What About Killing?

Capital Punishment

Genesis 9:5-6 “5 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. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”

In this text we see that any life taken by another will receive the same in return.

The question is whether this is predicting that all who shed man’s blood will have their blood shed by man?

We know that many murderers and other evil people live long and happy lives. So it cannot be that all who do this will have the same done in return. It must be something else.

That means this text must be prescriptive of what God desires for people to do when another kills one of His image bearers.

Man is created in the image of God. To kill another person is to attack the image of God. Killing is tantamount to killing God. It is an attack against Him. As image bearers, if we kill another because we want to or because they angered us, we are attacking God.

Therefore, since God says if a man kills another, then by man’s hand his blood shall be shed.

God gives the command to kill those who have killed others. This is not vengeance or personal vendetta, but God’s command for a person to be executed.

Now, for this to be performed accurately, God instituted a method for people to receive a fair shake when accused.

In Deut. 19:15 “15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.”

Paul wrote of this in 2 Cor. 13:1 “1 This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

There must be hard evidence before this is performed.

So the commandment in Ex. 20:13 “13 “You shall not murder.” is about an unlawful taking of life and not the order to execute those who have committed evil acts and are to be executed because they gave killed an innocent.

Hence, Ex. 21:12 “12 “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.”

And Rom. 13:3-4 “3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

So, the argument that this is vengeance and goes against the commands to not seek vengeance fail. The command that we are to love our enemies fails because we can still carry out the just acts of God’s commands and love them enough to share Christ with them. If these killers are not receiving the just due for their crimes we are failing to love our neighbors who have been killed by them.

The argument that it is cruel is from emotion and lacks any leg to stand on. Many will argue it stops any chance for the salvation of the killer. This is flawed because if a person is on death row, they have time to believe in Christ.

Now, we are told to be at peace with people as much as we can in Rom. 12. But in Rom 13 we see that the governing authorities are set to exact justice by the sword to those who are evil and murderous.

Now, we have another argument from some that goes like, “If you support the death penalty, then how can you oppose abortion and euthanasia?”

Well, abortion is the murder of an innocent and euthanasia is the murder of an innocent. The death penalty is not. It is the just execution of a person who has killed another.

All of us who are for the death penalty and oppose the other two stand for the sanctity of human life. If we disregard the DP we disregard the sanctity of life. If murderers are allowed to kill innocent people without fear then we say innocent lives are not worthy of living. If all we do is send people away for a few years and not take their lives in return we say that persons life is worth more than those who have died and we go against what God has set for the order of what must happen to murderers.

Sometimes an innocent person is convicted and sentenced. This is a tragedy and sad for sure and this just calls for reform in the justice system but not an abolishment of the DP. We need to have solid evidence and witnesses for a crime just as the Bible orders before we condemn any person to death. If there is any doubt in the jury or judge, then the DP should not be ordered until evidence is there.

Euthanasia

This is the taking of anothers life by them asking and the doctor doing it.