Resolved: that the penalty of death is a suitable and justifiable punishment for premeditated murder of another human being
by Michael Fisch
E-mail MFisch 53@aol.com
Presentation of the Topic and the Issues:
We believe the penalty of death is a suitable and justifiable punishment for premeditated murder of another human being.
Definitions:
Premeditated murder: is purposing to kill another human being unlawfully usually with a motive of hatred, vengeance (taking the law into his own hands for a vindictive or a righteous cause) or disrespect (having no value for that person.)
Unlawful: without regarding the laws of God and the laws of our country or any duly constituted government.
Rom 13:1 ª 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. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 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. 4 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. 5 Therefore [you] must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake.
1 Pet 2:13ª Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and [for the] praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all [people]. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Titus 3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,
What is not premeditated murder
1. Killing in defense on behalf of someone's life or family against intruders with intent to use a lethal weapon is not premeditated murder.
Ex 22:2 "If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, [there shall be] no guilt for his bloodshed.
Prov. 24:11 ª Deliver [those who] are drawn toward death, And hold back [those] stumbling to the slaughter. 12 If you say, "Surely we did not know this," Does not He who weighs the hearts consider [it]? He who keeps your soul, does He [not] know [it]? And will He [not] render to [each] man according to his deeds?
Lk 22:36 Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take [it], and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
2. Killing in defense for your country in a just war is not premeditated murder because God and our government sanctions it.
Nu 10:9 "When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the LORD your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.
Deut. 19:3 "And he shall say to them, `Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; 4 `for the LORD your God [is] He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.'
3. Putting to death a person condemned by law for a capital crime like premeditated murder is not premeditated murder because God and Justice commands that they be executed.
Reasons for the death penalty
I. The death penalty for premeditated Murder is based on the creation ordinance of being created in God's image. It is transcultural and still valid in our age.
We are made in the image of God therefore if we murder a human being we show disrespect for God's image and God gives man the responsibility to execute the death penalty. Requiring the death penalty for murder upholds rather than denigrates the importance of life. If life is so unimportant that one can snuff it out with only minimal punishment, life is trivialized. However, if the criminal's life is taken when he murders someone, the seriousness of the crime and the significance of life are underscored. This statement assumes a personal God who created us with dignity.
II. The New Testament upholds Capital Punishment
A. Christ upholds the law as valid for all believers explicitly the death penalty and distinguishes between greater matters (justice and mercy and faith) and lesser matters of the law.
Matt 5:17 ª "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches [them], he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matt 15:3 He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 "For God commanded, saying, `Honor your father and your mother'; and, `He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' 5 "But you say, `Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me [is] a gift [to God]" -- 6 `then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
Mt 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier [matters] of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
B. God appoints governments to punish and execute criminals
Rom 13:1 ª 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. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 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. 4 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. 5 Therefore [you] must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake.
One of the uses of the sword would include being put to death.
Ac 12:2 Then he [Herod] killed James the brother of John with the sword.
Heb 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword.
Re 13:10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
III. There should be Retributive Justice meaning a penalty suitable for and equal to the crime committed (Life for life).
Ge 9:6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
Nu 35:33 `So you shall not pollute the land where you [are]; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.
Le 24:17 `Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death.
Ex 21:14 "But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die.
De 19:11 "But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 "then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 "Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away [the guilt of] innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.
1Kings 20:42 Then he said to him, "Thus says the LORD: `Because you have let slip out of [your] hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.'"
IV. The death penalty is a deterrent to crime.
A. First, as a warning to others,
B. Second, you won't have repeat offenders.
Deut 19:15 "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. 16 "If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 "then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. 18 "And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, [if] the witness [is] a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 "then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you. 20 "And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21 "Your eye shall not pity: life [shall be] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Deut 13:10 "And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 "So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.
Deut 17:6 "Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 7 "The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you. . . . 12 "Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13 "And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.
Deut 21:21 "Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
Criteria for determining whether or not a person should have the death penalty.
Their must be sufficient credible evidence of at least two eyewitnesses of the crime or the equivalent.
A. This will establish first if a crime has been committed
B. and second that there is sufficient evidence that the person has committed the crime.
Nu 35:30 `Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not [sufficient] testimony against a person for the death [penalty].
Deu 19:15 "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. 16 "If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 17 "then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. 18 "And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, [if] the witness [is] a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 "then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you. 20 "And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. 21 "Your eye shall not pity: life [shall be] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
De 17:6 "Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 7 "The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you. 18 "And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, [if] the witness [is] a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother,
Mt 18:16 "But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that `by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.'
2Co 13:1 This [will be] the third [time] I am coming to you. "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established."
1Ti 5:19 Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses.
Heb 10:28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Jn 8:17 "It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. 18 "I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."
Jn 10:37 "If I do not do the works of My Father (Miracles), do not believe Me; 38 "but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father [is] in Me, and I in Him."
Deu 22:13 ª "If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and detests her, 14 "and charges her with shameful conduct, and brings a bad name on her, and says, `I took this woman, and when I came to her I found she [was] not a virgin,' 15 "then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out [the evidence of] the young woman's virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. 16 "And the young woman's father shall say to the elders, `I gave my daughter to this man as wife, and he detests her. 17 `Now he has charged her with shameful conduct, saying, "I found your daughter [was] not a virgin," and yet these [are the evidences of] my daughter's virginity.' And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 "Then the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him; 19 "and they shall fine him one hundred [shekels] of silver and give [them] to the father of the young woman, because he has brought a bad name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife; he cannot divorce her all his days. 20 "But if the thing is true, [and evidences of] virginity are not found for the young woman, 21 "then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
The Hebrew word for murder used in the 6th commandment Ex 20:13 is jxr {raw-tsakh'}. One half of the occurrences of jxr is used to refer explicitly to premeditated murder of another human being the other half is used as either unintentional killing of another human being or premeditated murder of another human being which would be determined by a trial.
foneuw (phoneuo) is the equivalent Greek word for murder and is used 10 times and means murder.
Other Hebrew words for Murder, kill and slay are: hkn nakah {naw-kaw'} 500; grh harag {haw-rag'} 167
Other Greek words for Murder are: foneuw phoneuo {fon-yoo'-o} 12; foneuv phoneus {fon-yooce'} 7
Those who oppose capital punishment:
1. They take the side of evil against the side of good.
2. They show more regard for the criminal than the victim of the crime.
3. They weaken justice and encourage murder.
4. Their view is not based on Scripture but on a vague philosophical system that believes that the taking of life is wrong in every circumstance, and fails to distinguish adequately between righteous killing and murder, and between punishment and crime.
5. They believe the murderers can be rehabilitated.
6. They believe it is not an effective deterrence.
7. They don't take into account the cost on society to financially support a murderer and the cost on societies moral breakdown especially when murders are released on parole.
8. They believe there is error and bias in judging.
9. Some Christians who oppose the death penalty use passages like Matthew 5:38ff. turning the other cheek . . ., or 1 Peter 3:8-11 to replace the death penalty but if one demands that these passages be applied to criminal justice, then the logical result would be to rule out all punishment for all crimes.
10. Mercy examples like Cain, Moses, and David, are used but these are exceptions made by God not by man.
11. The case of the woman taken in adultery is also used to show that Jesus didn't sanction Capital Punishment.
They argue that the phrase "without sin" ajnamavrthto" (anamartetos) means that no one who is a sinner has a right to judge or execute anyone else. However, if this is correct, all criminal justice goes, since no mere human is sinlessly perfect and this would contradict Romans 13:4 that says that the state should punish evildoers.
There is a few more points to make about this passage.
A. The manuscript evidence for this passage is absent before the 6th century AD, in addition no early church fathers quote from it. Although many scholars believe this was an authentic account we should not use this passage as a primary text to base any doctrines because of the poor manuscript evidence.
B. The problem of the man who committed the act, he was absent.
C. "without sin" could mean they were in error because they didn't have the man who committed adultery with her so, to convict her without the man was not in accordance with the law of Moses Deut. 22:22" If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die--the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel.
D. She couldn't be sentenced because there was not two eyewitnesses to accuse her.
12. Retribution cannot be deemed unjust on the grounds that the criminal was forced against his will to commit the crime. Everyone freely chooses out of his or her own will what he will do or not do and should be held responsible for his or her actions. If this is not a basic premise then we can throw out our laws and our judicial system.
A BIBLICAL PROPOSAL FOR CONVICTING A HUMAN BEING AND SENTENCING THAT PERSON BY THE DEATH PENALTY
1. There must be a duly constituted government that brings the person to trial.
Deut 17:9 "And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge [there] in those days, and inquire [of them]; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. 10 "You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. 11 "According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside [to] the right hand or [to] the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. 12 "Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel
Rom 13:1 ª 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. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 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. 4 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. 5 Therefore [you] must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake.
1 Pet 2:13ª Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and [for the] praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all [people]. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Titus 3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,
2. There must be sufficient credible evidence of at least 2 eyewitnesses of the crime or the equivalent. This will establish first if a crime has been committed and second that there is sufficient evidence that the person has committed the crime.
Deu 19:15 "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
Deu 17:6 "Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
3. The Judges and those involved in the court decisions are to be exemplary persons and Judge fairly.
Ex 18:21 "Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place [such] over them [to be] rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
Lev 19:15 `You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
Ex 23:2 "You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert [justice]. 3 "You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.
Ex 23:7 "Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.
De 16:19 "You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
De 27:19 `Cursed [is] the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.' And all the people shall say, `Amen!'
Proverbs 17:15 ª He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, Both of them alike [are] an abomination to the LORD
4. There must be equal retribution.
Deut 19:19 "then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you . . . 21 "Your eye shall not pity: life [shall be] for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Ex 21:23 "But if [any] harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24 "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 "burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
5. The execution should occur immediately after the criminal is convicted.
Ecc. 8:11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
6. False accusers will have the same penalty that would have been given to the accused.
Deut 19:18 "And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, [if] the witness [is] a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, 19 "then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you.
7. The witnesses shall take part in the execution.
Deut 17:7 "The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
8. There should be no bail or ransom or parole for a person convicted of murder.
Nu 35:31 `Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who [is] guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. 32 `And you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest.
9. Appeals to a higher court can be made.
Deut 17:8 ª "If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 9 "And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge [there] in those days, and inquire [of them]; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. 10 "You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. 11 "According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside [to] the right hand or [to] the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. 12 "Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13 "And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously.
De 1:17 `You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man's presence, for the judgment [is] God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.'
Ex 18:26 So they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves.
Ac 25:11 "For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar."
