Christa Pike, the Tennessee woman who survived a botched execution, has regained consciousness and is speaking, according to her attorneys. They have called her recovery “medically unprecedented.”
Pike was convicted in 1996 of luring a classmate into a wooded area near Knoxville in 1995 and then torturing and brutally murdering her. She was sentenced to death, but has been on death row for the past 30 years.
Everything surrounding this case is tragic. However, it has raised national awareness and, once again, questions about capital punishment.
There is no doubt that sincere opinions exist on both sides of the question. For Bible believers, the questions run deeper than law or societal values: What does the Bible say?
During the patriarchal age, when God spoke directly to the fathers, He authorized capital punishment. Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”
This text teaches four important things.
(1) Human life is sacred.
(2) Human life is not the same as animal life.
(3) People bear the imprint of God.
(4) Murder destroys the life of a person made in God’s image.
When God gave Moses the law on Mount Sinai, the Sixth Commandment was, “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13).
The Mosaic law specified numerous crimes that carried the death penalty, including murder. God said, “Whoever kills another 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” (Num. 35:30).
In today’s Christian age, the government is identified as God’s minister and authorized to exercise capital punishment.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is God’s servant, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. (Romans 13:1–4)
The author of Romans, the apostle Paul, acknowledged the legitimacy of capital punishment in his defense before the Roman governor Festus when he said, “For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying” (Acts 25:11).
So, it’s apparent that in every dispensation, God has authorized the use of capital punishment for the evildoer.
Bible commentator Matthew Henry concludes, “Willful murder ought always to be punished with death.” Expositors John Gill and Albert Barnes also defend biblical authority for capital punishment, as does Christian apologist Greg Koukl.
My Bible professor at Florida College, Clinton D. Hamilton, wrote a commentary on Romans which includes a three-page exegesis on Romans 13:1–4. Brother Hamilton makes clear that the government has the authority to punish “those who violate the law, including capital punishment.”
The failures surrounding Pike’s execution raise serious questions about how the state exercises its authority. However, failures in administering punishment do not, by themselves, negate the biblical authority for capital punishment.
Yet that authority carries a solemn responsibility to establish guilt, protect the innocent, and administer justice fairly. The requirement for witnesses in Numbers 35:30 reminds us that God’s concern for justice includes safeguards against wrongful punishment.
Koukl argues that God can forgive a murderer who repents. However, that forgiveness does not remove the government’s responsibility to administer justice.
Some opponents of capital punishment cite Jesus’ teaching on nonretaliation in Matthew 5:38–39. However, this addresses personal vengeance, not the exercise of justice by governmental authorities. Christians do not engage in vigilante justice, but defer to “the minister of God” to execute justice.
Human life is sacred because we are made in God’s image. That truth explains both the seriousness of murder and the solemn responsibility of those who administer justice.
Christians must reject personal vengeance while insisting that governmental justice be fair, careful, and accountable.
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
