives of the Egyptians’ first-born sons (Exod. 11) and destroyed the Egyptian army in the Red Sea (Exod.
14).
There were also punishments such as the punishment at Kade sh-Barnes (Num. 13-14) or the rebellion of Kora h (Num. 16) against the Jews wandering in the wilderness. The Old Testament is replete with references and examples of God taking life. In a sense, God used capital punishment to deal with Israel’s sins and the sins of the nations surrounding Israel.
The Essay on Capital Punishment Death People Life
Capital Punishment Capital punishment is an extreme punishment used to correct extreme crimes. The death penalty has been used for centuries before Christ and hopefully centuries after him. The old version of the death penalty was used for strange crimes such as: marrying a Jew, cutting down a tree, treason, or stealing. Capital punishment today is more humane today with new methods like lethal ...
The Old Testament also teaches that God instituted capital punishment in the Jewish law code. In fact, the principle of capital punishment even precedes the Old Testament law code. According to Genesis 9: 6, capital punishment is based upon a belief in the sanctity of life. It says, ‘Whoever sheds man’s blood by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God, He made man.’ The Mosaic Law set forth numerous offenses that were punishable by death. The first was murder. In Exodus 21, God commanded capital punishment for murderers.
Premeditated murder (or what the Old Testament described as ‘lying in wait’) was punishable by death. A second offense punishable by death was involvement in the occult (Exod. 22; Lev. 20; Deut 18-19).
This included sorcery, divination, acting as a medium, and sacrificing to false gods. Third, capital punishment was to be used against perpetrators of sexual sins such as rape, incest, or homosexual practice.
Within this Old Testament theocracy, capital punishment was extended beyond murder to cover various offenses. While the death penalty for these offenses was limited to this particular dispensation of revelation, notice that the principle in Genesis 9: 6 is not tied to the theocracy. Instead, the principle of Lex Talion is (a life for a life) is tied to the creation order. Capital punishment is warranted due to the sanctity of life.
Even before we turn to the New Testament, we find this universally binding principle that precedes the Old Testament law code. New Testament Principles Some Christians believe that capital punishment does not apply to the New Testament and church age. First we must acknowledge that God gave the principle of capital punishment even before the institution of the Old Testament law code. In Genesis 9: 6 we read that ‘Whoever sheds man’s blood by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God, He made man.’ Capital punishment was instituted by God because humans are created in the image of God. The principle is not rooted in the Old Testament theocracy, but rather in the creation order.
The Essay on Capital Punishment 28
Capital punishment is viewed by the law as the act of deterring a person from performing a certain crime that poses threat to the lives of human being. Through capital punishment, life is lost and this method in a way makes sure that a particular crime isn’t repeated by a particular person thus completely deterring the person from repeating the crime. It should be noted that though death penalty ...
It is a much broader biblical principle that carries into the New Testament. Even so, some Christians argue that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus seems to be arguing against capital punishment. But is He? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not arguing against the principle of a life for a life. Rather He is speaking to the issue of our personal desire for vengeance. He is not denying the power and responsibility of the government.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is speaking to individual Christians. He is telling Christians that they should not try to replace the power of the government. Jesus does not deny the power and authority of government, but rather He calls individual Christians to love their enemies and turn the other cheek. Some have said that Jesus set aside capital punishment in John 8 when He did not call for the woman caught in adultery to be stoned. But remember the context. The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus between the Roman law and the Mosaic law.
If He said that they should stone her, He would break the Roman law. If He refused to allow them to stone her, He would break the Mosaic law (Lev. 20: 10; Deut. 22: 22).
Jesus’ answer avoided the conflict: He said that he who was without sin should cast the first stone.
Since He did teach that a stone be thrown (John 8: 7), this is not an abolition of the death penalty. In other places in the New Testament we see the principle of capital punishment being reinforced. Romans 13: 1-7, for example, teaches that human government is ordained by God and that the civil magistrate is a minister of God. We are to obey government for we are taught that government does not bear the sword in vain. The fact that the Apostle Paul used the image of the sword further supports the idea that capital punishment was to be used by government in the New Testament age as well. Rather than abolish the idea of the death penalty, Paul uses the emblem of the Roman sword to reinforce the idea of capital punishment.
The New Testament did not abolish the death penalty; it reinforced the principle of capital punishment. Capital Punishment and Deterrence Is capital punishment a deterrent to crime? At the outset, we should acknowledge that the answer to this question should not change our perspective on this issue. Although it is an important question, it should not be the basis for our belief. A Christian’s belief in capital punishment should be based upon what the Bible teaches not on a pragmatic assessment of whether or not capital punishment deters crime. That being said, however, we should try to assess the effectiveness of capital punishment.
The Essay on Issues of Capital Punishment and the Death Penalty
Twenty-six years ago, on July 2, 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 7-2 in Gregg v. Georgia to reinstate the death penalty after a brief official break. Implicit in the Gregg decision was the optimistic belief that the many problems identified by a previous Supreme Court decision, Furman v. Georgia, could be fixed. In 1972, the Furman Court had struck down hundreds of state laws that the justices ...
Opponents of capital punishment argue that it is not a deterrent, because in some states where capital punishment is allowed the crime rate goes up. Should we therefore conclude that capital punishment is not a deterrent? First, we should recognize that crime rates have been increasing for some time. The United States is becoming a violent society as its social and moral fabric breaks down. So the increase in the crime rate is most likely due to many other factors and cannot be correlated with a death penalty that has been implemented sparingly and sporadically. Second, there is some evidence that capital punishment is a deterrent.
And even if we are not absolutely sure of its deterrent effect, the death penalty should be implemented. If it is a deterrent, then implementing capital punishment certainly will save lives. If it is not, then we still will have followed biblical injunctions and put convicted murderers to death. In a sense, opponents of capital punishment who argue that it is not a deterrent are willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the criminal rather than to the victim. The poet Hyman Bar shay put it this way: The death penalty is a warning, just like a lighthouse throwing its beams out to sea. We hear about shipwrecks, but we do not hear about the ships the light….
