What does the Bible say about the death penalty / capital punishment?

Of the forty eight Levitical cities six were to be selected as cities of refuge, as the latter part of the chapter indicates. The law concerning them is also given in full. The prime thought underlying the whole matter is that life belongs to the God who gave it. No man has any right to take it away. Hence in verse 30 the death penalty is plainly pronounced upon anyone convicted of murder on the testimony of two or more witnesses, thus reaffirming the primitive enactment of Genesis 9:6. The death sentence upon the murderer is to be executed by properly constituted authority. The wilful shedding of man's blood pollutes and defiles the land, and it is only cleansed as the blood of the murderer is shed. So it is stated at the end of our chapter. In the light of this, we are clearly living in an earth that is terribly defiled, and that supremely by the death of the Son of God.

But many cases would occur accidental in nature, where man's will had not been at work, and for such manslayers the cities of refuge were to be provided. There sanctuary was to be found from the avenger of blood available until the death of the high priest of those days, after which sanctuary would not be needed. We have to pass on to Joshua 20 to find the names of the six cities, and if we read that chapter we shall note how wisely they were selected. They were distributed on both sides of Jordan in such a manner that the manslayer would never be very far from one of the cities, no matter where the accident took place. Here again we note the tender mercy of our God.

Noah and his sons were blessed and made specially fruitful, so that mankind should multiply rapidly on the renewed earth, and their dominion over the beasts of the earth was emphasized. Moreover man was now given animal food for his sustenance as well as vegetable. And yet further, in the new regime established the sanctity of human life was clearly stated in connection with a primitive form of government. Murder had filled the earth before the flood, and from the time of Cain any human vengeance had been forbidden. But now God would require the blood of man's life at the hand of the slayer, and He would authorize mankind — Noah in particular, no doubt — to be the executor of His judgment. The penalty of death for murder was thus instituted by God Himself, and that from the very start of the post-diluvian age, and not merely as enacted in the law of Moses centuries later. It is of universal validity. Efforts recently made to overturn the Divine enactment are significant, especially if taken in connection with efforts to overturn other basic enactments as to marriage, parental responsibility, etc. The end of the age is marching upon us. It will arrive not with a flood of waters, but in the revelation of the King of kings and Lord of lords, when "He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."

After the flood God gave to Noah the law that "whose sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," Gen. 9:6; and to this day in the East it is considered the solemn duty of the relatives of a slain man to see that his blood is avenged. The law made a distinction between murder and man-slaughter: when a person was killed accidentally the man-slayer could run to a City of Refuge (q.v.) and be protected. God has invested man with governmental authority to carry out this universal command, which was given long before the law by Moses, and which has never been repealed or relaxed. In the N.T. the magistrate bears not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God for the punishment of evil-doers. Rom. 13.

Under the law of Moses it was enacted 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' Matt. 5:38; Ex. 21:24. With the Christian it is quite different: having been dealt with in grace, he must act also in grace towards others. The word to him is "Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." Rom. 12:19; Rev. 6:10; Rev. 19:2. Now it is the day of grace; but there is a day of vengeance coming for those that "know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 1:8. The duty of a Christian in not avenging himself in no way clashes with the exercise of the government of God by magistrates, who derive their authority from Him, in repressing and punishing evil.

The case of murder is first dealt with. This is no new enactment. To Noah God had said, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man." (Gen. 9:6.) At the hand of every man's brother would He require the life of man. Man therefore was made his brother's keeper, and God protected him whom He had made in His own image by the most solemn penalty which He could exact; for life belongs to Him, and hence he could not suffer another to trench upon His prerogative. Thus when Cain slew his brother Abel, the Lord said unto him, "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground." (Gen. 4:10.) For wilful murder there was no release from the penalty, even though the murderer might have fled for protection to God's altar. (See 1 Kings 2:28-32.) He must die. There is no countenance in the word of God for the modern philanthropic movement for the abolition of capital punishment. It substitutes indeed human ideas in the place of God's primeval law. In fact, it exalts man over God. The directions given by our Lord, in the "sermon on the mount" (Matt. 5:38-48), apply only to the relationships of the fellow-subjects of His kingdom, and not to those existing between man and man, and in no way therefore set aside the precept given to Noah.

An exception is made. "If a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee." (Compare Deut. 19:4-5; indeed the whole chapter.) If we apply these statutes to the action of the Jewish nation against Christ, remembering how they did "lie in wait," and that they at length succeeded by bribery and artifice in securing His apprehension and condemnation, it might seem as if there were for them no possible escape. But our Lord Himself prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34); so that God in grace, if they repent, on the ground of this intercession, will impute ignorance to them, and appoint them a city of refuge for escape and safety. Hence Peter, when preaching to them, said, "I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers." (Acts 3:17.) Grace thus can relieve from the penalty of the law, on the ground of the atonement for sin that was wrought out by the death of Christ.

One guilty of murder was himself to be put to death. Whatever people may say in opposing the death penalty today, in cases of proven murder, at least they cannot say it is unjust. However, if the case was not that of deliberate murder, but of manslaughter, there was a provision made for a guilty man to go to a city of refuge for his protection. As to this, see Deuteronomy 19:1-3. But in a case of premeditated murder, the penalty was death (v. 14).

In the sixth commandment there is the safeguarding of human life, of which God is the Source. Man cannot give life and he has no right to take it away, except he does so as ordained of God. After the flood Noah was authorized to slay animals for food, and government was established and the sword committed to his hand, so that death should be the penalty for murder. In the New Testament we are reminded that the earthly authority "bears not the sword in vain" (Rom. 13:4), which shows that the introduction of grace in Christ has not nullified what has been established as to government in the earth. Authorized government takes its course, but murder is strictly forbidden.

In the commencement of the new world, however, a change was made in various matters, and amongst them the principle of government is for the first time found "whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed" (Gen. 9:6). Here is the germ of government divinely instituted for the restraint of human evil. The punishment of crime in man is solemnly and expressly placed in the hands of his fellow men, and henceforth the magistrate "beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God." The abolition of capital punishment therefore is the rejection of a divine institution designed for the repression of evil. The full doctrine on the subject is given in the Epistle to the Romans, where the apostle Paul states "that there is no authority except from God: and those that exist are set up by God" (Rom. 13:1).

But suppose, instead of doing good, and having praise of the ruler, a man does evil, what then? "Be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain." Assuredly, if the ruler is not to use the sword, he does bear it in vain. He might as well, or better, not bear it at all; for an idle threat is a proof of feebleness, and a brutum fulmen brings a ruler, of all men, into contempt. St. Paul, however, anticipates no such dereliction of duty on the part of the magistrate, but warns the ill-disposed that he is God's servant, "a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." The passage is clear as noonday. It demonstrates that the authority of the sword delegated to Noah and his sons, as representatives of government, is no more repealed or neutralised by the grace of the Christian revelation, than it had been by the righteousness of the Mosaic code. It proves that the Christian is bound to respect that sword by whatever hands it may be wielded. Even if the magistrate were an infidel, if he degraded his office by regarding the popular will, not God, as the source of his authority, the Christian is not the less bound to own God's authority in him, and to honour him as God's minister in worldly things, in "the things of Caesar." It is mere delusion, therefore, to suppose that Christianity deprives a government of the authority to punish evil-doers with the sword. St. Paul, as we have seen, fully recognises that power, and describes the ruler as one authorised by God to avenge evil. To speak of mercy, amendment, etc., as the sole or chief aim when law is violated and a man is convicted of murder, for instance, is to evince the utmost confusion of thought. For while grace is the central idea in God's scheme for saving sinners by the cross, justice is and must be the foundation of all earthly government, Jewish or Gentile. Doubtless, in the gospel God can and does justify — not pardon only, but justify — the chief of sinners freely, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. But thence to infer that a world's ruler ought to deal on the same principle towards criminals, is, in my opinion, to despise both revelation and reason.

Some, I am aware, find a difficulty because of Matt. 5:38, etc., and similar texts. This is due to a failure in seizing the bearing of these scriptures; for no believer would even insinuate that one part of God's word contradicts another. Now we have seen Rom. 13 to teach distinctly that the ruler is to be owned as bearing not the sword in vain; as an avenger to execute wrath on him that doeth evil; in short, as God's minister in earthly things, no less than Paul and Apollos were God's ministers in heavenly things. This chapter formally sets the Christian in the place of subjection to the powers that be, asserts the authority which God has vested in them, and finally makes it a matter not of wrath merely, but of conscience to the believer. Matt. 5 is in quite another direction, but perfectly consistent with the former teaching. Here the Lord instructs His disciples in their individual path, not their relation to governors, and puts their calling to walk in grace, active or passive, in contrast with the Jews, who were called to act in the righteousness of the law. It is absurd to apply such a passage to a government or a worldly tribunal. If it did so apply, it would prove that magistrates ought to caress and reward every culprit, instead of punishing any.

The sixth commandment, "You shall not murder," must be considered from the viewpoint God intends (v.17). Israel had already killed many enemies that God had told them to, and in the land of Canaan would be required to kill the inhabitants. God commanded this because the inhabitants were given up to idol worship. Similarly, when justice demands the death of a criminal, it is not murder for the authorities to put him to death. But no individual is at liberty to kill another as he sees fit. As we have seen before, Scripture makes a distinction between murder and manslaughter (ch.4:41-42).

The fearful result of this is that man, in daring presumption by parliamentary enactment, has virtually set aside that which God has established for the protection of life. In Exodus 21:12-17 certain offences to which the penalty of death is attached are given, the case of murder being specifically mentioned. This, however, is no new enactment as Genesis 9:5-6 unquestionably shows. God who alone knows the heart of man, and has pronounced it "deceitful above all things and incurably wicked," when investing Noah with the government of the earth, provides in the most solemn terms, which no human laws can set aside, for the preservation of man's life, "at the hand of Man, at the hand of each (the blood) of his brother, will I require the life of Man. Whoso sheddeth Man's blood, by Man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God He hath made Man."

In Genesis 4, after Cain had slain his brother Abel, God asked him, "Where is Abel thy brother?" to which Cain insolently replied, "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?" So God, in giving these instructions to Noah, places man's responsibility for the life of his fellow-man beyond all dispute. Life belongs to God, and in the exercise of His prerogative as the Giver of life demands the forfeiture of the life of one who has taken a life he cannot restore, and there can be no mitigation of the sentence. Even though one guilty of murder should lay hold of God's altar (verse 14) this would avail him nothing, as is seen in the case of Joab (1 Kings 2:28-34). All the misplaced philanthropic movements of men, with their substitution of men's ideas in place of God's established order, display not merely an ignorance of His ways but a deliberate rejection of God's righteous claims. Behind it all are the evil machinations of Satan, the adversary of God, a rebel greater far than man himself.