Q: What Is Your Scriptural View On The Death Penalty?
Q: We see some Christians marching against the death penalty and some standing in favor of: What’s your view, based on the scripture?
A: Over the past several years, we’ve all seen a number of injustices played out in the court system. Therefore we would have to agree that our whole criminal justice system is in serious need of reformation and restructuring. You are correct, in your assessment, that many Christians are divided about the issue of capital punishment, as to whether or not it’s fair and humane in the degree of punishment dished out.
Throughout church history, the consensus has been that capital punishment is a good thing. We see in the New Testament text (Gospel of John, chapter 18), where the Roman soldiers came to the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus, and the Apostle Peter took up a sword and cut the ear off of one of the servants that stood close by: Jesus said, “Put up your sword Peter; he that lives by the sword will die by the sword.” This verse confirms that capital punishment had not been abolished, between the Old (see Genesis 9:6) and New Testaments.
There are 10 Commandments found in Exodus 20, one of them states, “Thou shalt not kill.” Those that find themselves marching around the gates of a maximum security prison, use this verse to say that capital punishment should be abolished. What they fail to understand is the actual meaning of the verse: it makes reference to ‘premeditated murder’ – to maliciously plan to do bodily harm to someone. Because of the wickedness and sinfulness of man’s heart, God instituted capital punishment to deter the crime; and if the perpetrator was brazen enough to carry-out the crime, then, in Exodus Chapters 21-23, we find where God had set forth the provisions for those who transgressed His law.