“Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death. . . But if a man schemes and kills another man deliberately, take him away from My altar and put him to death” (Exodus 21:12, 14).
Growing up in America, the idea of capital punishment has been around for a long time. Several westerns, both TV and movies, included scenes of hangings for various and sundry crimes, usually stealing horses, but sometimes for other crimes. We knew of the electric chair and the gas chamber. And history taught us of the guillotine and other forms of capital punishment.
I never really thought much about the issue, until one Sunday when I was in my mid-teens, and one of the teachers in our Sunday School class raised the issue of whether capital punishment was biblical. The verse quoted above was cited as we began our discussion. It was decided that, yes, capital punishment was biblical and we moved on to other issues.
As is so often the case, though, “proof texting” a subject—focusing on one Bible verse to justify or answer a question—is sometimes dangerous. The Bible is written in a totality, and context is critical in forming an opinion.
So, the short answer to the question, “Does the Bible endorse capital punishment?” has a short answer. Yes, it does. But there’s more to the question that needs to be addressed.
When Does the Bible Say a Person Should be Put to Death?
Most of the laws on capital punishment in the Bible are found in the Mosaic laws. Under the Law, people were to be put to death for the following reasons:
- Attacking one’s parents (Exodus 21:15)
- Kidnapping (Exodus 21:16)
- Cursing one’s parents (Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9)
- Violating the Sabbath (Exodus 31:15)
- Adultery (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22)
- Incest (Leviticus 20:11-12)
- Homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13)
- Bestiality (Leviticus 20:15-16)
- Blasphemy (Leviticus 24:13-16)
- Touching the Tabernacle as it was being moved without permission (Numbers 1:51)
- Leading others to worship another god (Deuteronomy 13)
I don’t believe the list is exhaustive, but it gives us a sense of the things God took seriously when He gave the Law to Moses.
There were numerous things that were capital offenses in the Law that we no longer consider worthy of capital punishment. While there are many things on this list that we find offensive today and are condemned by a moral society, nonetheless we are reluctant to take a life for the commission of the sin.
Still, there are many who agree that, because the Bible allows capital punishment for the deliberate taking of a human life, we should and must have capital punishment. Hopefully, most people consider such a final step to be a last resort, but one that must be taken for those special cases.
But just because the Bible allows it in the Old Testament, does that mean that Christians are required to continue the practice, even in limited reasons such as murder and treason? After all, Genesis 4 records the first deliberate murder of one human being by another. When Cain killed Abel, God did not take Cain’s live. Instead, while God did punish Cain, He also marked Cain in order that someone would not take Cain’s life as a result of the murder. Later in the same chapter, one of Cain’s descendants also admits to killing someone, but his life is not forfeited, either.
So, what should a Christian believe about capital punishment?
The New Testament and Capital Punishment
Since the vast majority of the Old Testament is silent on the matter of capital punishment, it should come as no surprise that the New Testament is almost mostly silent on the matter. The few times the New Testament speaks on issues that deserve capital punishment, though, seem to indicate a new way of viewing the world and the way we respond to punishment for sins and crimes.
For instance, the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery and brought before Jesus. It is taken from John 8. In the passage, the woman is brought to Jesus and He is asked whether or not she should be put to death. Specifically, the question goes like this: “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. Now what do you say?” (vs. 4-5). The Bible tells us Jesus’ response to the question was to stoop down and start writing in the sand. The questioners continued with their question, insisting on an answer, so Jesus straightened up and said, “If anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7). He then stooped down and returned to writing in the sand. Eventually, the accusers began leaving, the oldest first, then the rest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman. Jesus asks her if anyone has condemned her, and she replies that no one has. Jesus’ response is, “Then neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin” (v. 11).
There’s a lot to this story that is unanswered. Why was she the only one brought to Jesus; where’s the man? What was Jesus writing on the ground? Neither of these questions really need to be answered. The point is that the Law stipulated capital punishment, and Jesus refused to be a part of it. He didn’t deny the sin, He didn’t dispute her guilt, but He did deny the need for her execution.
In more modern translations, there is a notation that earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not include this passage, and it would be easy to dismiss this possibly apocryphal passage is being irrelevant to the argument. And I have no problem with that. I will say, though, that the passage seems consistent with Jesus and His ministry of compassion and forgiveness. It follows His statement that He has not come to condemn but to save (John 3:17; John 12:47).
Also, this passage seems consistent with the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus begins a series of lessons with, “You have heard it said . . . but I tell you.” Jesus quotes various Laws from the Old Testament and teachings of the Pharisees, but then counters with His instructions that the letter of the law is always secondary to the spirit of the law. It’s not the what we do, but the why of what we do that matters most to Jesus, and the reason for our actions is how we discover a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.
With the Sermon on the Mount as a guide, and with Jesus’ proclamation that He did not come to judge the world but to save it, and consistent with the passage of John 8, it would appear that Jesus has walked away from the idea of capital punishment.
One could also look at Jesus’ words as He was being nailed to the cross—“Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”—seems to speak to a reconsideration of capital punishment. Even though the soldiers were carrying out orders for a state-sanctioned taking of a life, we know of Jesus’ innocence and we know of the wrongness of their actions. Still, Jesus sought their forgiveness.
When Stephen, one of the first deacons of the Jerusalem church, was being stoned to death for his supposed heresy, he also called upon God to not hold the sins against those who were stoning him (cf. Acts 7). Paul never sought punishment for those who persecuted him. In fact, there is no record in the New Testament of any capital punishment except those performed against Jesus and His followers.
These all seem to point us away from the certainty of capital punishment and should at least give us pause in supporting it.
Conclusion
The taking of a human life, for any reason, should be considered as a last resort in all cases. Such a decision should never be made without careful consideration and due process. The Bible does allow for capital punishment in the Old Testament, but we need to remember that Christians are people of the New Testament. We recognize that the New takes precedence over the Old.
When we add to that the advent of DNA testing, and the realization that such testing has shown that numerous people have been wrongly convicted of crimes they did not commit, it should give us double pause when we consider capital punishment as valid. Life in prison without possibility of parole can be the better choice in our society today. After all, capital punishment is final. If it turns out we make a mistake in the execution of an innocent person, it’s impossible to reverse such an act.
As followers of Christ, our first priority is to be obedient to the nature and will of Christ, even when it extends to matters of crime and punishment.
© 2018 Glynn Beaty