A Ramble About the Death Penalty

After the execution of a certain prisoner back east, and the comments made by Republican presidential candidates, the death penalty has been on my mind. This isn't the easiest subject to write about, especially since so many people have such strong opinions. I suppose that hasn't stopped me before, and it obviously isn't going to stop me now as I sit here with my laptop pounding away at the keyboard. But, the truth is, I'm not entirely sure where I come down on this one.

To say that the death penalty is unbiblical is to betray a total ignorance of Holy Scripture, especially of the Pentateuch. To say that it is entirely consistent with Christian teaching and Sacred Tradition is to betray a total ignorance of the historical teaching of the Church and Sacred Tradition. Like many, many subjects the death penalty is complex, and to be quite honest I don't even know where this Ramble is going to end up.

The Holy Scripture is pretty clear in the Old Testament as far back as God talking to Noah:

“And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (Genesis 9:5-6, ESV)

And I would be writing a book on just this subject if I were to repeat every time the death penalty is proscribed for not just murder, but every other horrendous or damaging crime in the Mosaic Law, even for crimes regarding certain forms of idolatry and adultery. It is safe to say that the death penalty is entirely biblical, and even encouraged, where the Old Testament and the Mosaic Covenant are concerned.

The ancient Church however did not see things the same way. For them, the words of Jesus took precedence over the Mosaic Law:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:38-39, ESV)

St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage in North Africa around 250 AD, writes this:

“Christians do not attack their assailants in return, for it is not lawful for the innocent to kill even the guilty.”

Athenagorus, a Christian apologist around 175 AD, writes this:

“When they know that we cannot endure even to see a man put to death, though justly, who of them can accuse us of murder? … We consider that to see a man put to death is much the same as killing him. Therefore, we have sworn away from such [gladiatorial] spectacles. We do not even look on, lest we might contract guilt and pollution. So how can we put people to death?”

The prohibition against killing anyone, whether they deserved it or not, was so strong that for the first three hundred years of the Church, holding public office (and thus being in the position to have to order an execution or torture) or serving in the military was a serious moral question and was largely discouraged among the members of the Church. Clergy in particular were forbidden from serving in the military for this very reason.

There was a severe disconnect with the commands to execute in the Old Testament, and the practice of the Early Church which they based on the words of Jesus Himself. They chose to take what Jesus taught over and above the Law, and apply it across the board to every area of their lives. They made the distinction between the Old and New Covenants, and recognized that the Old Covenant held no authority over them because of the New Covenant (which, by the way, is the fundamental argument of the letter to the Hebrews).

For them, it seems like the fundamental issue is that the death penalty implies a desire for vengeance. It's the desire to take a life for a life, in contravention to what Jesus taught. Because it was such a temptation for this kind of sentiment,vengeance, and because it could open the door to something even more sinister, bloodthirst, the early Church renounced it altogether. They did not try to prevent the public officials and courts from doing their appointed duties, and neither did they pass judgment on them for doing so. But they refused to be a party to taking a human life, regardless of the circumstances.

So, where does that leave us today, in the modern Church, who profess Jesus Christ and His Covenant by Grace? Should we protest the government when they choose to exercise the death penalty for someone who has been convicted of the crime of murder under the law? No, I don't think so. Do we cheer the execution of said convicted murder? No, absolutely not. Do we support the death penalty? My question in response would be, why would we? What would be our motive in doing so? If our motive would be to see that the duly convicted gets what he deserves, perhaps we should rethink our motive. Consider that if God took that attitude, then He never would have sent His Son to die for us. Instead, we would all be consigned to die in our sin and remain separated from Him forever.

What about the motive of simply removing a threat from the general populace? Well, there is life imprisonment. There is also simply deporting the person to a place on earth which is remote enough from the general population that they couldn't harm anyone. But both of these options have their own sets of problems from a variety of perspectives.

One thing is clear, the desire for vengeance (whether you euphemize it as “justice” or not) is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught to turn the other cheek. Jesus taught to forgive every time someone comes asking for forgiveness. Jesus taught not to judge so that we wouldn't be judged. If we make the judgment that someone deserves to die for what he has done, what then is the judgment that should be leveled against us? If we refuse to forgive those convicted of the most heinous crimes, then why should we be forgiven of our own?

It is also far too easy to make the jump from taking satisfaction in the execution of a murderer, to taking satisfaction in the deaths of others you feel who “deserve it”. And once this jump is made, the list of those who “deserve it” can get very long very quickly. This is the beginning of bloodthirst. And then where does it end?

If we profess to follow Jesus Christ, we must in fact follow what He taught, and not what feels good, or what satisfies our own ideas of right and wrong.