The penalty for violating the sanctity of life is stated in Genesis 9:6. "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed". Why? "For in the image of God He made man". God so highly estimates human life that He will not suffer murder to go unavenged. Though justice belongs only to God, He delegates it to institutions He sets up among men.

God created man in His image and clothed him with His authority to judicially enact the death penalty upon the sin of murder after the due process of law, because it is the only way in which a land can be purged from the guilt of such an atrocious public crime: "Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses ... bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed except by the blood of the one who shed it" (Num 35:30 & 33).

The Hebrew word in the sixth commandment is rightly translated "murder" not kill: i.e. murder is the unlawful taking of life. Capital punishment is the lawful, God-ordained taking of a life. We must remember that the State, and only the State, has the right to bear the sword in vengeance, no matter how derelict it may be. While citizens have their right to self-defence (Ex 22:2), they do not have the right of vengeance, neither against child molesters, rapists, abortionists, etc. Even when wickedness abounds, men do not have their right to take justice in their own hands since it belongs only to God Who delegates it through His lawful representative, the State.

The solution is not more lawlessness (i.e. revolution) but reformation and repentance. Let us follow the example of the ancient city of Ninevah, and "call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?" (Jonah 3:8).

Isn't this Old Testament law?
Some may argue that this law is contained in the Old Testament and that the New Testament did away with the law. However, the death penalty instituted by God in Genesis 9:6 was before Mosaic law and was not meant for one dispensation but "for all generations to come" (Gen 9:12). Jesus said that He did not come to "abolish the law but to fulfil it" (Matt 5:17). The divine authority invested in the government is repeated in the New Testament where it says, in Romans 13, that the civil government "does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer ... to punish those who do wrong". Keep in mind that the sword is a weapon (and this was well understood in the Roman times) which is capable of inflicting all sorts of injury, including death.

In the story of the adulterous woman in John 8, Jesus did not say that the woman should not be executed for her crime, but rather, he challenged the morality of her accusers, i.e., if they were also guilty of the same crime, they could not lawfully put her to death without also bringing the same penalty upon themselves.

Israel, as a captive nation, was not living under Old Testament law. The right of "high justice" belonged only to the Roman government. Thus, by seeking to have Jesus commend the crowd's death penalty, the religious leaders were seeking to put Him in conflict with Rome as a revolutionary. On the other hand, they hoped to catch Him with the other extreme by making Him deny the Old Testament. Jesus saw the trap and resisted both extremes. Finally, the Old Testament requires two witnesses for a capital crime. Thus, when her accusers slunk away in shame (possibly because some of them had also committed adultery with the same woman) there were no witnesses, and therefore no case.

It is because God is a God of love that He provides the means to protect society form public evil. It is when the Divine commandment to "love your neighbour" breaks down in the heart of man, that the civil government's sword of the death penalty is designed to uphold and protect the sacredness of life.

The Lord is love personified but He is also a God of justice. Under His justice we are all sentenced to death for our personal sins. His love, which forgives the repentant sinner, is perfectly in harmony with His justice which insisted on capital punishment for His beloved Son, Who paid the penalty for sin by bearing the ultimate punishment - death and separation from God.

What about the possibility of innocent people being wrongly sentenced to death?
Though the possibility of an innocent person being wrongly sentenced to death does exist, it does not make the Biblical principle of capital punishment invalid. It is the State's responsibility to ensure that an alleged killer is given as fair a trial as humanly possible and only executed if guilt is proved beyond all reasonable doubt.

Since courts are not perfect, mistakes may happen. Consolation can be taken in the knowledge that the accused will also stand before God's judgement seat where perfect justice will be dispensed on the basis of perfect knowledge. The innocent will be vindicated and the guilty condemned. On the other hand, the possibility of executing innocent persons in error is far more remote that the possibility of saving the innocent victims of criminals who may have been deterred by the prospect of capital punishment.

Isn't the abolition of capital punishment necessary for civilised nations?
It depends on what you mean by civilised. Most "civilised" nations condemn capital punishment as "uncivilised barbarity". However, the same nations consider the abortion of babies as morally justified and civilised.

When abortion is legal it becomes a capital offence to be an unwanted baby! If euthanasia is legalised "medical assassins" will soon have the knives in the aged and incurable. Can we call a country civilised when pornography and homosexuality is protected by law but parents who give their children a loving Biblical hiding are found guilty of "child-abuse" because of a ban on corporal punishment?

Secular humanists will answer with a resounding "yes". Christians, who stand on God's unchangeable Word, answer with a firm "no".

Pagan man defies the absolute authority of God's Holy Law and ends up calling evil good and good evil. The result is the opposite of civilisation. Consequently, "the earth is filled with violence through them" (Gene 5:13) and "because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Eccl 8:11).