1st December, 2005

JIM REIHER

When it comes to the issue of the death penalty, in the church there is clearly divided opinion on the issue.

On the one hand, some Christians say that we should support a government’s right to use capital punishment. After all, the Bible allows for it. The Old Testament has a number of places that show they used capital punishment. It is even mandated in the law (for example, Exodus 21:12-14; Deuteronomy 22:25, and so on). Some laws were so important that offenders were put to death. And doesn’t the Bible teach “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”?

PICTURE: Jeffrey Smith (iStockphoto.com) "Christians who say that the Bible has capital punishment...and so we should too, are not consistent in the way they then want to apply capital punishment. The Bible calls for capital punishment for various crimes. But we only want it applied to people who murder (including drug dealers and terrorists) and maybe for those who rape, as well. But what does the Bible want it applied to?"

But, on the other hand, other Christians say that it is not God’s ideal way for humans to treat each other by taking any life. They argue that the Old Testament was fulfilled in Christ (Matthew 5:17-48) and we are not Hebrews living under the Old Covenant but Christians living under the New! Jesus repudiated “an eye for an eye” in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, “You have heard that it was said ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’, but I say to you, do not resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also…Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:38-44).

To which the first side replies that even though Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant, capital punishment is not just in the Old Testament, it is also in the New. And Paul seemed to accept that it was within the God-given realm of worldly governments to “bear the sword” (Romans 13:4). Paul was also willing to be executed (Acts 25:11) if he had done “anything deserving of death". The same supporters of the death penalty would also say that Jesus’ call for us to love our enemies and not to retaliate is for individuals as they walk the Christian walk. It is not for governments which have a different mandate from God.

But the group who oppose capital punishment will reply by saying that Paul accepted the realities of the world around him, and that he set out guidelines and rules and made comments in his letters; that accepted the playing field that he lived in. Paul tried to work as a disciple in the context he found himself in. But this is not the same thing as endorsing the playing field and all its realities. Yes: there was capital punishment in the days of Paul, but does that make it God’s ideal way for us to treat each other? There was also slavery in the days of Paul and he regulated that too, but he never spoke against slavery directly. Is slavery God’s ideal way of treating one another? This group also argue that governments might have the power to execute, and they definitely have the authority to govern and make the place a safe place for all. But that does not mean they have to execute people. They can fulfil the safety goal by keeping offenders in jails for lengthy periods of time, and perhaps in some cases, for the term of their natural life. The goal of protecting society and the responsibility of “bearing the sword” does not have to include capital punishment.

Two compelling arguments

There are still two arguments that seem to tilt the balance of the debate for me personally. I have come to believe that it is not the Christian way to support capital punishment. My two main reasons are that firstly, Christians who say that the Bible has it - the law of the Old Testament demanded it for various offences - and so we should too, are not consistent in the way they then want to apply capital punishment. The Bible calls for capital punishment for various crimes. But we only want it applied to people who murder (including drug dealers and terrorists) and maybe for those who rape, as well. But what does the Bible want it applied to?

The list of the crimes I found includes: premeditated Murder (Exodus 21:12-14); sacrificing your children to another God (Molech, to be specific)  (Leviticus 20:2); striking your father or mother (Exodus 21:15); kidnapping (Exodus 21:16; Deuteronomy 24:7); slave trading, based on kidnapping (Exodus 21:16); cursing your parents (Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9); owning a vicious animal, and then if it kills a person (Exodus 21:29); sorcery or being a medium (Exodus 22:18; Leviticus 20:27); lying with an animal - both the man or woman, and animal to die (Exodus 22:19; Leviticus 20: 15,16); sacrificing to any other god than the Lord alone (Exodus 22:20); working on the Sabbath (Exodus 31:14,15); adultery, both put to death (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22); a man having sex with his “father’s wife”, both put to death (Leviticus 20:11); a man having sex with his daughter-in-law, both put to death (Leviticus 20:3 - but not for Judah, in Genesis 38, [he lived before the law was given of course]); homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13); rape of an engaged woman - the man must die (Deuteronomy 22:25 - but not the rape of a single girl. In that case, the penalty is that he must marry her Deuteronomy 22:28,29); if a man marries a woman and her mother (bigamy when its in the same family over two generations - but not polygamy generally) (Leviticus 20:14); if a girl is not a virgin on her wedding night (Deuteronomy 22:20,21); practitioners of other religions who try to get you to follow theirs (Deuteronomy 13:1-5); and, anyone (even family members) who encourage you to follow other gods (Deuteronomy 13:6-10).

Now I don’t know about you, but I would not agree that a girl who is not a virgin on her wedding night should be put to death. Nor the owner of a dog that attacks and kills a child (as tragic as that is - maybe kill the dog, but not the owner!) Nor a child who hits his or her parent. Nor a person with a different religion. Nor a New Age practitioner. Nor a homosexual. And so on. Do people who say: “The Bible calls for capital punishment so we should have it too!” really want it the way the Hebrew people of the ancient world had it? And if we say “no” to any one item on that list (How about “not keeping the Sabbath”?), then who gave us the right to change how it is applied!!

No. Something else is happening here. The Old Covenant is superseded by the New Covenant. Jesus has shown us all the more complete way of God. We can’t just take bits from the Old and apply them to the New without passing them through the filter of Jesus.

And that brings me to my second point (the most important point).

Jesus did not support the use of capital punishment, even when the Old Testament law said it should be used. Read John 8:1-11. Here is a woman caught in the very act of adultery. The law said she should be killed. Jesus must have known that - Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 make it clear. This is in the very laws of Moses. Not someone’s opinion - the words of God through Moses! She should be stoned to death with large rocks right there and then!

But Jesus did not go along with it. He said: “He who is without sin, cast the first stone". His calmness, His authority, and His words, soon saw the crowd disperse and He was left with the woman. He reaffirms that He would not condemn her, and He exhorts her to sin no more.

A judicial system that has rehabilitation as its goal, but which still keeps a society safe from evil doers, is a much closer system that captures what Jesus did here. It is being like Jesus, to oppose the death penalty.

Now some opponents will try to get around John 8:1-11 by saying that it is a disputed passage. It is in italics in some Bibles. It has a footnote that some old reliable manuscripts don’t have that story in them.That much is true. Some old manuscripts of John’s Gospel don’t have that story. Others do. How do we explain that? Nearly every commentator you read will end up saying: it may be that John, the original author, did not include that story, and that it was added later by someone else who did not want the story lost to the church. But did it happen? Is it a true story about Jesus? Nearly everyone will say yes. It is exactly like the Jesus we read about on every other page of the New Testament. The dispute about the passage is not over the reliability of the story, it is only about the fact that maybe John Zebedee might not have been the actual recorder of the story. Jesus always shows grace and compassion to prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners of all makes and sizes. The story is typical of our Lord, not an exception!

A conclusion
We should resist any attempts to bring back capital punishment into our society. Let’s have a strong prison system that punishes crimes properly, but which also seeks to rehabilitate. But not the death penalty. To take the life of another who is also made in the image of God is not the ideal way to treat one another.

Jim Reiher (BA (double major in history), BA in Theology, Dip Ed. MA in Theology (Hons)) is a full time lecturer for Tabor College Victoria, lecturing in church history and New Testament; and also has speciality interest areas in women’s ministry, creative ministry, and the New Age movement. His views are not necessarily those of other Tabor faculty members or of Tabor College.

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