Who is Sovereign?)
This has been an interesting study to conduct, and I have learned several things over the course of it. The presence of the death penalty in the Bible is a controversial point, one that people use as justification in saying that the God of the Old Testament is a harsh tyrant who is eager to punish those that disobey Him. But that view seems based upon a perspective where one sees his own as sovereign and his right to life immutable, and not that God is the author of this mortal existence. Which is the first main principle that I found in this study: God is the author of our mortal existence and therefore justified in whatever bounds He sets upon it.
In my personal faith, I believe that we were premortal spirits who knew and lived with God, and to whom He offered an earth life as the way to cultivate our souls to their fullest potential. We who are on this earth are the ones who agreed to His plan and to His terms for it. As such, we entered life expressly so that we could fulfill God’s plan for it. When during the course of life we instead come out in strong rebellion, having God remove us from this life and back to the state that we were in before seems understandable and fair. But this is not the context that most people hold, and I understand why they therefore grapple. Many in this world view themselves as sovereign over their own lives, and this earth life as the ultimate reality. Both of those beliefs make a consignment to death a violation of what they see as a superior principle.
The Wages of Sin)
The second principle that I was reminded of is that it is not just some sins that warrant a death penalty, it is all of them. All sin is an act of rebellion against God and our better nature. It frustrates the cultivation of our souls and therefore provides the justification for removing us from this earth experience. We are not all executed at our first sin only because God has prepared a way by which we can repent and change over time, thus eventually fulfilling the purpose for which we were sent here.
So, it is wise for God to spare the sinner, but not necessarily for the most egregious acts of rebellion, and any time that He does execute justice it is fair and deserved. While we live in the hope of being perfected in Christ and receiving paradise, we must never lose sight of the fact that on our own we are worthy of death. That changes the perspective on God’s justice quite a bit.
Core Laws Never Change)
The third principle that stood out to me was that the fundamental laws of the gospel never change. Minor policies might change, such as the day for sabbath observance or the prohibitions against certain meats, but as we have already seen, the death penalty is inseparably connected to the principles of Law and Justice. Those have not changed and never will.
No matter how many sinners Jesus pardoned, it never dissolved the fact that sin demanded justice. It did not change that we all come in rebellion to God’s purpose for life. It did not prevent Paul from concluding that the “wages of sin is death.” All of that is still true, only now the justice, the death penalty, and the condemnation is executed upon the person of Jesus.
God gave the Ancient Israelites a stay of execution for minor sins, and now we have it for more major ones as well. But in all cases, it is only a stay, not a dismissal. In all cases justice does still happen, but now upon the Lamb of God.
Nothing New)
Laying out those three core principles, it became clear that I was repeating a very familiar story.
- God is sovereign over all and seeks to perfect our souls.
- Each of us instead goes astray and deserves judgment.
- But Jesus took that penalty so that we may repent and be redeemed.
There is nothing new in this, but perhaps by approaching that familiar story through something as difficult and controversial as the Old Testament death penalties, you have now seen it from a new perspective. I certainly know that I have.
