The Bible And Capital Punishment (1)
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles Tags: Bulletin Articles on Capital PunishmentWhat Does The Bible Indicate About Capital Punishment?
Whenever an execution is imminent, the following questions are often raised:
1) Should capital punishment be acceptable in a civilized society?
2) Is it morally right for a government to administer capital punishment?
3) What is the purpose behind capital punishment, and is it accomplished?
4) How do we find the answers to such questions?
We could turn to various sources, and receive conflicting answers, but for Christians who believe the Word of God to be complete and all-sufficient (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:3), we must always look to it for our answers. With these thoughts in mind, let us study what God’s word says about capital punishment.
The Beginning Of Capital Punishment
A. Before The Flood
1) Cain received protection from God against capital punishment (Genesis 4:13-15).
2) Lamech, descendant of Cain, presumed even more protection against capital punishment after killing a young man (Genesis 4:23-24).
3) By the time of Noah, mention is made of the corruption and violence which had filled the earth (Genesis 6:11-12).
Question: Might this be the consequence of a society without capital punishment?.
4) God’s solution for the wholesale corruption and violence: capital punishment on a mass scale! (i.e., the flood (Genesis 6:13).
B. After The Flood
1) Man is immediately given an awesome responsibility:
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:6).
(a) God now requires a reckoning from those who kill.
(b) He now requires a killer to be killed by his fellow man.
2) The reason God requires this of man: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him” (Genesis 1:27).
(a) To kill one created in God’s image is a serious offense worthy of death!
(b) Because man is created in God’s image: (1) He possesses the ability to exercise justice and righteousness and (2) He is capable of being a worthy administrator of capital punishment.
While the evidence is scarce, it appears that before the flood people took God’s word to Cain as a license to kill without consequence. With the flood, God Himself administered a form of capital punishment upon the violent and corrupt. After the flood, He charged man with the responsibility to take the life of those who shed blood.
Capital Punishment Under The Old Covenant
God had given the law of Moses to govern the nation of Israel. The Law was both a civil and religious law, and has served as the basis for criminal justice in many other civilizations since first given by God. In it, we find that capital punishment was proscribed for the following crimes:
1) Premeditated murder – Exodus 21:12-14
2) Parental abuse – Exodus 21:15
3) Kidnapping – Exodus 21:16
4) Cursing parents – Exodus 21:17
5) Striking an expecting mother (which causes the child to be born prematurely and dies) – Exodus 21:22-25
6) Failure to keep a killer animal from killing – Exodus 21:28-29
7) Killing a thief in revenge – Exodus 22:2-3
8) Sorcery – Exodus 22:18
9) Bestiality – Exodus 22:19
10) Adultery – Leviticus 20:10
11) Incest – Leviticus 20:11-12
12) Homosexuality – Leviticus 20:13
13) Marrying both mother and daughter – Leviticus 20:14
14) Being a medium or spiritist – Leviticus 20:27
15) Breaking the Sabbath – Numbers 15:32-36
Was The Law Of Moses Thus A Good Law?
Paul said that the law was “holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12). While the religious aspects of the Law was temporary (Gal. 3:23-25), the civil law served its purpose well – to govern and preserve a nation. Who would be so presumptuous to say they could improve upon such a civil code of ethics? Many have arrogantly presumed they could do better and countries have gotten worse, not better! Certainly under the Old Testament capital punishment was ordained of God, but we live under the New Testament, not the Old; what does the New Testament say concerning capital punishment?