The Death Penalty: A Christian Perspective
As Christians, we all rejoiced at the overturning of Roe v. Wade because we believe so strongly in the sanctity of life. We oppose euthanasia, we fight for the rights of the unborn and we stand with the least. And yet, many within the evangelical community believe in the propriety of the death penalty. The argument being that because human life is so sacrosanct we have to kill people. That is a strange argument. Because if we believe that all are created in the image of God, then it stands to reason that our commitment would be to an unqualified absolute. All human life is sacred. Every human life counts or none of them do. So why do we make exceptions? Many would argue because the Bible tells us to. I disagree.
I know this is going to be unpopular, but I ask that you keep an open mind and simply entertain the possibility that we have not looked objectively at the text of Scripture on this issue. The reason is perfectly understandable. The reaction to any horrific crime is visceral. Evil generates an intense amalgam of fear and hatred in each and every one of us and it is just easier to subsume our rage and our desire for vengeance beneath the cloak of divine revelation.
But, the question is this: Does the Bible actually sanction the death penalty in our time? I would submit to you it does not. Scripture, in fact, calls us to a higher standard.
And to see this we are going to do three things. First, we will examine the Scriptures most often cited by proponents of the death penalty – Romans 13:4 and Genesis 9:6. Second, we will examine the story of Cain. Third, we will conclude by looking to the example of Jesus.
Arguments for the Death Penalty in Romans 13:4 and Genesis 9:6
We begin with an examination of Romans 13:4 and Genesis 9:6. Rarely is capital punishment ever defended on the basis of its inclusion in the law of Moses. Most are aware that the civil aspects of the law are not applicable to us and because the law calls for the execution of, among others, homosexuals, adulterers, and rebellious children it generally fails as a proof text in our day. Proponents of the death penalty turn instead to what came before the law and what came after it in order to justify their claim that capital punishment is universally applicable.
Romans 13:4
Proponents for capital punishment within the evangelical community typically turn first to Romans 13:4 which says this, “for he [governing authorities] is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” Advocates for the death penalty find sanction for capital punishment in Paul’s use of the word sword. There are, however, three problems with this particular interpretation.
First, the word for sword in the Greek is makhaira and its definition and function in the context of Romans 13:4 is as a stand-in for the general right of the government to punish those who violate its laws. In fact, biblical scholars are split as to whether or not makhaira even refers to the death penalty at all because a specific historical referent has proved elusive. Some have argued makhaira refers to ius gladii which was an authority given to higher Roman magistrates to kill, but it was only ever exercised by provincial governors against Roman citizens serving in the military. This had no application to Christians in Rome, so the allusion is dubious. On the other hand, others have argued that Paul is referring to policing authority, not capital punishment, by alluding to Philo’s use of “sword-bearers” to refer to Egyptian police officials. Still others say the word “sword” refers to the military power of Rome. All of these are speculative, none are conclusive.
Second, the death penalty is not what is being discussed here in Romans 13:4 because it is clear from the immediate context (Romans 13:6-7) that Paul is talking about the government’s right to punish tax evasion. Unless we are prepared to summarily execute tax cheats as a universal rule, I’m not sure how much mileage we get out of this passage.
Third, just because the death penalty was and is legal does not make it right. Abortion is legal in California. Submission to legal authorities and support for the laws they pass are two entirely different things. Paul also exhorted slaves to obey their masters as unto Christ doing the will of God (Ephesians 6:5). But, slavery’s legality has no bearing on its legitimacy. Societies from time immemorial have institutionalized countless practices that are just flat out wrong when judged by any modern moral standard. The death penalty is one such practice. Society has a right to protect itself, but it does not possess a divinely sanctioned right to kill.
Genesis 9:6
Proponents of the death penalty also turn to what is the locus classicus for the death penalty – Genesis 9:6 which says this, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” Advocates for capital punishment see in this verse a divine mandate that came before the law of Moses and is therefore, according to them, universally applicable. There are two problems with this view.
First, Genesis 9:6 is not universal in scope. If it is, we have a serious problem. Because when we look at Genesis 9:1-7, what is clear in the text is that this forms a single, self-contained unit of thought. We know this because God starts with the imperative “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” in verse 1 and He ends with the same exact imperative in verse 7 and both are specific to Noah and his family. There are arguably two imperatives sandwiched in the middle – verse 4 and verse 6. Verse 4 says, “But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” The imperative in verse 4 is absolutely clear. The Qal Imperfect is preceded by the Hebrew particle lo’ which makes this a durative prohibition and permanently binding – it is the same exact grammatical construction that we find in the Decalogue.
The same grammatical clarity cannot be found in verse 6 so much so that it is not even clear if verse 6 is a command. Yet, we hold to the one and completely ignore the other even though both came before the law and both are found in the law. We have taken a single unit of thought and we have stripped it for parts – kept the part of the mandate that is less clear and jettisoned the part of the mandate that could not be more clear. The text simply does not allow us to do this. Bottom line: if you insist on keeping the death penalty then you had better keep kosher.
Second, it is not entirely clear from the Hebrew grammar that Genesis 9:6 is in fact a command. It has no imperatives in the Hebrew text. Arguably, nothing that even operates as a functional equivalent. The operative verb that allegedly turns the latter half of Genesis 9:6 into a mandate is in the Niphal stem in the Hebrew making it a complete passive. Just by way of comparison, when we look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 we see 12 imperatives in the Hebrew – 1 imperatival form and 11 functional equivalents where the Qal Imperfect is preceded by the Hebrew particle lo’. When we compare this to Genesis 9:6 the disparity alone should give us pause. No imperatives. The operative verb is in the passive. If this is a divine command, it is oddly worded.
So then what is Genesis 9:6? It is not a divine mandate, it is a proverbial statement. It is not prescriptive, it is predictive. It is not a command, it is a warning.
And how Genesis 9:6 is used in the New Testament makes this abundantly clear. In Matthew 26:52, Jesus said this to Peter, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” In the UBS 5th edition of the Greek New Testament, the editors cross-reference Matthew 26:52 with only two other verses in Scripture – Genesis 9:6 and Revelation 13:10. In Matthew 26:52, Jesus is not expounding upon Genesis 9:6 as an excursus on the divinely sanctioned right of the government to kill. Capital punishment is not what Jesus is talking about. Jesus is warning Peter. Violence begets violence. And the subtext is an exhortation to a wholehearted trust in the sovereignty and plan of God.
This is crystallized further in Revelation 13:10 which says, “If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” This text has nothing to do with capital punishment. It is spoken to saints during the Tribulation who are going to be persecuted by the Antichrist. This is predictive and it is a call to believers to endure suffering trusting in a God who is sovereign over all of it. Perhaps we clamor for vengeance because we forget that.
The Story of Cain
The proverbial nature of Genesis 9:6 is perhaps best seen in what we turn to next: The story of Cain. In Genesis 4:13-14, in response to God’s punishment for the killing of Abel, Cain declares this, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground and from your face shall I be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth and whoever finds me will kill me.” In Genesis 4:15, God responds, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” God then put a mark on Cain so no one would kill him. There are two important points we glean from this story.
First, the death penalty was operative without a mandate. Cain knew he would be a fugitive and he knew he would be killed for what he had done. This is reflective of the fact that this form of retribution is timeless, the principle is proverbial. Genesis 9:6 came centuries later. The truth is we do not need a divine mandate for vengeance. It is core to our fallen nature. Divine commandments in Scripture exist to impose upon us duties that we, in our fallen nature, are not inclined to do. Or they exist to prohibit us from doing the things that our sinful hearts long to. If Genesis 9:6 is a divine command, it is entirely unnecessary. Why would God find it necessary to command us to do the things we are already so demonstrably eager to do? In fact, lex talionis was not imposed by God to induce us to vengeance, an eye for an eye was instituted by God to limit our retribution to a proportional response. It is a measure of mercy.
Second, let us assume for the sake of argument there was a divine command somewhere in the white spaces in Genesis 4. This creates a serious problem because what Cain did was tailor made for the death penalty. He lured his brother to a field, laid in wait, and killed Abel in cold blood. As special circumstances homicides go, that is textbook. And yet, God placed upon him a mark that would prevent men from carrying out the death penalty. If God’s heart was so dead set on the death penalty, why would He have actively prevented it?
What we ultimately see in the story of Cain is a God who is merciful. That aspect of His character becomes even more clear when we look at how He lived when He was here.
The Example of Jesus
We conclude by looking to the example of Jesus. In John 8, the scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in the very act of adultery. She had committed a capital offense, violating a law that was applicable to that society at that time. And Jesus said in verse 7, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus articulated a principle that is seldom discussed today in the debate on the death penalty and it is this: Those who come to equity must come with clean hands. And the only One who qualifies chose to show mercy. Jesus said to that woman that day in verse 11, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more.”
Immediately, I know there are a multitude of objections for even invoking this story. One objection would be that it is not original to the text. Yes, it may not be original, but it is certainly true to life. There is not a single story in the gospels that more accurately encapsulates the character of our Lord than this one. Another objection would be that Jesus did not stone the woman because this was a trap and the scribes and Pharisees did not follow the law themselves and were not interested in justice. They only brought the woman after all. Fair enough.
But, can you think of any scenario, any offender or any offense that would have caused our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that day to consent to the death penalty?
In what is the single greatest travesty in human history, the sinless Son of God was murdered. Every last one of those who hung our Savior on that tree deserved to die. But, our Jesus asked instead for their forgiveness.
Society has every right to protect itself and to punish wrongdoing. But, it does not possess the divine prerogative and sanction to appeal to our base nature for vengeance. And Christians who advocate that we in fact do, perhaps have forgotten that we are called to a higher standard – commanded to be like the One whose name we bear. And the truth is, we are never more like Jesus than when we choose to be merciful.