The Sixth Commandment: Statutes and Precepts (2)
Leviticus 24.17
“Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death.”
Leviticus 24.21b
“…but whoever kills a man shall be put to death.”
The fact that this sanction existed before the Ten Commandments, and is explicitly continued in the New Testament (Rom. 13.1-5), indicates just how seriously human beings must regard this matter of taking the life of another.
The death penalty is an extreme form of justice; however, it is not inhumane, and it need not be cruel. Knowing that the death penalty is in force can have deterrent power in a society; actually exercising the death penalty can, to a certain extent, restore justice in a society where murder has been committed.
In our society, a system of appeals guards against the hasty or injudicious use of the death penalty. Once those have been exhausted, however, we must not flinch to apply, when ordered and for justice’s sake, that punishment which God Himself commands.
T. M. Moore
The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
