The Christian and Capital Punishment

This is a formal persuasive essay I wrote for school during the Tookie Williams fiasco. The death penalty is an important issue where Christians must be informed. Enjoy!




The Christian and Capital Punishment

Today, capital punishment is a controversial topic. People in the world are increasingly condemning this practice, and many Christians are beginning to denounce it as well. These Christians argue that the Bible says, “thou shalt not kill,” and Jesus said, “he that takes up the sword shall die by the sword,” therefore making it immoral for a government to kill its people, and it does not even prevent crime. But in reality, capital punishment is justice, and it really works. Also, the Bible strongly supports the institution of a death penalty, and nowhere does the Bible condemn civil government for taking the life of a criminal. The arguments Christians should consider for capital punishment are that the Old Testament commands it, the New Testament reaffirms it, and it works to prevent crime and execute justice.

Capital punishment was commanded for certain crimes in the Old Testament. While the Ten Commandments reads, “Thou shalt not kill” in some Bible translations, this does not apply to government using its authority to uphold justice with a death penalty, because in the same book capital punishment is instituted to punish criminals. In the laws God gave to Moses, the death penalty was the price of justice for murder, adultery, rape, and other offenses. “Thou shalt not kill” is better translated as “thou shalt not murder.” Some may argue that this is strictly in the Mosaic Law and meant only for Israel at that time. However, even before Mosaic Law God instituted capital punishment by civil government as one of His first commands to Noah after the Flood. He said, “Whoever shed man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man” (Gen. 9:6). This command in Genesis was given for all people, not merely the nation of Israel as the Mosaic law. Some Christians counter that the New Testament repealed capital punishment as part of the old covenant and is no longer valid today.

However, the New Testament also affirms capital punishment as the duty of civil government. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans, “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God…. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil…. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil” (Romans 13:1,3,4). When the Bible speaks this way, “the sword” refers to death. The meaning of Christ’s saying, “He that takes up the sword shall die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52) is clarified here. The person that murders will also be killed by the sword of civil government, and this government is exercising a God-given right to justice, a tool that God uses to punish evil-doers. Capital punishment cannot merely be an outdated part of the old covenant, because laws that are no longer valid for Christians were always identified in the New Testament, and capital punishment is never repealed or spoken against in the New Testament, but reaffirmed as true for today.

Lastly, Christians should support capital punishment because it works. It has been suggested in various studies and statistics that capital punishment is a deterrent to murders, and the lack of the death penalty causes more murders. For instance, in the late 1960s and 1970s, when capital punishment was either outlawed or in question in the United States, the number of murders per year rose considerably, from 13,000 in 1967 to 19,555 in 1978*. Some argue that capital punishment is not a deterrent to murderers because most murderers are uneducated and irrational, not thinking of consequences. On the contrary, fear of consequences is the strongest of deterrents to the irrational and uneducated mind. The irrational person will not listen to reason and will refrain from an act only as a result of consequences. That is exactly why the consequences must be death, rather than life in prison which many criminals do not mind with relaxation, cable television and the possibility of escape. Further, a Christian can know capital punishment has a deterrent effect because the infallible word of God shows this with Israel, when God said, “all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you,” (Deuteronomy 13:11) as a result a death penalty. Even if the death penalty was not a deterrent, it is necessary to eliminate hardened murderers because they are detrimental to society and could kill again. Other inmates, prison guards, and any person within their reach if they escape prison are in danger as long as the hardened murderer lives.

Capital punishment should be supported by Christians because the Old Testament and New Testament establish it, and also because it works well. The Old Testament gave clear commands that people who shed innocent blood will have their own blood shed by the civil government. The New Testament never rebuked governments giving the death penalty, and in fact reaffirmed the commands of the Old Testament that the government has a God-given right to use capital punishment. Capital punishment works to carry out justice and to prevent crime by deterrence. Regardless of the arguments of the liberal anti-death penalty lobby, they are the words of fallible man, but the word of God is infallible and completely trustworthy and must be obeyed. Christians should not be influenced by humanism and liberal ideas, but stand firm in Scripture, realizing that capital punishment is the hand of God in punishing evildoers and a way to protect people.


*Glenn Dunehew, http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0131_Capital_Punishment