Is Capital Punishment Biblical?
Because human beings are made in the image of God, our lives are sacred. How should this direct the way Christians think about capital punishment? Today, R.C. Sproul appeals to a passage in Scripture that answers this question directly.
Whoever sheds man’s blood by man, shall his blood be shed. This is in the imperative. This is a command. That person must be killed. And so, God doesn’t just give the magistrate now, the right of capital punishment, He gives the magistrate the duty of capital punishment. And that’s what causes so much controversy. Now I remember reading an article complaining about Christians, constantly protesting against abortion laws in the United States. And he said he would not take the Christian community’s protest against abortion, seriously, until these same people would mobilize against capital punishment. And when he said that he revealed that he didn't understand the biblical rationale, which is the same in both cases. What is behind the church’s protest against abortion and what is behind the historic Christian community’s, backing of capital punishment, is the concept of the sanctity of life. And people who oppose capital punishment, oppose it appealing to the same principle.
The principle is that every human life is sacred. And if a person chooses to murder another human being, we’re just adding to the de-sacralization of life by executing the murderer. Then the point is that everybody’s life is sacred, even the murderer. And so we have to do something besides retaliate with revenge or so on. But the point of the original institution of capital punishment is not for deterrence. It’s not even for vengeance. It’s to maintain God’s directive that every human life is sacred. Now notice what he says, whoever sheds man’s blood by man, his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God he made man.
The rationale that God gives for requiring the death of the murderer is that in a very real sense, the person who raises his hand to slay a human being is making an assault, not just on a fellow human, but it’s making an assault against God, because every human being is the image bearer of God. And when you kill a human being, you kill somebody who is bearing the image of God. And God is saying that to be an image of God is so sacred and so Holy that if somebody wantonly destroys an image bearer of God, God says that person forfeits their right to human life and they are to be executed. So the punishment for murder, God establishes, not just in the Mosaic economy, but in the Noahic economy, is the death penalty.
