1/29/12 “War & Capital Punishment: Is There a Time to Kill?” Exodus 20:13
I. Introduction
A. Series ends today.
B. This is a life-or-death matter.
1. Not only soldiers in our midst, but makers of weapons (Is.54:16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work.”)
2. Self-defense
II. The dilemma
A. “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; 8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.” (Eccl.3:1-8)
1. (Though Pete Seeger left out the “a time for war” part. His song ended, “A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.”)
B. The sixth commandment: “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13)
1. This is an interpretation, not an accurate translation. The Hebrew word here is the general word to kill, not the specific word which refers to unjust killing of another human being.
C. Followed by several commands to kill: “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.” (Exodus 21:12)
1. “Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.” (Exodus 21:15)
2. “Whoever steals a man and sells him shall be put to death.” (Exodus 21:16)
3. “Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.” (Exodus 21:17)
D. I can’t tell you how many times as a pastor I’ve been asked to explain the apparent contradiction between the sixth commandment and the laws regarding war and the death penalty.
III. The explanation
A. The OT
1. Gen.9:5-6 “And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”
2. Can’t dismiss the whole OT, even if much has changed from OT to NT.
a. God commanded His people to go to war — a lot. At least this means that there is nothing inherently wrong with war.
b. Heb.11:34 “who quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.”
B. Jesus
1. Was Jesus setting aside the laws of violence like He set aside the food laws? Some things He said & did make it seem so:
a. Matt. 5:39 “Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
b. John 7:53-8:11 Jesus does not condone the stoning of the woman caught in adultery.
c. In 1Pet.2:21 we’re told to follow the example of Jesus who didn’t fight back.
2. And yet,
a. Luke 3:14 Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay."
(1) Soldiering is a valid profession.
b. Luke 22:36, 38 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak & buy one.” 38 And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”
3. The slap of Matt. 5:39 is an insult, not an assault.
4. Re: the woman caught in adultery, which is a difficult passage for a number of reasons, one thing that can be said is that when Nebuchadnezzar subdued Judea and Israel lost national sovereignty, the civil laws of Israel became inapplicable.
a. Not only their freedom to carry out their own punishments, but also the laws God had given for the administration of the nation of Israel.
b. The Bible does not advocate vigilantism.
5. Jesus acquiescence to His accusers: He was laying His life down, and the state, not the individual citizen, is given the power of the sword.
C. Paul
1. “Repay no one evil for evil...but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17, 21)
2. A few verses later: “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 the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience.” (Romans 13:4-5)
a. What is the sword for if not for coercion or punishment? Not the whip but the sword.
b. Inflicting wrath with the sword must mean death.
3. How many times Paul was protected by soldiers in Acts. He knew they would react with violence if they were attacked. And yet he never objected, but seemingly appreciated their protection.
4. Acts 25:11 “If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”
D. So, there are a few, narrow exceptions: Westminster Larger Catechism Question 136: What are the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment? Answer: The sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are, all taking away the life of ourselves, or of others, except in case of public justice, lawful war, or necessary defense...
1. Capital punishment for murder
a. Gen.9 creation command (Other verses: Exodus 21:12, 29; Lev.24:21; Numbers 35:30-34)
2. Just war (a concept begun by Augustine and further developed by other great Christian minds through the ages)
a. just cause
b. right authority for the use of such force (An example of a lesser magistrate exercising violent but righteous revolution is Jehoiada in 2Kings 11:1-20.)
c. right intention
d. overall proportionality of the good to be done over the evil (i.e. it will do more good than harm)
e. a reasonable hope of success
f. a situation of last resort
g. the goal of restoring peace
3. Self-defense or defense of another’s life
a. “If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him.” (Exodus 22:2)
b. Only the state has the power of the sword. But at least in the USA the state deputizes those whose lives are being threatened to act as agents of justice in order to prevent killing.
E. Killing only in the cause of protecting and promoting life.
IV. Pacifism and soldierism
A. Pacifism: philosophical or squeamish (“He never heard of a killing he felt was just.”)
B. Soldierism: “He never met a war he didn’t like.”
C. Two sins here: Jesus criticizes both sides in Luke 22.
1. Get a sword (Luke 22:36, 38)
a. He corrects those who think it’s wrong to own or carry a weapon, and even use it in the right context. (And notice that He only asks this just before He is to leave them, a time when danger would significantly increase.)
2. Don’t use it for that! (Luke 22:49-51) highlighting the temptation to overuse the sword (or the gun).
D. It’s possible that soldierism is worse than pacifism, in the sense that it’s farther from what the 6th commandment means, and farther from the teaching of Jesus. (Jesus: 1%, pacifist: 0%, soldierist: 10%)
E. The Christian soldier must not succumb to the pressure to love killing. “Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans.12:2
1. A Christian soldier should not be glorying in killing, though there is a time to rejoice in justice.
2. Ultimately, we’re not here to kill people. We’re here to love people.
F. Unjust war, or even unjust killing in a just war, is just as heinous as abortion.
1. I think if we look at it closely, we’ll see that abortion, capital punishment, war and even self-defense are all the same basic moral issue. There is a time for war, but it is very rare. The same for abortion (e.g. tubal pregnancies)
G. The vast majority of wars have been unjust. The vast majority of wars that were thought to be just have been unjust.
1. Just because the ones who initiate war declare it to be just doesn’t make it just.
2. Just because America is in the war doesn’t mean we’re fighting justly.
H. The problem with trying to play it safe.
1. First of all, it’s a command. Lev.24:17 "'If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death.” It’s not optional. Ezek.13:19 “You have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.”
2. Secondly, perfect administration of capital punishment is impossible. If God only wanted us to do it if we were going to be perfect, He would never have commanded it in the first place. We have to do our very best.
a. Many death sentences have been turned over by new DNA evidence. And praise the Lord they have. I think I have wept on behalf of the falsely convicted every time I’ve heard about their vindication. And there has been carelessness, negligence, prejudice, vengefulness in trying those accused.
b. And it should make us weep. We should weep that there are people as innocent of murder as you are sitting on death row right now. And we must not be content with that. But we’ll never get it perfect.
c. Deut.19:15 requires two eyewitnesses for a conviction, but it’s possible for two people to lie or be wrong. God knows that better than anyone else, and yet that’s the standard He set up for us.
V. Application
A. Maybe killing doesn’t seem consistent to you with the preserving of life. Maybe it’s hard for you to think of killing a person as part of the fulfillment of the command to not kill.
1. It’s understandable, but it’s dangerous.
2. We can’t base what we believe on what seems good to us.
3. It’s as dangerous as some vigilante going out and punishing bad people because he thinks it’s a good thing to do.
B. The Scriptures are measured and nuanced and carefully crafted. Sure we’ve been given minds to think with, but the highest form of thinking is to learn to think like Christ and have His mind in ourselves. (1Cor.2:16)
1. We don’t want to have different minds than Him. And, in the end, if our minds are made up by anything other than listening to Him in His word, then we are inevitably not going to have Him mind but only our own.
2. “A lot of people have all kinds of crazy ideas which they say come from the Scriptures.” Very true. But the problem with their crazy ideas is that they are in fact not what the Bible teaches.
C. There is an exception and there is a rule here. It’s not enough that there is a time to kill and a time to heal. It’s that almost always it’s the time to heal and the time to kill is rare.
1. It’s not only that they both have a legitimate place, but there is an appropriate relationship between them.
2. It doesn’t say, “Thou shalt kill” and then give a few exceptions.
3. Honestly some Christians talk like that!
D. One of the great causes of heresy (maybe the ONLY cause) in the church down through the ages is latching unto one verse/principle and missing the big picture, which includes verses/principles which temper or qualify that verse/principle.
1. We can’t just say, “The Bible seems to say both this and that. I can’t make sense of both, but I feel more comfortable thinking this way, so that’s what I’ll think.”
E. If it weren’t for capital punishment, we would have no salvation.
1. The cross shows the injustice with which capital punishment can be carried out.
2. It also shows how God is sovereign even over injustice.