crime and punishment...

Today I have found myself reading various articles on moral/ethical issues. One topic really caught my attention. It is a highly debated argument regarding the sanctity of human life. Capital Punishment – the death penalty. As a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, I must be honest in that I haven’t (until now) put much thought or study into this. I had formed an opinion (which I will not state) and presumed it to be correct.  Here are some of my thoughts...


What is capital punishment? According to Wikipedia, “Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense.”


Is capital punishment biblical? Yes. In Exodus 20 and going forward, we find the account where Moses tells the people of God’s commandments and laws. There are multiple offenses that are punishable by death. Examples are: if a person deliberately kills another, kidnappers, those who curse their parents, if a person hits a pregnant woman and causes her to miscarry ending in the death of the prematurely born child and also anyone who practices sorcery. Let me set this straight though. There are limitations on this penalty that must be followed. Leviticus 19:15 says, “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.” Deuteronomy 17:6 and Numbers 35:30 tell us that a person should not be put to death on the testimony of only one witness; there must be two or more witnesses.


If capital punishment is biblical, is it only limited to the Jews? No. Deuteronomy 1:15 – 18, “So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials. And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien. Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it. And at that time I told you everything you were to do.”


If Christ came, didn’t he do away with the law and thus capital punishment also? No. Matthew 5:17-18 records the words of Christ saying, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the Law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.”


What is the purpose of the Law of Moses? Romans 3:19-20 gives us that purpose, “Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.” Galatians 3:23 – 25, “Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.” Please understand that Galatians 3:25 is not saying that we do not need the law; it is saying that it is no longer our guardian because Christ has come. Check out Romans 5:14-16, “Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.”


Now you are getting religious. Not so, as Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and every other denomination or religion is made up of people. When we, people – all humanity, try to make our own way to God that is religion no matter what “religious” affiliation we are, if any. However, God himself made a way for us. Unlike any other religious belief, Christianity believes that no one can or will ever be good enough on our own to go to heaven, in fact we all deserve death and hell. We also believe that because of Christ’s sacrifice and risen life, we – all humanity – can be made right with God. However, Christ is the only way we can be made right with God because He is the way that God gave us.


What does this have to do with Capital Punishment? Laws are in place to keep us doing the “right” things. Does that mean we always do? Not even close. Are there penalties and punishments when we break the law? Oh yeah. Why do we even need laws? They were established – even the Law of Moses – as a standard for us to meet. Do we meet those standards all the time? No way. Do we deserve the penalties and punishments when we don’t meet the standards of the law? Yes, we don’t always like it but we deserve it. If the penalty for taking a life is a life – that is what is deserved for the crime committed.


My last thought on this... as I thought about Christ and his “endorsement” for capital punishment; I was drawn back to a familiar story. Check out the account in Luke 23 - 24. Jesus is now before Pilate, the Roman governor, and Pilate, acting as the judge in this instance, found no reason to sentence Jesus to death. Yet the voices of Jesus’ own people grew louder and louder as they insisted he die by capital punishment. So Pilate gave in to the crowd and ordered Barabbas, a murderer – who according to the law deserved capital punishment, freed and Jesus to die in Barabbas’ place. Did he have to; no. Did he deserve it; no. He took the death penalty for my sin…so that I could be set free because of His sacrifice and risen life. I think we need to take a step back and realize that all human life is sacred to God because we are made in His own image by His own will and for His glory alone. The penalty we deserve…we don’t have to get – because of grace. For us to obey God’s call to live for Him is better than to sacrifice our eternal security for hell.