- Why War is Incompatible with Christian Ethics
- Why Capital Punishment is Incompatible with Christian Ethics
- Why Killing in Self-Defense is Incompatible with Christian Ethics
- Why Abortion is Incompatible with Christian Ethics
Previously on this blog, I have made the case for Christian pacifism, critiqued Christian just war theory, and responded to the most common objections to Christian pacifism. One might assume that adopting an antiwar, pacifist stance necessarily entails being opposed to the death penalty. However, this is not necessarily the case, since there are some important differences between the violence of war and the violence of capital punishment. The violence of war indiscriminately targets anyone wearing the uniform of the opposing army, even if we do not know for certain that they have any intention of using violence or acting wickedly. In contrast, the violence of capital punishment targets a guilty individual who is proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be guilty and deserving of execution. Thus, one could argue that the death penalty is more justifiable than the violence of war. Nevertheless, I will argue that inflicting the death penalty on another human being is incompatible with Christian ethics.
Capital Punishment in the Old Testament
There was a time when I thoroughly believed that Christians should be in favor of the death penalty. The issue was, I believed, very simple. Just read Genesis 9:6, where God says, “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.” This verse seems to establish the legitimacy of the death penalty for murderers. And since God says this to Noah, not to Israel specifically, it was, I believed, a general command that applied to all human beings and all nations for all time.
If one looks at the context of this verse, however, there is a problem with this interpretation. Just two verses before this, God tells Noah, “You must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it” (Gen 9:4). It is very difficult to see how this could be an abstract, universal moral command that is supposed to apply to all human beings and all nations for all time. Almost no Christian today would argue that Christians are supposed to follow this ceremonial dietary regulation, much less that all people and all nations are supposed to follow it. But if this is the case, then neither can we simply assume that God’s command to kill murderers directly applies to Christians today. It is illegitimate to take Genesis 9:6 out of the context of the rest of the story of Scripture and use it to support the death penalty, as if the Gospel of Jesus Christ has nothing to say about the use of violence by God’s people today.
Of course, Genesis 9:6 is not the only Old Testament text that speaks about the death penalty. Through Moses, God clearly commanded His people Israel to execute anyone guilty of premeditated murder (Exod 21: 12-14; Lev 24:17, 21; Numb 35: 16-34). “Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die,” God commanded, “They are to be put to death” (Numb 35: 31). If the death penalty is wrong, many Christians argue, then God would never have commanded His covenant people to inflict it on the guilty in the Old Testament. Therefore, they argue, it is legitimate for Christians to inflict the death penalty on evildoers today.
However, there are major problems with assuming that what the Old Testament says about the death penalty directly applies to Christians today. The Old Testament Torah did command the ancient Israelites to inflict the death penalty on murderers. However, it also commanded them to inflict the death penalty on people guilty of a whole host of other moral and religious crimes: kidnapping (Exod 21:16), cursing one’s parents (Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9), bestiality (Exod 21: 19; Lev 20: 15-16), breaking the Sabbath (Exod 31:14-15), adultery (Lev 20:10), homosexual behavior (Lev 20:13), being a medium/spiritist (Lev 20:27), blasphemy (Lev 24:16), approaching the sanctuary without authorization (Numb 1:51, 3:10, 38), idolatry (Deut 13:1-18, 17:2-7), showing contempt for judges or priests (Deut 17:12), and false prophecy (Deut 18:20). Almost no Christian today would advocate inflicting the death penalty on people guilty of any of these crimes today. It is completely arbitrary and unwarranted to see the Torah’s death penalty for murder as applying to Christians today, but not its death penalty for any of these other crimes. If it is wrong for Christians to inflict the death penalty on people who are guilty of these other crimes today, then it is also wrong for Christians to inflict the death penalty on murderers today.
The Death Penalty and the Gospel
So, if God established the death penalty for serious crimes in the Old Testament, why would it be wrong for Christians to inflict the death penalty on the guilty today? A shallow, superficial response to this question some would give is that, even if someone is a murderer, they do not deserve to be killed. This idea is completely and utterly false. God’s word is very clear that murderers do indeed deserve to be killed (Gen 9:6).
However, as we have seen, God’s word is also clear that those guilty of many other moral crimes besides murder also deserve to be killed. In fact, according to the apostle Paul, all human beings are sinners (Rom 3:23), the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), and thus all human beings are guilty before God and deserving of death. But the amazing truth of the Gospel is that God has not given us the punishment which we justly deserved. Instead, on the cross, God took upon Himself the consequences of our sin and suffered and died for us, so that we could be forgiven and be reconciled to God.
Every Christian who believes the Gospel thus knows that they are deserving of death, but that God has graciously and lovingly not given them the death penalty which they justly deserve. Instead, He has adopted them as His beloved children! As recipients of God’s love and grace, Christians are then called to show that same love and grace to others. They are to act as agents of God’s reconciling work (2 Cor 5:16-21).
Whenever a Christian looks at a murderer, they are looking at someone who deserves to be killed. However, the Christian knows that they also are deserving of death, but God has not given them what they deserve. The Christian also knows that this murderer is someone for whom Christ died and rose again, just as He did for them. Given this, how can a Christian look at a murderer and kill them? That is not love. That is not grace. That is not reconciliation. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to love our enemies (Matt 5:44; Luke 6:27, 35). Even when dealing with violent evildoers who have been proven beyond any reasonable doubt to be deserving of death, Christians must repudiate hatred and violence.
The Death Penalty and Government
There is one passage in the New Testament which many Christians would point to as supporting the legitimacy of capital punishment. The passage is Romans 13: 1-7, in which Paul writes, “The one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer” (v. 4). The “sword” Paul mentions here seems to refer to the threat of capital punishment inflicted by the government which is established by God and serves Him. Thus, it seems to suggest that Christians should not be opposed to the government carrying out the death penalty.
As I have already argued previously, this passage of Paul does not in any way teach that it is morally legitimate for Christians to act as violent agents of the government; it merely teaches that God uses the actions of the government to serve His purposes by holding back the greater evil of chaotic anarchy. Thus, even if one could say that this passage of Paul means that the death penalty is in some sense “legitimate,” it would still not be something which Christians could participate in; it would just be something which Christians would have to tolerate as part of God’s providential plans.
Christian ethics is primarily about the way of life which Christians are to embody as members of the Church. Only secondarily, if at all, is it about how Christians should try to influence their government and society. Some Christians might argue that we should just accept the government carrying out the death penalty as part of God’s will, even if it is not moral by the standards of Christian ethics. Other Christians would argue that, if given the opportunity, we should try to influence the government to abolish the death penalty, in this way moving the government a little bit closer to conformity with God’s Kingdom.
The latter position seems more reasonable. If Christians give their “approval” to the government inflicting the death penalty, in spite of it being immoral according to Christian ethics, then we could find ourselves in the bizarre position of wanting the government to be less Christian than many non-Christians want it to be. We should not take Paul’s reference to the “sword” in Romans 13 as establishing an absolute principle that governments must always inflict the death penalty. Rather, we should simply interpret it as a general reference to the punishment which governments inflict on criminals. If Christians have the opportunity to influence the government they live under to become less violent by abolishing the death penalty, then they should take it. But regardless of what government policy is, the main point is that Christians should refuse to execute evildoers, even when it has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that they are deserving of death.