Death Penalty

THE DEATH PENALTY IS CONTRARY TO CHRISTIAN TEACHING:

A Top Ten List as to Why.....

Jesus was a victim of capital punishment.
The Apostle Paul, a professed killer of many Christians (Acts 22:4, Gal. 1:13, Acts 9:1-2), was never sought for execution by anyone in the early church, but was embraced (Gal. 1:23-24). Nor is there any New Testament record of any Christian or Christian community performing, calling for, or encouraging an execution. Further, none of the New Testament texts dealing with state authority specifically sanction or endorse capital punishment (Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). If the early church had held a death penalty mindset Paul would have never had a chance to evangelize the Gentile world.
The only time Jesus addressed a death penalty case he aborted the execution (John 8:1-11). Under the law the woman was to be stoned for adultery (cf. Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:23-24). Jesus' response was, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (v.7) This is part of the larger New Testament doctrine which teaches that all are sinners (Rom. 3:23) and that all are deserving of death (Rom. 6:23), which goes contrary to any doctrine that some sins are worse than others.
Scripture teaches the sanctity, divine origin, and infinite value of human life (Ps. 139:13-16; Gen. 1:27,31; Ex. 20:13). All human beings are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps. 139:14). Humans have no right to take such lives, whether it be by abortion, murder, or the death penalty.
God protected Cain, the first murderer, from facing execution (Gen. 4:14-16). "'I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me..' Then the Lord said to him, 'Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a seven-fold vengeance.' And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him." (vv. 14-15)
Jesus forgave his killers, rather than attempting to seek retribution (Luke 23:33-34). His followers in the early church did the same (e.g. Acts 7:59-60).
Jesus told his followers to forego revenge rather than insisting on legal vindication, and to forgive instead of seeking retaliation or strict justice (Matt. 5:38-42). This was practiced both individually and communally (see 2,3, and 6).
Jesus told his followers to seek reconciliation rather than vent their anger (Matt. 5:21-26), and to love their enemies instead of loving only the do-gooders (Matt. 5:43-48). The Apostle Paul continued teaching in this vain (Rom. 12:14-21), including the command to "not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (v. 21).
Divine justice is based on compassion. "Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgements, show kindness and mercy to one another." (Zech. 7:9; cf. Hos. 6:6). The New Testament further teaches that love is the fulfillment of all legal requirements and hence should be the root of all Christian practices (Rom. 13:8-10).
Under the new covenant the Old Testament legal practices, including those stipulating capital punishment, are no longer authoritative for the Christian life as they were for ancient Israel (Gal. 3:19; Acts 15:23-29). The Old Testament prescribed the death penalty for murder, adultery, beastiality, sorcery, cursing, profaning the Sabbath, and other violations. (cf. Ex. 21:12-17,23-25,28-29, 22:18-20; Lev. 20:8-16,27; Num. 35:9-34; Deut. 21:1-9,22-23, 22:20-24). If we view the aforementioned New Testament texts as valid, these stipulations are no longer mandated for contemporary practice.

Back to Andrew's Home Page.