Is Capital Punishment Biblical?

Government has the biblical authority to take a life under appropriate circumstances, but such action must be carried out with skill and competence, an evangelical scholar says.

Neither was on display last week when the State of Tennessee sought to execute convicted murderer Christa Pike.

Let's take a closer look.

Be informed, not misled.

Pike was convicted of the 1995 murder, a particularly brutal slaying of Colleen Slemmer, 19. Pike was 18, and the two were classmates at a Knoxville job-training facility.

Witnesses reported that Pike remained alive and continued to breathe for a considerable period after the second dose.

Had the execution been successful, it would have been Tennessee’s first for a female in 200 years.

ABC News reported, "Tennessee officials were unable to put Christa Gail Pike to death Wednesday for a 1995 murder after administering two doses of a lethal drug. A death penalty expert said it was an unprecedented failure, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted the one remaining execution for the rest of the year."

Pike, 50, was alive and loudly snoring after the attempted lethal injection and taken by ambulance from the prison, her attorneys said. She was being treated at a hospital, but they said they hadn’t been told about her condition.

She had been scheduled for execution at 10 a.m. Wednesday for the killing she committed at age 18 and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. An appeals court stopped the lethal injection just an hour before it was to start, and hours later the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that stay.

Officials gave Pike two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys said in court filings late Wednesday.

Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement that he has ordered “a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred” and that the remaining scheduled execution will not take place this year.

"Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” he said.

People are asking, "Is capital punishment biblical?"

Pike has not regained consciousness, her attorney says. She remains hospitalized under armed guard, and doctors have been treating the effects of the pentobarbital administered during the execution attempt and working to clear the drug from her system.

But is capital punishment biblical?

“We can't allow what we saw the other day to be the norm because that is an inversion of how capital punishment should be practiced,” David Closson, director for the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council, said on “Washington Watch” Friday.

But capital punishment should be practiced, Closson told show host Jody Hice.

The death penalty is actually grounded in dignity for human life, Closson said.

He cited Genesis 9 and Romans 13 to support his conclusions.

“For the one in authority is God’s servant for good, but if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason,” Paul writes. “They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment to the wrongdoer.”

In Genesis 9, God, speaking to Noah and his sons, says he will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind,” verse six says.

“This is the most important verse in the conversation,” Closson said.

Civil government has the authority, indeed the instruction, to punish evil and in the most serious cases impose death, but Christians should be troubled when that authority is wielded haphazardly.

“If the state exercises the sword, it must do so competently and justly,” Closson said.

Many who oppose the death penalty also embrace the idea of killing the unborn under the banner of “reproductive rights.”

It’s no contradiction for pro-life Christians to support capital punishment.

Takeaway

There is absolutely nothing equivalent about an innocent baby’s life being taken in the womb and a convicted murderer being executed. A baby in the womb has committed no crime. The death penalty should be, and in most cases is, employed only with the most evil of crimes. It was God who ordained the death penalty (Genesis 9:6), and it is God who gives governments the authority to enforce the death penalty (Romans 13:1-7). It is entirely consistent to believe that the life of an innocent baby in the womb should be protected while believing that the perpetrators of the most heinous of crimes should be executed.

In regard to war, the idea that Christians are “pro-war” is not accurate. No Christian should ever be a proponent of war. But at the same time, there are some instances in which war is the best option, as demonstrated by the many wars and battles recorded in Scripture. The book of Joshua is an example. Christians should only be in favor of a “just war.” It can always be debated whether a certain war is just, but for the Bible-believing Christian, the belief that war is never the proper recourse is not a valid viewpoint.

Christians should be consistently pro-life. However, being pro-life does not necessitate being anti-death in all circumstances. If one person murders another person, the just penalty is to end the life of the murderer. This actually upholds the value of life. Anyone who violates life in premeditated murder should be put to death – proclaiming clear support for the value of life. The same can be true with war. War, while never a pleasant choice, in the right “just war” circumstances, actually preserves more life than it ends. Sometimes the best way to uphold the value of life is to end the lives of those seeking to destroy life.

In summary, it is entirely consistent for Christians to be pro-life when it comes to abortion and at the same time to support the death penalty and wars that are clearly just.

 “Unborn children are innocent human beings who deserve the full protection of our laws. Genesis 9 invokes the same doctrine to explain the seriousness of murder; you can glean from the scripture that murder can warrant the most severe punishment, not because human life is cheap, but because human life is so extraordinarily valuable.”

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Faithful. Be Prayerful.