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Capital Punishment
Christian Ethics · Doctrinal study

Capital Punishment

What Scripture says about the sword, the safeguards it demands, and the mercy that met justice at the cross

Theologica Editorial15 min read
Why It Matters

A Life for a Life?

Some of you reading this have buried someone who was murdered. Some of you have sat on a jury. Some of you love a person in prison, and some of you are in prison. This subject is not an argument to you. It is a name and a date. If that is you, we want you to know that God has not looked away. He said to the first murderer, the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground (Genesis 4:10).

Can a government rightly take a life? Christians have disagreed about this for a very long time, and many nations are still divided over it. Most of the world's countries have now ended the death penalty in law or in practice. Others keep it. So we come to Scripture first, ready to hear it, and we will state the other side fairly.

The Key Question

If every human life is sacred, how could God ever authorize a government to take one?

Three Questions

  • What must someone believe to be saved? The Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1–4). Believers on both sides of this debate may trust the same Saviour.
  • What must a Christian believe and obey? Murder is a grave evil against God's image (Genesis 9:6). God gave the ruler a sword (Romans 13:4). Private revenge is forbidden (Romans 12:19). False witness and partial judges are forbidden (Exodus 23:6–7). The sword may never be used to force faith. See The Gospel, the Whole Counsel, and Liberty.
  • Where has God granted liberty? Whether a particular nation should keep the death penalty, and whether its courts can be trusted with it. Faithful Christians may differ here. Scripture gives principles, and it does not write any nation's criminal code.

Here is where we stand. We believe God has authorized government to take the life of a murderer, after a just trial, on certain evidence. We hold that authority with fear. And we do not believe the Christian who opposes the death penalty out of care for life has despised the Bible.

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Further reading

For Deeper Study

  • Ethics for a Brave New WorldAmazon John S. Feinberg and Paul D. FeinbergA careful treatment of capital punishment and other life issues for pastors and thoughtful readers. Evangelical.
  • Religion and the Death Penalty: A Call for ReckoningAmazon edited by Erik C. Owens, John D. Carlson, and Eric P. ElshtainProtestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim writers on both sides of the question. Many of its authors do not share our view of Scripture, so read it to understand the debate.
  • Just MercyAmazon Bryan StevensonA lawyer's account of defending the condemned in the American South. It is not a theological book, and he opposes the death penalty, but it will make you take wrongful conviction seriously.
  • Moral Choices: An Introduction to EthicsAmazon Scott B. RaeA widely used evangelical ethics textbook with a fair chapter on capital punishment. Rae teaches at Talbot School of Theology.
  • Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.

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The Sanctity of Life

Every human life is God's gift and bears His image from conception to natural death, so we defend the unborn and the dying, and we offer Christ's full forgiveness to everyone who carries the weight of an abortion.

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