"There is no scriptural backing for capital punishment in the New Testament. The New Testament gives us the teachings of Jesus Christ. If you do not accept the teachings of Jesus Christ, you do not accept Jesus as the Christ. If you do not accept Jesus, you will go to Hell - you yourself have said this. I am not condeming you, you do it yourself when you deny Jesus."
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webster....
First, let's start with the easy part:
"If you do not accept the teachings of Jesus Christ, you do not accept Jesus as the Christ. If you do not accept Jesus, you will go to Hell"
I agree, no problem. But just how do I deny Jesus???
You argue that there is "no scriptural backing for capital punishment in the New Testament." Well, let's see if that is true, and for the sake of your argument, we will leave out the Old Testament support other than noting that there can be no argument that the Old Testament commands capital punishment, beginning with Genesis 9:6. Neither Jesus nor any of the writers in the New Testament gave new instructions that abrogated that stance, and indeed it was reaffirmed in several ways. When reading the relevant passages (both OT and New), note that such authority was always reserved to government under strict guidelines, and never to individuals acting on their own. It was always conditional on positive proof of guilt (at least two witnesses) and other than for religious offenses (Israel at the time was a Theocracy, so not applicable under a secular government) it was for the most part a punishment for premeditated murder.
For a starting point, there is the life and actions of Jesus, who continuously spoke out against injustice and stood constantly against evil, sin, and oppression. He never at any time said that the state did not have the authority or the right to put Him to death. Some might claim that He was just unwilling to fight against going to the cross (which He knew was necessary), but then how do you explain that at no time did He object in any way to the simultaneous crucifixion of the two other criminals, both both of whom were being executed for what we would today consider relatively minor crimes that would result in short jail sentences at most. If Jesus had felt that capital punishment in itself were wrong, or that the state did not have the authority or right to carry out executions, He surely would have spoken out at that time - His silence is a strong argument against thinking that He opposes capital punishment.
John 19:10-11
19:10 Pilate therefore said to Him "You do not speak to me?" Do You not know that I have authority to release You and I have authority to crucify You?"
19:11 Jesus answered, "You would have no power over Me unless it had been given you from above; For this reason he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin."
Jesus not only did not dispute the ruler's authority to impose capital punishment, He declared that the authority came from God. Pilate's sin was in condemning an innocent man to death, not for the execution itself.
Romans 13:1-7
13:1 Let every person be submissive to the governing authorities
13:2 For there is no authority except [that which is given] by God and those who are appointed by God.
13:3 Consequently the one who resists authority, opposes the institution of God, and those who do so will receive judgment on themselves.
13:4 For rulers are not a fear to good work, but to evil [work] Do you want to not fear the authority? Do good and you will have praise from it.
13:4 For it is God's servant to do you good, but if you do evil, then fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. For it is God's servant, an avenger to bring wrath on the one who practices evil.
13:5 Wherefore it is necessary to submit, not only because of wrath, but also because of conscience.
13:6 For this reason you pay taxes, for (those in authority] are God's servants who persist in this very thing.
13:7 Give back to all people what is owed; taxes to whom taxes are due; revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due and honor to whom honor is due.
It is hard to tap dance enough to argue that the passage above does not support capital punishment. What is the normal use of a sword, if not to cause death? Paul's argument is that government is an instrument for justice and order and ordained by God, and one part of the power of government is capital punishment. We are to submit ourselves to the authority of government except when it goes against the express will of God - even then we accept the consequences of refusing to obey.
While there are a number of other less direct passages in the New Testament that can used to support capital punishment, for sake of brevity I will leave it at these. As you can see, for anyone willing to search scripture with an open mind, there is most certainly scriptural backing for capital punishment - both from Jesus Himself and from Paul.
We hear often that capital punishment violates the sixth Commandment "Thou shalt not kill", but the proper translation is "Thou shall not commit murder". The verb used in both the Old and the New Testament (phoneuo, in the greek) always means murder and is never used in relation with animals, God, angels, the killing of enemies in battle, or capital punishment. To not make the distinction is not only erroneous, it makes God's own commands contradictory.
Finally. to accuse a Christian with denying Jesus is a very serious charge and should not be done lightly. I would rather die than deny Jesus.
mlsoft
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