Capital Punishment: Right or Wrong?

God was the first to institute a punishment of death in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were warned that if they sinned, they would die. Spiritual separation happened immediately, and their physical death followed afterward. This “death penalty” was for the human race and established a limit or boundary to sin. Can you imagine a world in which sinful men would never die? Sin had to have a limit, and God established death as its limit.The Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to write of the authority and responsibility of civil government in Romans 13. Civil government’s purpose is to be a minister of God for good (Romans 13:4), and if we do evil, the government does not “bear the sword in vain.” This certainly refers to the government’s right or duty to punish wrong doers, even to the point of wielding the sword. The government is to “execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.”Paul even included himself as a potential candidate for the death penalty. He recognized the authority of civil government to execute certain offenders.For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar (Acts 25:11).We know that not every civil government complies with God’s ways and purposes. Nevertheless, it does have God’s authority to punish evil doers. Under many governments that includes capital punishment. When administered justly, it serves society and establishes the limits on certain kinds of crimes.While capital punishment may serve as a deterrent to others, this is not its primary purpose.

Its primary purpose is to deter the convicted criminal from ever murdering another person.

It is a punishment that can be found under the law of God in the Old Testament and also as one of the purposes of civil government outlined in Romans 13. However, capital punishment does not limit the grace of God in the life of the criminal and does not prohibit salvation by faith in that grace. Capital punishment places value on the life of the victim and punishes the wrong doer in order to establish a limit to their crime.The difference between capital punishment and murder or killing is found in the reason, the motive, and under what authority the death is occurring. Murder is death which has not been sanctioned by governmental authority in accordance with the Word, the will of God, and the rule of law. The act of murder demands a response by the government so society is protected according to the Word and the will of God.The commandment to not kill refers to murder as differentiated from war or civil punishment for crime. Even after the commandment to not kill (murder), God Himself sent Israel to fight against its enemies, and there was great death and destruction.All may not agree, but the concept of capital punishment does have a scriptural basis.