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Paul and the Death Penalty - Acts 25
Paul and the Death Penalty - Acts 25
"If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death" (Acts 25: ESV). He understood that there were things according to law (both Roman law and the law of Moses) which doing would bring a man to be deserving of a death penalty.
Even before the law of Moses, God had declared: “Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man." As David Padfield remarked concerning this: " When a murderer's life is taken, it is not because his life is worthless, but because his victim's life was precious -- he had been created in the image of the living God."
The penalty of death was given by God unto Israel. Yes, God declared that man should not murder (Exod. 20:13), yet God also declared that the penalty for such murder was to be put to death. " He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death" (Exod. 21:12). Other crimes that also had the penalty of death given as the punishment would include Striking a parent (Ex. 21:15); blasphemy (Lev. 24:14); sabbath breaking (Ex. 31:14); witchcraft (Ex. 22:18); adultery (Lev. 20:10); unchastity (Deut. 22:21); rape (Deut. 22:25); kidnapping (Ex. 21:16); incest (Lev. 20:11); homosexuality (Lev. 20:13); bestiality (Lev. 20:15); and idolatry (Lev. 20:2).
God himself has enforced the penalty of death upon people for various sins. On a rather grand scale we would mention the flood of Genesis where all but 8 people were put to death. On and individual scale, we read about the death of Korah, and Nadab and Abihu, and others in the Old Testament. As we turn to the New Testament we can read of Ananias and Sapphaira in Acts 5 and Herod in Acts 12. All such were judgments made by God and the penalty imposed was death.
With the institution of the New Covenant, the religious leaders of God's people no longer are in position of authority to exercise and carry out such death penalties. Now, God, according to Paul's writings, has given that responsibility over to the civil authorities.
In Romans 13 Paul wrote: "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil" (Romans 13:14).
The key phrase in this is 'bear the sword'. Thayer in his lexicon of what Greek words mean, discussed the word sword. He stated that it "is used of him to whom the sword has been committed, viz. to use when a malefactor is to be punished; hence i.q. to have the power of life and death, Ro. xiii.4" (Greek-English Lexicon, p. 393). Marvin Vincent in his Word Studies in the New Testament wrote: "Borne as the symbol of the magistrate's right to inflict capital punishment" (Vol. III, p. 164).
In the law of Moses God made a distinction between murder and accidental killing. Grover Stevens wrote that: “God made provision to spare the life of one who has killed "unawares" or unintentionally, by providing "cities of refuge" (see Numbers 35). But the murderer WAS given NO refuge. From verse 16 to 21, the phrase "The Murderer Shall Surely be Put to Death" is repeated five times, and verse 21 says, "the REVENGER of blood shall SLAY THE MURDERER, when he meets him". A trial was to be held and the murderer was to be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person was to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. The wisdom of this safeguard has been observed by legislators ever since” (http://www.bibletalk.net/articles/punish.html).
There is then a difference between murder /homicide and the infliction of the death penalty for such crimes. It is false to accuse the government of murder if it is rightfully carrying out a mandated penalty for a crime.
Has such been abused? Yes. Has such NOT been carried out when it should? Yes. Has it been carried out in wrongful areas and upon innocent men? Yes. All of these observations have to be acknowledged but, while they show the inconsistent and arbitrary actions of men, they do not prove the death penalty itself to be wrong. The life of the innocent is considered of supreme value to God, and the life of the murderer is to be forfeited for NOT valuing the life of the innocent.
Hugh DeLong
