| | Capital Punishment, pt. 1: IntroductionI have a number of posts on my blog that discuss aspects of the
death penalty. It is an issue that I have wrestled with for years, and
have held various positions at different points in my Christian walk.
As a Christian, I think it is very important that we look at this issue
in the bible critically and systematically, leaving behind our
political presuppositions, and see what the scripture has to say
regarding this issue. This will be a five part study. This
post will be an introduction to various issues and schools of
interpretation on this issue. There will be one post on the
Noahide Covenant and its relation to the Mosaic Covenant. There
will be one post on New Testament passages, focusing primarily on
Romans 13. There will be one post on the theology of murder, and
capital punishment as a prefiguring of Christ's atoning
sacrifice. Then, I will have a final post with concluding remarks. Christianity
has carved out two primary positions. The first is the position
held by the Anabaptists. Anabaptists include Brethren churches,
Mennonites, and Amish. These Christians emphasize the role of love,
forgiveness, separation from the world, and the spread of the gospel in
the present church era. They generally see a discontinuity
between the Old Testament era, which emphasizes the law, and the New
Testament era, which emphasizes grace. They see the Old Testament
civil laws as pertaining primarily and particularly to the nation of
Israel and that era, and don't find them particularly relevant
today. Because of this, they are against capital punishment
because they see this as a form of retribution, which they see as
forbidden in scripture, and capital punishment leaves no room for
rehabilitation, which they see as the primary motivation for punishment
(Hebrews 12:3-11). These type of are Christians are often
pacifists and conscientious objectors to the war, and often refuse to
hold positions in civil government. The
second position is generally
held by those in Reformed (Presbyterian) and many conservative
denominations. This view holds that capital punishment is
scripturally mandated at the very least for first-degree murder.
They see the Old Testament law as a good thing because it reflects
God's justice, and, although most do not see the Old Testament civil
laws as still binding in the present area, they are generally in favor
of the type of civil prohibitions that are articulated in the Mosaic
law. Those who are Reformed generally see more of a continuity
between the Israel of the Old Testament and the church in the New
Testament, and thus tend to apply teachings of the Old Testament more
than do the Anabaptists.
The strongest form of this is to be found in the view known
as Theonomy, of Christian Reconstructionism. Popularized by R. J.
Rushdoony, this view holds that the Old Testament civil laws were not
meant to be abrogated, and ought to be implemented in civil governments
today. This has not proven to be popular because, among other
things, it calls for capital punishment not just for adulterers, but
also for rebellious children, Sabbath breakers, and those who make sacrifices other Gods. Still,
while theonomy has not been embraced in mainstream Christian thought, it has
proven to be extremely influential in American politics today, with
pastors such as D. James Kennedy, though not claiming theonomy, leading
the charge to "reclaim America."
The continuity / discontinuity
distinction in interpreting scripture affects all areas of
theology. For example, someone who hold continuity tends to
baptize their infants as circumcision was applied to the Old Testament,
maintain Sabbath, and see the church as the continuation of the nation
of Israel (known as Covenant Theology). Someone who holds
discontinuity, on the other hand, will tend to favor baptism for
believers only, not maintain Sabbath laws, and see the church as
distinct from Israel (known as Dispensationalism).
Still, the
continuity / discontinuity distinction is not always consistent.
Baptists, for example, have roots in both Anabaptist and Reformed
traditions. Like the Anabaptists, they baptize believers only, are usually
dispensational, and believe in the separation of church and state (in
contrast to state churches like the Presbyterian Church in Scotland and the
Anglican Church in England -- not how the ACLU defines it), but tend to be in favor of capital punishment
and just war. Most Methodists, on the other hand, believe in Covenant
Theology and do baptize their infants, and yet tend to be pacifists. What this means is that coming to a conclusion on the
matter of the biblical view of capital punishment is not going to be as
simple as collecting proof-texts from throughout the bible. It's
going to require an overall vision and understanding of the whole of
scripture and its progressive revelation. I have yet to find a
satisfactory treatment of this topic from a biblical point of
view. This is my humble attempt to fill this gap. [As far as pacifism vs. just war, the best contemporary treatment of this topic is contained in D. A. Carson's book Love in Hard Places,
in which he builds a foundation of Christian love and then applies it
to the difficult social questions involving war, forgiveness, and
reconciliation.]
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