In Defense of the Death Penalty

Capital punishment is an emotionally charged topic. It’s also muddied by rhetoric of both the uninformed and the dogmatic. Usually occasioned by a murder conviction, the death penalty stirs people to dizzying emotional heights as they argue for either the commutation of supposedly barbaric method of punishment or for the just execution of a deserving criminal. It’s a painful subject for many. Yet capital punishment is a subject that needs to be discussed, and be exposed to the light of God’s Word.

Simply put, God authorizes governments to rightly administer capital punishment to the vilest offenders in society. Although many claim the contrary, this has neither been diluted nor replaced by any teaching of the New Testament.

There are numerous groups in the United States dedicated to abolishing capital punishment as a cruel and barbaric response to crime — or perceived crime, as some view criminal behavior. Some members of these groups are guided by their love of humanity, however misguided that love. Some believe that Jesus taught that love outstripped the Old Testament law. However, while these lines of reasoning are understandable in a culture that denies Biblical authority, such motives are demonstrably wrong.

Common Fallacies
Death penalty opponents in the United States believe that death row is over-populated. This is hardly the case. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice website, 71 persons were executed in this country in 2002. That same site states, "At yearend 2001, 37 States and the Federal prison system held 3,581 prisoners under sentence of death, 20 fewer than at yearend 2000. All had committed murder." The most recent census indicates that 281,421,906 people lived in this nation as of April, 2000. Sentencing deserving criminals to death has not reached epidemic proportions.

Many Americans have been led to believe that capital punishment is used as a penalty for being black in America. Notable commentators such as Jesse Jackson often make claims of racial bias in sentencing. Not surprisingly, Christianity Today magazine has helped to perpetuate this myth. In a commentary published in 1998, the editors stated, "The death penalty as it is practiced in this country is unfair and discriminatory." The reason for this assertion was, "Race, class, and geography are the best predictors of who will get the death sentence for first-degree murder." Yet the facts regarding the sentence of death do not support such claims. Of those 71 criminals executed in 2002, 53 were white. Only 18 were black. The most recent statistical breakdown of race on death row indicates that there are more whites awaiting execution than any other racial group. According to the Bureau of Justice, of persons under sentence of death in 2001:

Finally, the argument is made that criminal punishment is no deterrent to crime. Studies, in fact, have indicated the opposite. Columnist Don Feder put this in perspective recently, stating, "Since 1973, when the death penalty was re-imposed, we’ve had more than 660 executions nationwide. In 1999, the murder rate was the lowest since 1966 (5.7 per 100,000). Coincidence?" Opponents, of course have their own sets of studies. What is undeniably true, however, is that the criminal careers of those executed have been brought to a halt. They have been deterred.

However, there is a sense in which the typical secular counter-arguments are useless. None of them actually matters. Nor does it matter that the American people reach a consensus on the issue of capital punishment. Likewise, we should not be seeking a "Christian perspective" on the topic. What matters is that we accept Biblical authority on the matter of the death penalty — and all of life. The bottom line is that God’s Word teaches that criminal offenses have consequences. What we need to explore is exactly what Scripture says and how it applies to our society today.

Crime and Punishment in the Old Testament
Opponents of the death penalty often point to the Old Testament to prove that capital punishment is simply part of an anachronistic moral code for another historical era. Dismissing the very moral code they call upon to defend their position ("Thou shalt not kill"), these proof-texters miss a very important point. God instituted the death penalty long before He promulgated the decalogue. In Genesis 9:6 we read, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." Not out of revenge, but because man is precious to God — made in His very image — did God institute the principle that the penalty for murder is death.

This brings us to an often misread portion of Old Testament Scripture, Exodus 20:13. As translated in the NIV, this verse reads, "You shall not murder." This reflects a proper translation and understanding of the Hebrew verb Xcr. We’ll leave exegetical considerations to those more able, but even the most untrained Bible student can discover that this word, whenever we find it in the Old Testament, always refers to premeditated murder or assassination. We can also discern that the penalty for breaking this commandment is clearly spelled out in Exodus 21:12, which teaches that, "Anyone who strikes a man and kills him shall surely be put to death." Scripture differentiates between killing and murder. One is abominable in God’s eyes. The other is the prescribed remedy.

Old Testament prescribes the death penalty for 18 different crimes. The list includes murder (Gen. 9:6; Ex. 21:12-14), striking a parent (Ex. 21:15), kidnapping (Ex. 21:16), cursing a parent (Ex. 21:17), causing the death of a pregnant woman and/or her child (Ex. 21:22-25), allowing a proven dangerous animal to kill a person (Ex. 21:28-20), sorcery and witchcraft (Ex. 22:18), adultery (Lev. 20:10), incest (Lev. 20:11-12,14), homosexuality (Lev. 20:13), sex with animals (Lev. 20:15-16), cursing God (Lev. 24:10-16), tempting people to idolatry (Dt. 13:1-16), rebellion against appropriate authority (Dt. 17:12), bearing false witness in a capital case (Dt. 19:16-20), rebellion against parents (Dt. 21:18-21), fornication (Dt. 22:13-21), and rape of a married woman (Dt. 22:25-29).

The "criminal justice system" of the Old Testament required that all evidence in capital cases be solid. Great care was to be taken to protect against error or vengeful motives. Deuteronomy 19:15 specifically teaches, "One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." Such care was to be exercised in accepting evidence that if a witness was found to have perjured himself, he was to receive the punishment prescribed for the offense for which the defendant was accused (Dt. 19:16-20). As noted in the list above, this meant that a false witness in a capital case was subject to the death penalty.

Safeguards against vengeance are an integral part of the Old Testament law. The often misapplied Lex Talionis is a primary example. Found in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, this principle states:

Often purported to be a license for vengeance, this principle is more properly viewed as a limitation on punishments. It states that punishments are to be proportional to the offense — and no more. This law then, acts as a precaution against allowing emotions to compound the original offense by the sin of excessive punishment.

The New Testament Ethic of Love
Many — especially those who believe in a dichotomy between an Old Testament God of Wrath and a New Testament Jesus meek and mild — have assumed that the New Testament refutes Old Testament teaching on the subject of capital punishment. To state simply that this is wrong is to understate matters considerably. This important subject matter deserves a more thorough reading of God’s Word, not just a glance at a condensed version.

It is claimed that Jesus set aside all teachings on capital punishment — and the rest of the law — when He preached what we have come to know as The Sermon on the Mount. Jesus taught, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Mt. 5:38-39). It is hard to make it say that Jesus is overturning the Old Testament law. Far from it. Rather, Jesus is teaching that we need to exceed the requirements of the law. We need not only to carry out the provisions specified, we need to reach out to condemned criminals with love and prayer. We need to offer them the peace of the gospel of salvation.

Not only did Jesus not refute the law, He told us specifically that this was not His intention. In Matthew 5:17-18 He makes clear His adherence to the authority of the law, stating:

The apostle Paul also affirms the authority of the state both to try citizens and to impose capital punishment. In Acts 25:10-11, Paul stood before a judge and declared, "I am now standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried. I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die." This was no self-serving, theoretical statement on Paul’s part. On the authority of God’s Word, he placed himself in the hands of the Roman state.

In Romans 13:1-7 Paul elucidates his best argument in favor of capital punishment. Here he teaches that the magistrate is a minister of God in his administration of justice. The power of the sword is placed into the hands of civil authorities. That those in authority may be heathen is of no consequence in this regard. God has often used heathen nations to chastise His people. John Calvin explains that since the magistrates cannot perform their duties "unless they defend good men from the wrongs of the wicked, and give aid and protection to the oppressed, they have been armed with power with which severely to coerce the open malefactors and criminals by whose wickedness the open peace is troubled or disturbed."¹

Contained within Paul’s instruction is yet another safeguard against vengeance. Note that the power of the sword is not given to grieving families or wronged victims. It is given to the state as a solemn ministry.

Serious Objections
Several of those crimes for which capital punishment was prescribed in the Old Testament give pause to the modern reader. Particularly difficult to understand are the crimes of children against their parents. Surely, some assert, these cannot rise to the level of capital offenses. In a November 1997 article, Kenneth Gentry answered these objections well. He wrote:

Is the Law Regarding Capital Punishment Normative Today?
It is well and duly noted that there are divisions of laws within the Old Testament. Some have been superceded by the sacrifice of the spotless lamb, Jesus Christ. Gone are the ceremonial laws of Israel. The moral law, however, remains. The principle of proportional punishment was set in place before the moral code was delivered; it was a major part of the teaching of the Old Testament law, and it was upheld by the teaching of the New Testament. Nowhere is there to be found any teaching that supplants the teaching on capital punishment. Man is made in God’s image. If we destroy that image-bearer we are still subject to the penalty, that is, death.

Conclusions
This is a hard teaching for many people. They simply can’t get their arms around a teaching that calls for the shedding of blood. But, it is God’s Word. This does not mean that there are not questions and problems involved in the administration of the law. We can rightly ask whether capital punishment can be fairly administered in imperfect societies by fallen men. We can question whether our apparatus of justice is doing its job in protecting the population and seeking justice for all.

Christians must, as Jesus taught, exceed the provisions of the law. It is our responsibility to minister to the fatherless and the widows, the hungry and the thirsty. But we must also recognize that sin is in our midst. God’s Word instructs us that criminal offenses have consequences. This we question at our own peril.

Curt Lovelace is a small town pastor and a student of history. He has finally moved to Maine where, when asked if he would like to declare a political affiliation on his voter registration card, he politely declined.

Few doubted the morality of the death penalty in the age that believed in the divine right of kings. Or even in earlier times. St. Paul had this to say (I am quoting, as you might expect, the King James version):

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. (Romans 13:1–5)

This is not the Old Testament, I emphasize, but St. Paul. One can understand his words as referring only to lawfully constituted authority, or even only to lawfully constituted authority that rules justly. But the core of his message is that government—however you want to limit that concept—derives its moral authority from God. It is the "minister of God" with powers to "revenge," to "execute wrath," including even wrath by the sword (which is unmistakably a reference to the death penalty). Paul of course did not believe that the individual possessed any such powers. Only a few lines before this passage, he wrote, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." And in this world the Lord repaid—did justice—through His minister, the state.

These passages from Romans represent the consensus of Western thought until very recent times. Not just of Christian or religious thought, but of secular thought regarding the powers of the state. That consensus has been upset, I think, by the emergence of democracy. It is easy to see the hand of the Almighty behind rulers whose forebears, in the dim mists of history, were supposedly anointed by God, or who at least obtained their thrones in awful and unpredictable battles whose outcome was determined by the Lord of Hosts, that is, the Lord of Armies. It is much more difficult to see the hand of God—or any higher moral authority—behind the fools and rogues (as the losers would have it) whom we ourselves elect to do our own will. How can their power to avenge—to vindicate the "public order"—be any greater than our own?

So it is no accident, I think, that the modern view that the death penalty is immoral is centered in the West. That has little to do with the fact that the West has a Christian tradition, and everything to do with the fact that the West is the home of democracy. Indeed, it seems to me that the more Christian a country is the less likely it is to regard the death penalty as immoral. Abolition has taken its firmest hold in post–Christian Europe, and has least support in the church–going United States. I attribute that to the fact that, for the believing Christian, death is no big deal. Intentionally killing an innocent person is a big deal: it is a grave sin, which causes one to lose his soul. But losing this life, in exchange for the next? The Christian attitude is reflected in the words Robert Bolt’s play has Thomas More saying to the headsman: "Friend, be not afraid of your office. You send me to God." And when Cranmer asks whether he is sure of that, More replies, "He will not refuse one who is so blithe to go to Him." For the nonbeliever, on the other hand, to deprive a man of his life is to end his existence. What a horrible act! FT May 2002: God’s Justice and Ours

Probe Ministries - Capital Punishment
The Bible's Teaching on Capital Punishment
The Bible and Capital Punishment
On Capital Punishment! - a collection of links plus Biblical references
Issues of Life: Capital Punishment
Pro-Death Penalty.com
The New American - Issues in Focus - Capital Punishment

On April 11, 1989, 16 year old Jeremy Peter Flachbart a learning disabled student was brutally beaten to death by Terry Joe Windham (who was on probation for burglary and vandalism), who decided he wanted to commit murder to see what it felt like to kill. Jeremy, was on his way home from school when he was ambushed and beat to death with a 2 foot section of 4x4 fence post by Windham. After hitting Jeremy once from behind, Jeremy went down and Windham hit him 10 more times, after the 10th blow Jeremy groaned and Windham hit him 5 more times for a total of 16 blows.

Windham, went to a local game room to brag about his vicious act of murder, to his younger brother and some friends; he then took them to view Jeremy's body. While the police were investigating the scene he was on the sidelines watching, bragging, laughing, and making threats that if anyone told on him he'd kill them too. He was arrested on the scene, confessed, and was charged with 1st degree Murder; plea bargained down to 2nd degree Murder; was sentenced to 20 years. While he was in jail awaiting trial he made threatening phone calls to students. He will have served a little over 11 years of his sentence, he will have a 6th parole hearing on March 12, 2003 He was sentenced 20 years on 4/11/89. He became eligible for a first parole 3/16/91. (The murder happened on 4/11/89 but because of the way sentencing is figured in Tennessee he was sentenced on the day the crime happened). Freeper Help Needed: My Child's Killer Is Up For A 6th Parole Hearing

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