Concerning the modern rejection of Capital Punishment, the writer states: “Not the Word of God, but the word of psychiatrists, anthropologists, statisticians, and sociologists has been followed, and the results speak for themselves.”
The writer, Rev. Cornelis Pronk, is pastor of the Free Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. His article was originally delivered as a radio message, and his willingness to make it available for THE OUTLOOK is appreciated.
One of the most controversial subjects today is that of capital punishment. Because of the alarming increase in murder in our society many people feel that the only effective way of dealing with this problem is to apply the supreme penalty again. That will act as a strong deterrent, they claim. Others do not agree. They point to statistics which allegedly prove that capital punishment does not act as a deterrent at all, and therefore they would advocate improving our rehabilitation system.
What both these advocates and opponents of the death penalty fail to realize, however, is that the rightness or wrongness of capital punishment does not depend on its effectiveness as a deterrent, but on its authorization by God. Does God demand capital punishment? That is the question one should ask here. What does the Bible say about this issue?
Already in the Book of Genesis we read about the institution of the death penalty. Although murder was one of the fi rst fruits of sin –think of Cain slaying his brother Abel—God at first reserved the right to inflict punishment to Himself. As human depravity increasingly manifested itself, filling the earth with violence, God intervened with the judgment of the Flood in which all but the eight occupants of the ark were destroyed.
Represented by Noah and his family, humanity was permitted to make a new start. It was at this critical moment in history that God came to Noah with His command to protect human life. Knowing that man, even after the Flood, would soon break out in violent crimes again, God now committed thc temporal punishment of murderers to man himself. Whoso sheddeth man‘s blood, God instructed Noah, by man shall his blood be shed (Gen. 9:6).
Here we have the magna charta of all civil government and authority, and this commandment, given to Noah as the father and representative of the new humanity, is a universal law, forever binding on the entire race.
Centuries later when God made His covenant with Israel at Sinai, capital punishment became part of the legal code of the new nation. The death penalty was even extended by divine mandate to the following additional offenses: abuse of parents, kidnapping, criminal negligence, sorcery and necromancy, idolatry, Sabbath-breaking, incest and sodomy, adultery, blasphemy, false prophesying, and child sacrifice.
Opponents of capital punishment are always quick to point out that those who favor the death penalty for Biblical reasons should also take these Old Testament laws seriously. In other words, if God’s command to Noah with respect to capital punishment is still valid today, then the divine instructions to Moses regarding the same subject are also binding on us.
On the face of it, this is a good argument, but it is faulty for the following reasons. As I mentioned already, the institution of capital punishment took place right after the Flood, when the human race was making a new beginning. Also, the reason for capital punishment is important in this connection. Human life had to be protected because man is created in God’s image. Well, that has never changed has it?
There is no suspension of the fact that man was made in the image of God; it is as true today as it was in the days of Noah. (John Murray, Principles of Conduct, p. 112)
But with the Mosaic legislation it is quite different. That legislation was meant only for a certain people. As Richard Bodey says: the civil jurisprudence of the Mosaic economy was a provisional aspect of theocracy not binding outside ancient Israel (Encyclopedia of Christianity, Vol. II, p. 347). That does not mean, however, that the Mosaic legislation concerning capital punishment has no bearing on the subject at all. It has, for if it shows us anything, it is that the death penalty is in perfect harmony with the character and will of God.
At this point some will impatiently exclaim: but we live in New Testament times now. We must forgive each other; we must follow the teaching of Jesus. Behind such sentiments lies the idea that the Old Testament is harsh, while the New Testament is kind. Just read the Sermon on the Mount, such people say, and you are in a different climate altogether. Didn‘t Jesus say that the old laws of an eye for an eye and a. tooth for a tooth must be replaced by the much kinder attitude of turning the other cheek? Indeed, Jesus said this, but in doing so He did not condemn the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth in public justice. He only disapproved of it as an excuse for private revenge.
When Christ is arrested in Gethsemane, He rebukes Peter for drawing a sword in H is defense, saying: Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword ( Matt. 26:52). Jesus refuses to be defended by the sword. Physical violence has no place in His kingdom, because it is a spiritual kingdom. Yet, notice that in the same breath He asserts that there is also n proper use of the sword.
As the ancient symbol of the civil magistrate‘s power over life and death, the sword has indeed its rightful and necessary function in human society. Employed by the proper authorities, it serves as an instrument to avenge the victims of murderous passion. Of course the apostles taught the same thing. Following His Master’s teaching, Paul says in Romans 13:4, the magistrate beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Standing before Festus, the same apostle said: It I be an offender, or have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die (Acts 25:11). This clearly implies that, in his judgment there were offences for which the appropriate penalty is death.
More passages could be cited, but enough has been said to show that the Bible imposes upon the state the solemn duty to execute all persons duly to execute all persons duly convicted of murder, that is the deliberate, premeditated, malicious slaying of a fellow man.
Moreover, the Scriptures are equally clear as to the reasons for capital punishment. There are basically three reasons and I will mention them in descending order.
1. The Vindication of Divine Justice – Paul says that when the magistrate wields his sword power, he executes the wrath of God on the evil doer (Romans 13:4). What is God’s wrath? It is the reflection of His justice. God rules the world, and indeed the whole universe, according to His own just principles. God is Just and holy. True, He is also a God of love and that is why sinners can be saved, yet never at the expense of His justice. It is at the cross of Christ where we see God‘s love and His justice displayed in perfect harmony. Because Christ satisfied the demands of divine justice, God can deal with sinners in love again. Calvary shows us that God’s justice is retributive; it never rests until its claims have been met.
Now with reference to our subject this means that “capital punishment is the only way whereby the justice of God can vindicate itself against the murderer” (Bodey, Ibid., p. 348). That does not mean of course that a murderer cannot be saved. He can be, thanks to God’s forgiving grace. But the grace of God only “delivers from eternal and spiritual penalties for sin, [not] from temporal-physical ones. Because the murderer has forfeited his right to live in human society, divine justice demands that he die” (Ibid);
2. The Sanctity of Human Personality – The second reason for capital punishment is explicit in God’s command to Noah: Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man. Man is not just another kind of animal. Unlike all the animals, man was created in the image of God. He bears the image of his Creator. Therefore he who destroys the life of man destroys that which bears the image of God. Murder is not only an awful injury to one’s fellow man, but also and especially a terrible insult to God. Murder is an indirect attack on God. He who takes another man’s life shows his utter contempt for God, tries to frustrate the divine plan and purpose for another‘s life, and usurps the supreme prerogative of God, Who alone has the right to terminate their existence here and summon them into His presence.
3. The Protection of Society – The third Biblical reason for the death penalty is that it helps to protect society. Paul says that the civil magistrate acts as a terror to evil doers. So capital punishment is a deterrent. In spite of many statistics which show that putting criminals to death does not reduce the crime rate, Scripture states that it does help to curb violence.
I suspect that the reason why capital punishment has not been a very effective deterrent in recent decades is the frequent commutations of death sentences. If capital punishment was enforced consistently, the way Scripture demands it, there is no doubt in my mind but we would see a marked decline in the murder rate. But even if the death penalty does not prove to be an effective deterrent, even then it should be enforced. From the Biblical perspective, capital punishment is first of all retributive, not all reformative, and only secondarily preventive.
Lest anyone should get the idea that God is capricious and vindictive, may I remind you of the merciful provision made in the Mosaic law for those accused of murder. I am referrng to the so-called cities of refuge to which man-slayers might flee. These cities of refuge were not for the purpose of affording asylum for those guilty of murder. They were established so that the manslayer might flee to one of them until he could get a fair trial. The law clearly distinguished between the manslayer who was a murderer and the manslayer who slew his neighbor unwittingly, without hatred or intent of harm. Tn the latter case the judge was to deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood and grant him the protection of the city of refuge. However, if the manslayer was convicted of murder, he was put to death by the avenger of blood (Num. 35:9–28).
Here we see that God is just and that He rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked in exact proportion to their deeds. And He demands the same from his ministers, the civil authorities.
Any nation therefore which allows the murderer to live in its midst, harbors a person guilty of another person’s blood, and for that reason is held guilty before God of that very crime. For thus says the Lord:
Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses . . . so ye shall not pollute the land: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it (Num. 35:30–33).
This clear command of God may not be overruled by a perverted humanitarianism and a warped sense of mercy. Of course that is exactly what is being done in our enlightened age. Not the Word of God, but the word of psychiatrists, anthropologists, statisticians, and sociologists has been followed, and the results speak for themselves. As Jeremiah says: Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them? (Jer. 8:9).