“God doesn’t merely allow the execution of murderers; he commands it.”
PAGE TITLE: http://www.ligonier.org/
ARTICLE
TITLE:
What should be the Christian stand on the death penalty?
DATE: 1996
AUTHOR: R.C.
Sproul
AUTHOR
INFORMATION: Robert Charles Sproul (born
February 13, 1939) is an American Calvinist theologian, author, and pastor. He
is the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries
(named after the Ligonier Valley just outside of Pittsburgh, where the ministry
started as a study center for college and seminary students) and can be heard
daily on the Renewing Your Mind radio broadcast in the United States and
internationally. "Renewing Your Mind with Dr. R.C. Sproul" is also
broadcast on Sirius and XM satellite radio. In late July 2012, a new Christian
internet radio station called RefNet
(Reformation Network) was also announced by Ligonier Ministries in an effort to
reach "as many people as possible" where Internet access is available.
Ligonier Ministries
hosts several theological conferences each year, including the main conference
held each year in Orlando, FL, at which Sproul is one of the primary speakers.[6]
Sproul was a
passenger on the Amtrak train that derailed in the 1993 Big Bayou Canot train
wreck and often gives firsthand accounts of the story.
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| PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/Ligonier/photos/pb.7434613114.-2207520000.1402722269./10152377701678115/?type=3&theater |
What should
be the Christian stand on the death penalty?
I’m convinced that our whole criminal
justice system is in serious need of reformation and restructuring because it
is not working and many inequities exist within it. Christians are divided
about the issue of capital punishment. First, there is the basic question of
whether or not capital punishment in and of itself is a good or bad thing. I
think the majority opinion of the Christian church throughout its history has
been that capital punishment is a good thing. This position has been taken, not
because Christians are particularly bloodthirsty, but because Christians read
the Scriptures. The Word of God institutes, ordains, and commands capital
punishment in Genesis 9:6.
When the state legislature of
Pennsylvania voted to reintroduce capital punishment, the then governor of the
state vetoed it on the grounds that the Bible said, “Thou shalt not kill.” He
was aware that the Bible said, “Thou shalt not kill,” and he was quoting from
the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. Yet if you go to Exodus 21, 22, and 23 (the
holiness code), God sets forth the provisions for those who break that
commandment. For those who murder, God commands that they be executed.
Fine distinctions are made between
voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, malice of forethought, and the various
kinds of situations that fall within the complexity of our jurisprudence. So
I’m answering this question in its broad principle.
Usually, the great objection to
capital punishment is that human life is so precious and so valuable that we
ought never to lift our hands to snuff it out. Also, every human being is
redeemable. Another argument is that capital punishment is not a deterrent. But
the institution of capital punishment was not given as a deterrent but as an
act of justice. What is the biblical rationale? Capital punishment is
instituted very early in the Old Testament—before Moses, before Sinai, before
the Ten Commandments, back in the days of Noah, where God says, “If by man,
man’s blood is shed, by man shall his blood be shed.” That’s not a prediction.
The structure of the language there is an imperative; it is a command. The
reason is given: “Because man is made in the image of God.” In other words, the
Bible says that human life is so sacred, so precious, so holy—human life has so
much dignity—that if with malice of forethought you wantonly destroy another
human being, you thereby forfeit your own right to life. God doesn’t merely
allow the execution of murderers; he commands it.
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