Vincent
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- Mar 10, 2006
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- Very Conservative
It has come to my attention that a faction of Christians believe that Jesus did not support the death penalty. I have decided to adress this confused issue.
By the way, I am not debeating whether you or I believe in the death penalty for killers, but whether the Bible endorses it.
Some oppose the death penalty on practical grounds, arguing that it is not a deterrent. In countries like Saudi Arabia, which enforce a swift and certain death penalty, violent crime is rare. Singapore and Los Angeles have equivalent populations, yet in one year Singapore had 58 murders (most followed by swift execution) while Los Angeles had 1,063. Criminal sub-cultures like the Mafia show that the death penalty is a powerful deterrent even among career criminals, since few will ever double-cross their superiors, fearing the repercussions.
Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. (Numbers 35:31)
Paul recognized the justice of the death penalty. When he was brought before the judgment seat of Festus, he said, “For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die” (Ac.25:11). By this, Paul admitted that there were offenses worthy of death and that the government had the right to administer death in those cases.
“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” (Rom.13:4). The powers that be bear the sword to execute wrath on those that do evil. What do you think these powers are going to do with the sword? Are they going to slap someone on the wrist with it? No. They are going to “execute wrath” by executing someone. They are going to administer the death penalty.
God Himself established the death penalty long before the law was given to Moses. He told Noah, “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man” (Gen.9:5). This command has never been repealed. Not by the New Testament. Not by Paul. Not by Jesus Himself.
Apparently some Christians do not realize that Jesus and Jehovah are one and the same. Jesus was not a prophet with new insights for living, He was God in the flesh--the same God who gave us the Ten Commandments, and who said, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man" (Genesis 9:6).
This is not to be confused with the 6th commandment, which in the King James Version reads, "Thou shalt not kill." The proper translation of the Hebrew word is found in the New King James Version, which reads, "You shall not murder." Once again, a distinction needs to be made between "kill," "murder," and "execute," three very different terms.
There is a further problem with the understanding of the word, "forgiveness." Forgiveness means to "cease to feel resentment against." Forgiveness includes pardon for offenses, but I don't think that this is what Jesus intended. Instead, we are to cease to feel resentment against our offenders (hate the sin, not the sinner), but we are not to pardon, that is, to
release them from the legal penalties.
Some people say Jesus' teachings of love and forgiveness require us to abolish the death penalty. But do they really? If we followed this particular argument to its logical end, we would have to do away with all punishment. But no one suggests we should do that. The alternative is always life in prison, but should we put murderers in prison for the rest of their lives? "But Jesus would forgive." Should we put them in prison for twenty years? "But Jesus would forgive." Should we put them in prison for a week? "But Jesus would forgive." The problem comes from applying interpersonal matters with matters between citizen and state.
By the way, everyone screams, "WHAT ABOUT THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY?!" This is my answer. It was a trick question meant by the pharisees to hurt Jesus. If he told them to execute her, he would be a cruel person. If he let her go, he would break the law. So he stooped, and wrote something on the ground. We are not told what. They asked him what he meant. He said let the guiltless one throw the first rock, because if you have looked on a woman and lusted after her, you have committed adultery with her already in your heart. He shamed them into letting her go, because the law said both the man and woman in adultery should be killed. He did not accuse, because that was not his job at that coming. She had no accusers, no one to have her executed. So he let her go.
And that vengeance its the lords means person to person, not person to government.
Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness... Isa. 26:10
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets... Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great..." Mat. 5:17-19
The problem has nothing to do with the clarity of scripture. It has everything to do with the carnal preconceptions of man. Man wants a toothless Jesus. He wants the Jesus who suffers the little children to come but he rejects the Jesus who runs the moneychangers out of the temple with a whip. He wants a Jesus who will smile on his fornication and adultery, on his dishonesty and hypocrisy, with a boys-will-be-boys look. He does not want the Jesus who called the Pharisees a bunch of ugly names (see Matthew 23) or the One who talked about hell more than He talked about heaven.
Jesus believed in the death penalty. It was established by God, codified by the law, supported by Jesus Himself and sustained by the Apostle Paul. Theologians have no biblical evidence against it. They only have their perception of another Jesus. May we never follow that other Jesus but ever remain faithful to the Jesus of the Holy Bible.
Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness... Isa. 26:10
I hope this writing helps clarify the issue of Jesus and the death penalty.
By the way, I am not debeating whether you or I believe in the death penalty for killers, but whether the Bible endorses it.
Some oppose the death penalty on practical grounds, arguing that it is not a deterrent. In countries like Saudi Arabia, which enforce a swift and certain death penalty, violent crime is rare. Singapore and Los Angeles have equivalent populations, yet in one year Singapore had 58 murders (most followed by swift execution) while Los Angeles had 1,063. Criminal sub-cultures like the Mafia show that the death penalty is a powerful deterrent even among career criminals, since few will ever double-cross their superiors, fearing the repercussions.
Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. (Numbers 35:31)
Paul recognized the justice of the death penalty. When he was brought before the judgment seat of Festus, he said, “For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die” (Ac.25:11). By this, Paul admitted that there were offenses worthy of death and that the government had the right to administer death in those cases.
“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” (Rom.13:4). The powers that be bear the sword to execute wrath on those that do evil. What do you think these powers are going to do with the sword? Are they going to slap someone on the wrist with it? No. They are going to “execute wrath” by executing someone. They are going to administer the death penalty.
God Himself established the death penalty long before the law was given to Moses. He told Noah, “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man” (Gen.9:5). This command has never been repealed. Not by the New Testament. Not by Paul. Not by Jesus Himself.
Apparently some Christians do not realize that Jesus and Jehovah are one and the same. Jesus was not a prophet with new insights for living, He was God in the flesh--the same God who gave us the Ten Commandments, and who said, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man" (Genesis 9:6).
This is not to be confused with the 6th commandment, which in the King James Version reads, "Thou shalt not kill." The proper translation of the Hebrew word is found in the New King James Version, which reads, "You shall not murder." Once again, a distinction needs to be made between "kill," "murder," and "execute," three very different terms.
There is a further problem with the understanding of the word, "forgiveness." Forgiveness means to "cease to feel resentment against." Forgiveness includes pardon for offenses, but I don't think that this is what Jesus intended. Instead, we are to cease to feel resentment against our offenders (hate the sin, not the sinner), but we are not to pardon, that is, to
release them from the legal penalties.
Some people say Jesus' teachings of love and forgiveness require us to abolish the death penalty. But do they really? If we followed this particular argument to its logical end, we would have to do away with all punishment. But no one suggests we should do that. The alternative is always life in prison, but should we put murderers in prison for the rest of their lives? "But Jesus would forgive." Should we put them in prison for twenty years? "But Jesus would forgive." Should we put them in prison for a week? "But Jesus would forgive." The problem comes from applying interpersonal matters with matters between citizen and state.
By the way, everyone screams, "WHAT ABOUT THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY?!" This is my answer. It was a trick question meant by the pharisees to hurt Jesus. If he told them to execute her, he would be a cruel person. If he let her go, he would break the law. So he stooped, and wrote something on the ground. We are not told what. They asked him what he meant. He said let the guiltless one throw the first rock, because if you have looked on a woman and lusted after her, you have committed adultery with her already in your heart. He shamed them into letting her go, because the law said both the man and woman in adultery should be killed. He did not accuse, because that was not his job at that coming. She had no accusers, no one to have her executed. So he let her go.
And that vengeance its the lords means person to person, not person to government.
Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness... Isa. 26:10
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets... Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great..." Mat. 5:17-19
The problem has nothing to do with the clarity of scripture. It has everything to do with the carnal preconceptions of man. Man wants a toothless Jesus. He wants the Jesus who suffers the little children to come but he rejects the Jesus who runs the moneychangers out of the temple with a whip. He wants a Jesus who will smile on his fornication and adultery, on his dishonesty and hypocrisy, with a boys-will-be-boys look. He does not want the Jesus who called the Pharisees a bunch of ugly names (see Matthew 23) or the One who talked about hell more than He talked about heaven.
Jesus believed in the death penalty. It was established by God, codified by the law, supported by Jesus Himself and sustained by the Apostle Paul. Theologians have no biblical evidence against it. They only have their perception of another Jesus. May we never follow that other Jesus but ever remain faithful to the Jesus of the Holy Bible.
Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness... Isa. 26:10
I hope this writing helps clarify the issue of Jesus and the death penalty.
