Is the Death Penalty for Today?

Although God allowed for and mandated the death penalty for the breaking of certain Old Testament Mosaic laws, I believe that the Bible is explicit in its teaching that the death penalty is not for this New Testament dispensation of grace that we are in now. The following is my biblical argument against the death penalty...

Jesus said the following in Matthew 5:21-22, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” Jesus is not only speaking of the physical act of murder but he expands the sin of murder to include what’s in a person’s heart and mind. What he is saying here is that it is no better to have a murderous angry thought than to go out and murder someone. Jesus goes on to expand the definition of adultery in a similar way in verses 27-28. It reads, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Jesus taught that having anger in one’s heart towards a person is just as bad as murder. And he also taught that having lust in one’s heart is just as bad as committing adultery. Anyone who looks lustfully at a woman has committed adultery in his heart. Leviticus 20:10 says that both men and women must be put to death for committing adultery. Leviticus 24:17 says that anyone who takes a person’s life must be put to death. Leviticus 24:20 breaks it down even further and says that there should be an “eye for eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” But these were mandates that were imposed during the dispensation of the Law (Old Testament). In Matthew 5:38-39 (New Testament, dispensation of grace) Jesus says that it was said “an eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth,” but now we must turn the other cheek. In other words, no longer are we to sacrifice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but we are to give people grace as God has given us grace. If then we are no longer to practice an eye for an eye then it would follow that we should neither practice a body for a body.

In his talk on the Mount that we saw in Matthew 5:27-28 above, Jesus puts murder and adultery in the same league. Both murder and adultery were punishable by death in the Old Testament. Both murder and adultery are discussed in similar ways in Matthew chapter 5. Paul does something similar in Romans 13:8-10 (NIV) which reads, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there maybe, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” With this statement, Paul puts adultery in the same league as murder. James solidifies the sameness of adultery and murder, taking the comparison to an even higher level in the following passage of scripture:

“Whoever breaks one commandment is guilty of breaking them all. For the same one who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not commit murder.’ Even if you do not commit adultery, you have become a lawbreaker if you commit murder.” (James 2:10-11 GNT)

James makes it clear that if a person breaks one law he is guilty of breaking all of them. In other words, if a person commits one sin, he is guilty of every sin. In God’s eyes, one sin is no worse than another sin. Every sin that we commit is a heinous act in God’s eyes. To God, adultery is just as heinous as murder. So one who commits adultery is no less guilty of one who murders and one who murders is no guiltier than one who commits adultery. What James is saying is that if a person commits murder but doesn’t commit adultery, that person is still guilty of adultery because by committing murder that person has broken the entire Law of God. If then this is the case, then it follows that the reverse is true also, that being, that if a person commits adultery but doesn’t commit murder, that person is still guilty of murder because by committing murder he has broken the entire Law of God. Verse 13 goes on to say that judgment without mercy is not a good thing and that mercy should triumph over judgment.

This brings me to my main point of reference. Jesus showed this type of mercy (the type that James spoke of) to an adulterous woman who was brought to him by those who wanted her to be put to death for her sin of adultery. Mosaic law mandated that she be stoned to death. However, mercy triumphed over judgment. Instead of having her executed, Jesus instructed the people not to execute her, and by doing so, he taught the people the better way. This account is documented in the following passage of scripture:

“The teachers of the Law and Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all. ‘Teacher,’ they said to Jesus, ‘this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death. Now, what do you say?’ They said this to trap Jesus, so that they could accuse him. But he bent over and wrote on the ground with his finger. As they stood there asking him questions, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her.’ Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground. When they heard this, they all left, one by one, the older ones first. Jesus was left alone, with the woman still standing there. He straightened up and said to her, ‘Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?’ ‘No one, sir,’ she answered. ‘Well, then,’ Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again.’ (John 8:3-11 GNT)

We have already seen that if a person commits adultery then that person is just as guilty as a person who has committed murder. If one who commits adultery is just as guilty as one who murders, and if Jesus basically taught against executing the adulterer (“those of you without sin throw the first stone”), then it stands to reason that Jesus was also teaching against executing the murderer. It is therefore safe to assume that if a murderer had been brought to Jesus instead of an adulterer, Jesus’ response would have been the same. In the eyes of God, murder is no greater a sin than adultery. In teaching us against executing the adulterer, Jesus also taught us against executing the murderer. By doing this, he was letting us know that we are all worthy of death since if we commit just one sin, we are guilty of them all. Therefore, it behooves us to be merciful towards others.

We, as human beings look at murder as the worse sin that anyone could ever commit. But in God’s eyes, all sin is the same, except for the sin of blasphemy. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, not murder, is the only unforgivable sin (Matthew 12:31). This means that murder is a forgivable sin. This also means that all sin, including murder, must be of a lesser offense, in some way, than blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The biblical fact that murder is a forgivable sin and that it is no greater a sin than adultery and all other sins (except apparently, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit) is difficult for many of us to accept because of our own personal feelings about murder, but this is what the Bible teaches. Although murder is a forgivable sin, capital punishment is not a forgiving response to murder. Certainly a murderer should be punished, but execution is the ultimate punishment. Even though the Word of God labels blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as the only unforgivable sin, God has not implemented the punishment of execution for the offense of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. How then can we implement the punishment of execution for the lesser offense (as compared to this type of blasphemy) of murder?

Since, in God’s eyes, all sin is the same and if we commit one sin we’ve committed them all, then if we, as Christians, condone capital punishment for the murderer, then we must also condone capital punishment for a whole host of other sinners including the adulterer, the fornicator, the thief, and certainly for anyone who has have ever had an abortion, paid for an abortion, or performed an abortion (since there is no question, that biblically speaking, abortion is the shedding of innocent blood and is therefore murder). Anything short of this would be setting a double standard. The bottom line here is that all of us, saved and unsaved alike, deserve death or have at one point in our lives deserved death for the sins we have committed. The following passage of scripture attests to this (it’s a lengthy quote but it brings the point home):

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women ad were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:21-32 NIV)

Romans 3:23 says that we’ve all sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. In the passage of scripture cited above, Paul tell us that those who envy, murder, deceive others, gossip, slander, are arrogant and boastful, cause strife, hate God, are heartless, disobey their parents, have no faith, are greedy, and involve themselves in sexual sin are all worthy of death. Let’s face it…all of us, at one time or another, have been guilty, if not of murder, of at least one of the other sins listed above. Therefore, all of us, at some point, according to biblical standards, have deserved death or deserve death now. How then, can any of us point a finger at someone else and insist that they be executed, when in God’s eyes, all of us are just as deserving of death as any of us?

Jesus couldn’t have said it any more clearly than he did. He said, “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.” In other words, only those of us who have no sin have the right to condemn another to death. Therefore, if you think you have that right, then you are sadly mistaken. Because the Bible says that the only person who ever lived that was without sin is Jesus, and when Jesus had a chance to condemn someone to death, he chose not to. Therefore certainly those of us who are indeed guilty of sin (which is everyone else other than Jesus), should follow his lead. So, in consideration of all that has been said, for any of us to condemn someone to death, in my biblical estimation (and for lack of a better way to express it) is like “the pot calling the kettle ‘black.’”