A. Definition
. 1. Capital punishment is a legitimate function of jurisprudence for capital crimes beginning with murder. Under the Mosaic Law, capital punishment is mandated in for the following crimes.
a. Murder, Ex 21:12.
b. Violence against parents, Ex 21:15.
c. Kidnapping, Ex 21:16.
d. Adultery, Lev 20:10; Deut 22:22 (which was rescinded by the Lord Jesus Christ in the case of the adulteress woman). God handles these cases personally now.
e. Rape, Deut 22:25.
f. Bestiality, Ex 22:19.
g. Incest, Lev 20:11-12.
h. Homosexuality, Lev 20:13.
2. Capital punishment is the maximum use of jurisprudence under the laws of divine establishment. Capital punishment must be preceded by trial authorized from the judicial function of government. There must be an objective judge who can look clearly at true evidence; heresy and prejudice are rejected. When evidence points to a crime truly committed, there must be punishment such that the criminal suffers in dying, and others must see this for the purpose of restraint.
3. Crime can’t be controlled apart from the use of capital punishment.
4. Christ died under the principle of capital punishment.
5. Precedence for capital punishment is found in Gen 9:5-6. Capital punishment started in the first dispensation of the Gentiles during the Age of Negative Volition, but it applies in every dispensation of human history. Capital punishment will even be practiced in the Millennium. Although there will be very little crime then, people with old sin natures will commit murder and so will be executed.
5. The laws of divine establishment prohibits anyone from seeking revenge, but rather lays the foundation for judicial modus operandi.
B. Capital punishment is a part of the laws of divine establishment.
1. In the Roman Empire, there were two forms of capital punishment:
a. A non-citizen received crucifixion.
b. A citizen received decapitation.
c. Aristocracy were warned that they had been sentenced to death, and then they were allowed to sit in a tub of hot water and cut their own wrists.
2. This presents the principle of capital punishment as a part of the function of government under the laws of divine establishment.
3. The most fundamental principle of human government is the possession of a common law and a common language, but not necessarily a common race. Therefore, all trials should be conducted in that common language and be related to the laws of that land.
4. In its simplest form, the divine institution of government demands a police officer on the corner, a judge on the bench, plus capital punishment to put teeth into the law.
C. Scriptural Documentation.
1. Capital punishment has been authorized from the time of the first murder to the present. Capital punishment is the only way crime can be controlled. Gen 9:5-6, “Most emphatically, I will require your life blood. I will demand an accounting from every animal who murders and from every man, from the hand of every man’s brother, I will demand the life of that man. Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood will be shed. For in the image of God man was made.”
a. This principle of capital punishment is an absolute truth, not a relative truth. Murder should always be punished by death; this is the only way to restrain crime.
b. Verse 6 states the judicial modus operandi resulting in the establishment of guilt and the administration of capital punishment.
c. In this law of the ancient world, even those who killed an animal showed, through such a fit of passion, the potential for killing a man in the future. Capital punishment applied in the animal realm as well.
d. Being created in the image of God means that man has a soul and is a rational creature. It means man has self-consciousness, i.e., “I am,” patterned after God who said, “I am that I am.” It means man has moral reasoning power, i.e, “I ought;” and self determination, i.e., “I will.” So man is created in a pattern image, not in an exact image. All of these soul characteristics are violated by murder.
e. Ignorance and insanity are no excuse before the law. Volition is the issue, not sanity.
f. Man has the right to slaughter certain animals according to Gen 9:3-4, but this doesn’t give him the right to slaughter people.
g. In the context of Gen 9:5, capital punishment extends to animals who murder humans as well as to humans who kill humans.
2. In Ex 20:13 and Deut 5:18, Moses taught “You will not murder.” Num 35:30 describes the jurisprudence involved in dealing with capital crimes. The murderer must be put to death on the evidence of witnesses (there must be at least two witnesses). There must be jurisprudence involved. No one will be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 3. In Matt 26:52, our Lord rebuked Peter for cutting off the police officer’s ear. “Return your sword to its scabbard, for all who draw the sword [unlawful violence] will die by the sword [capital punishment].”
a. This means that criminals who kill must die by violence. This refers to unlawful uses of violence by criminals, by terrorists, by paramilitary organizations, by mercenaries, and by religious fanatics.
b. Those who draw the sword will die by the sword, either through capital punishment or the inevitable result of God’s law.
c. Those who live by violence will die by violence. There are only three exceptions: law enforcement, the function of the military establishment, and the individual’s right to defend his life and property. Josh 6:21, 8:24.
4. Rom 13:3-4 shows that this establishment principle, which began in the dispensation of the Gentiles, still applies in our dispensation as it does in every dispensation of human history. “For government authorities are not a cause of fear for moral function but for evil function. Really, is it your desire not to fear authority? Keep on doing good and you will have recognition from it [government]. For it [government] is a minister of God to you for the purpose of good. But if you do evil, keep on being afraid, for it [government] does not carry the sword [capital punishment] for nothing. For you see, it [government] is the minister of God for the purpose of administering punishment to the one who practices evil.”
a. To “keep on doing good” means to stay inside the law, be civilized, pay your taxes, and fulfill your responsibility to government.
b. This passage says to avoid civil disobedience. Avoid civil disobedience and unlawful violence, and you will be protected by the client nation, the laws of divine establishment, and by the plan of God for your life.
c. The “purpose of good” is the protection of your freedom, privacy, property, and your life.
d. “Evil” here is civil disobedience, criminal activity, the use of violence to solve problems, and murder.
e. “Carrying the sword” is the sign of capital punishment.
f. The “one who practices evil” refers to those who use unlawful violence such as criminals, terrorists, gangsters, warlords, mercenaries, paramilitary organizations, and religious fanatics.
5. Lev 24:17, “If a man takes the life of another human being, he shall surely be put to death.”
6. A person is innocent until proven guilty in a courtroom. But once proven guilty, he must be executed, Ex 21:12.
7. Capital punishment of animals without human culpability is found in Ex 21:28. The owner of the animal is not punished because he was not responsible.
8. Capital punishment of animals with human culpability is found in Ex 21:29. If the owner was warned and did not confine the animal, the owner is also put to death. 9. Homicide in first degree murder is punished by death, Num 35:16-18.
10. Rom 12:19, “Never take your own revenge; instead give place to punishment from God, for it stands written [Dt 35:35], `Punishment belongs to Me, I will repay,’ says the Lord.’” Legitimate government is also a source of jurisprudence, not vigilantism, or civil disobedience, or paramilitary killing.
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R. B. Thieme, Jr., Bible Ministries 5139 West Alabama, Houston, Texas 77056 (713) 621-3740
© 1999, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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