Posted by Dave on 07/14/06 at 10:36:33 am
Categories: Capital Punishment

[Writers note: sorry...this is long]

Smiles asked the following question on a post below:

First off, lets establish that the government has the Biblical and God ordained right to punish evil men(Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2). So the government does have the right to punish. Next as you have agreed with Roland that God set up a government in the OT that allowed for the death penalty. Add that to no command in the New Testament that says governments can't condemn to death, would it not be logical to assume that the death penalty is an allowed penalty to those who break the law in a way that death would be a just punishment?

I decided to reply with a new post.

Lets actually take a look at these two passages.

Here are the relevant verses from Romans 13:

1. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.
2. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
3. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval;
4. for it is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer.
5. Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.
6. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, busy with this very thing.
7. Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
8. Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
9. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
10. Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 13 says that we must submit to government authority. And in turn that a government has a right to punish those that break the law. I agree with you there. But if you continue reading the passage, it goes to say, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." I find it really difficult to claim that killing and loving your neighbor can be reconcilable.

Now…here are the relevant verses from 1 Peter 2:

13. For the Lord's sake accept the authority of every human institution, F12 whether of the emperor as supreme
14. or of governors, as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.
15. For it is God's will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish.
16. As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil.
17. Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
18. Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh.

1 Peter 2 says that government authorities were sent to punish "those who do wrong." Of course, it goes on to say that slaves must submit to their masters. I am curious to hear if you think that slaves were wrong to attempt to escape slavery?

Neither passage talks about instituting death as the ultimate punishment.

If anything, the passages do not talk about punishment but instead talk about obedience to the government, correct?

Now...if we look at the Gospels, Jesus clearly shot down capital punishment. You can start with the "turn the other cheek" passage. While many say that this is an individual claim, such things did not really exist in the Ancient Near East. The "eye for an eye" command was part of Jewish law, which was the governing authority for the Jewish people of the day. And Jesus clearly said that that law was no longer valid.

The same can be said about the woman adulteress about to be stoned, when Jesus stopped the execution. We will never know what Jesus wrote in the dirt, but we do know that Jesus once again overturned a Jewish law mandating death. This passage is interesting in that he did not actually overturn the law, but he asserted that only the guiltless could institute such a penalty. And as we all know, “all have sinned,” meaning there is no such thing as “guiltless.”

Furthermore, what I would consider the essence of the teachings of the Gospels is to love God and love others. And “others” is not limited to those that do good or those that you like. Jesus is very clear that we are to love out enemies and show grace to them, forgiving them 70 times 7. Grace, forgiveness, and love are not reconcilable with the death penalty.

Now, it is important to look at the Old Testament, as this what you are mainly basing your argument on. The institution of the death penalty in the Old Testament is quite different than the way it is currently used in the United States. Lets take a look at some of the differences.

• Most scholars would agree that the OT principle of “eye for an eye” was not a requirement as much as a limitation. This was not a command saying that one must lose their hand if they steal. It is saying that one cannot lose more than their hand if they steal.
• The OT clearly has capital offenses that are not considered to such today, such as adultery, homosexuality, accidental manslaughter and rebellious teenagers (see Exodus 21). If you are going to base your argument on the OT allowance of the death penalty, would you not have to also allow it for these “lesser” crimes?
• There were more restrictions on the death penalty in the OT than exist today (though there were more instances where it was allowed).
• The OT mandates better evidence for a capital crime than exists today. In the OT there needed to be at least two witnesses for such crimes, where today no such requirement exists. At times this nation kills individuals when there are no eye witnesses to the crime.
• There is a clear sense of mercy in the OT. While the death penalty was allowed, there is also frequent theme through the OT that one should show mercy to an offender.

While the Old Testament does allow for the death penalty, it is a very different system than exists today, with both more capital crimes and more restrictions than exist today.

I think that the Gospels, along with the rest of the New Testament, are pretty clear about how we should treat out enemies. And it is not to kill them.

When Jesus said love you enemies, I don’t think he meant to kill them.

| Permalink