Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment

Capital punishment, or the death penalty, refers to a government taking the life of a person convicted of certain grave crimes, most often premeditated murder or treason.1 The question centers on whether such authority aligns with the justice God entrusts to human government.

Biblical Foundation for Human Authority

The foundation for this principle appears in Genesis 9:5–6, where God establishes that “whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” This passage conveys that the task of punishing murderers is delegated to human agents rather than carried out directly by God. Grudem explains that this act “was not to be seen as human vengeance, but as carrying out God’s own requirement of justice... The reason God gives for this is the immense value of human life: ‘For God made man in his own image.’”2 Because murder assaults the image of God, the penalty reflects the seriousness of that offense, affirming the sacred worth of every person made in His likeness.

The Government as God’s Servant

The Apostle Paul reinforces this principle in Romans 13, teaching that civil rulers act as instruments of divine justice. The authority “is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4, ESV). This role corresponds with Genesis 9’s delegation of responsibility to humanity. Grudem notes that Paul’s words are “consistent with the teaching of Genesis 9 that God requires a reckoning for wrongdoing and that this will be carried out through human agents.”3

This understanding distinguishes personal forgiveness from governmental justice. Individual believers are commanded not to take revenge (Romans 12:19), yet government is called to enforce justice as God’s servant. Grudem clarifies that people “should not seek to take personal revenge when they have been wronged, but they should seek that justice be done through the workings of the civil government.”4 In this way, Christians can extend personal mercy while still affirming the state’s God-given responsibility to uphold righteousness, even through capital punishment when proportionate to the crime.

References

  1. Wayne A. Grudem, Politics - According to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 186.

  2. Grudem, Politics - According to the Bible, 187.

  3. Grudem, Politics - According to the Bible, 189.

  4. Grudem, Politics - According to the Bible, 190.