The Christian Executioner: Reconciling "An Eye for an Eye" with "Turn the Other Cheek"

Abstract

This paper seeks simply to provide practitioners concerned with the Christian, biblical perspective on capital punishment with a clear presentation and analysis of the relevant biblical passages on the topic, including both the Old Testament and the New Testament teachings of Christ and the Apostle Paul. More pointedly, this paper asks whether Jesus' teachings of forgiveness and non-retaliation may be reconciled with Moses' insistence on severe punishment for wrongdoing.

To answer that, Part I of this comment explores the biblical arguments commonly advanced by Christians both for and against the death penalty. Part II considers situations in which the lawyer may be called upon to consider religious and biblical arguments for and against the death penalty. Part III begins the scriptural overview of what the Bible really does teach about capital punishment by considering Old Testament passages facially in support of capital punishment. Modem scholarly arguments that these Old Testament scriptures when carefully analyzed, particularly in light of the actual practices of ancient Israel, do not, in fact, support modem application of the death penalty are discounted for the purposes of this paper. As stated above, this paper is not concerned with whether the Bible supports the death penalty as applied in America, but only with whether God's law, as allegedly revealed to Moses, suggests that a nation should implement capital punishment if feasible and if any such endorsement remains after the coming of Christ and his teachings on mercy and forgiveness. Part IV addresses those teachings of Jesus which abolitionists claim supersede any Old Testament proscriptions of the death penalty. Before analyzing the Christian abolitionist arguments in depth, it is briefly noted that Christ himself never claimed to do away with the law of Moses, but rather came to fulfill it. It is the premise of this paper that the Bible is entirely consistent with itself and that the Old Testament is indeed "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness...." Upon this premise, this paper addresses those New Testament passages which allegedly abolish the segments of the Mosaic law proscribing capital punishment. In doing so, the paper relies heavily upon the biblical exegesis of some of Christianity's greatest theologians. In Part V, New Testament passages and concepts cited in favor of capital punishment are discussed. First, Paul's endorsement of civil authority in his letter to the Romans is cited as support for state enforced punishment. Second, the implications regarding capital punishment of the necessity of Christ's own death on the cross are posited as a divine recognition of capital punishment. This paper concludes that, when read as a unified whole, the Bible in both Old and New Testaments very clearly expresses approval of capital punishment by a God who never changes. Once again, this is not to suggest that Christians in America must support capital punishment as it currently is applied. Rather, this discussion is simply intended.to help the practitioner concerned with following biblical principals in his or her practice or with understanding the Christian view on capital punishment discern what the Scriptures, when viewed as a whole, really teach regarding capital punishment. Thus, this Comment should help those individuals make both policy decisions and personal decisions concerning recusal and prosecution of capital cases.