What Should Happen to Him…?
The Death Penalty is a Pro-Life Ordinance
The first moral law given after the Flood is not civil or ceremonial. It is a reaffirmation of the sacredness of human life and a statement of God’s hatred of murder. Life, after all, belongs to God alone (John 1:4; 5:26). Thus, to take the life of another is to steal the most important, sacred thing from an individual, and is ultimately an unlawful theft from God, who alone gives and takes away (Job 1:21).
With this in mind, capital punishment is not negation of the value of life, it is inherently an action of vindication. It is not an act of personal vengeance because the Scriptures forbid taking justice into our own hands (Deut. 32:35; Prov. 20:22; Rom. 12:17-19). It is an act of public justice executed via proper channels of the civil magistrate, who does not bear the sword in vain (Rom. 13:1-5; 1 Pet. 2:13-14). Justice is to be executed through the God ordained means of authority, which is the civil magistrate (Gen. 9:5-6; Ex. 18:13-26; Deut. 16:18-20; Prov. 8:15-16).
The Divine Rationale for Capital Punishment
Given the sacredness of human life and its divine origin, we should not prioritize the hot takes of some podcaster on social media, or even the opinion of the Pope when it comes to subjects like justice. God’s opinion is the first order of importance. He has the right and authority to establish the significance of our existence and implement the consequences of violating His purposes. As His creatures, we need Him to reveal to us what is and what is not just in these situations. If a person kills another person without proper justification, what should happen to him? What is the right thing to do? What course of action properly vindicates the life that was taken? Fallen notions of justice simply will not do. In situations of great moral significance like this, we need God to provide for us the rationale for what justice looks like.
4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. Genesis 9:4-6
Genesis 9 is a covenantal renewal with Noah, so its moral logic applies universally because it flows from God’s covenant with creation. Here, the Scriptures ground the punishment for murder (killing without justification) in ontology, not social contract. When God says, “for in the image of God he made man,” the argument is not merely that life is sacred, but that justice reflects God’s moral order. The image-bearer is not just valuable, he is also accountable. The term nephesh (“life” or “soul”) here refers to the animal’s animating life force, which is symbolically and physically associated with blood. The prohibition is against consuming the blood of an animal, which was common in pagan rituals.
The theological principle is that blood belongs to God as the giver of life.
The magistrates “avenging” function in Romans 13 is ultimately subordinated to Christ’s eschatological judgment ( 2 Thess 1:5-10). Thus, capital punishment in the present is not the final judgement, but serves as a provisional expression of divine justice until that great day. This command also functions throughout the rest of Scripture, but for the sake of space, I will simply say that Israel’s dietary laws preserved this principle of reverence for life-blood in its connection with atonement. Blood is declared sacred and set apart for atonement, not consumption (Lev. 17:10-14; Acts 15:20, 29; Matt. 26:28).
Out of this theological principle, flows the logic of capital punishment. Man is sacred because he is made in God’s image, hence, to spill a man’s blood (murder) unjustly is to assault the divine image itself.
Therefore, the life of the murderer is forfeited, not because we despise life, but because it is revered.
Paul reiterates this point in Romans 13:4 when he says:
“He is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”
Civil authority is defined as ministerial. The civil magistrate is a servant of divine justice. Think about what that means when the state refuses to punish murderers proportionate to their crimes, i.e. by death penalty. That is not mercy or justice. It is injustice against God’s image-bearers.
So when that devilish Pontiff says one cannot be ‘pro-life’ and for the death penalty, we know that moral reasoning isn’t from God, but is contrary to the divine rationale.
“Did God really say? You shall not surely die…?”
The Sanctity of Unborn Life
The notion that life is a sacred thing to be guarded and vindicated applies universally to every human being, even unborn human beings. It is a pre-Mosaic, universal moral principle that is part of natural and divine law. This is God’s view, anyway. Exodus 21:22-25 applies the theological principle of blood belonging to the Giver of life to those in the womb, through out all stages of embryonic development.
22 When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay 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. Exodus 21:22-25
Notice the law scenario presented in this passage is of two men in an altercation who accidentally bring harm to a woman pregnant with child. If the accidental incident caused a premature birth, there was to be a fine imposed by the husband. The Hebrew phrase “yātsû yelādêhā” “so that her children come out” can mean either miscarriage or premature birth, and translators have debated whether “no harm” refers to the mother or the child. Regardless of the precise translation, the underlying moral logic stands; life for life proportionate with justice.
This presupposes the unborn as a person with moral worth, for even accidental violence hoisted upon them is treated as a grave moral offense. The unborn child is covered under the same protection of ‘life for life’ as any other adult person. That principle, which arises from an accidental case implies full moral status of the child within the womb. Thus, the intentional termination of a pregnancy would therefore be treated as a deliberate homicide. In other words, human beings inside the womb are given equal protection under the law of God. One who takes the life of a baby in the womb, accidentally or intentionally, forfeits his/her right to life. The moral logic of this being derived from Genesis 9:4-6. The logic of the pro-life position and the logic of capital punishment share the same theological foundation, which is, life inside and outside of the womb is sacred under the image of God.
The Error of the Modern “Consistent Life Ethic”
When the Pope or other voices declare, “You can’t be pro-life and pro-death penalty,” they are confusing moral categories and displacing divine justice. One can acknowledge that some advocates of the “consistent life ethic” share a legitimate concern for dignity of all image-bearers.
However, abortion is an action that is intrinsically evil because of the type of action it is. Killing the innocent, in this case, the unborn, without justification ends in destroying life. Capital punishment is morally justifiable because it kills the guilty by due process, upholding the sanctity of life. Collapsing the difference between innocent life and culpable life treats the death of the innocent and of the culpable as morally equivalent. God, however, distinguishes them sharply. Justice for the guilty guards mercy for the innocent.
When the civil magistrate uses the sword it becomes an instrument of mercy to the righteous by restraining evil, thus preserving life and order. And so to abolish the death penalty is to absolutely undermine God’s moral government. It denies the logic of Genesis 9:5-6 and substitutes it for emotional pacifism. The truly pro-life position is one that defends the innocent and demands justice for the murderer.
