Question:
As a Christian, do you think that capital punishment should be carried out?

Answer:

“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man” (Genesis 9:6).  After the Flood, a new responsibility, that of government, was given to mankind.  Romans 13:1-4 points out the need for government, so the Scriptural answer to the question is “Yes.”

The Christian can love his enemies by seeking to win criminals to Christ before they are executed.  There is disagreement as to whether capital punishment is a deterrent to murder, but that is not the reason given in Genesis 9 for the institution of capital punishment.  The reason given there is that man is made in the image of God and to kill another person is so offensive to God that a murderer must forfeit his own life.

If we are “not under the law but under grace” (Romans 6:14), isn’t the instruction of Genesis 9:6 done away with?  No, because Genesis 9:6 takes us all the way back to creation.  As long as man is made in the image of God, the Scriptural mandate for capital punishment stands.

While Scripture may seem to be overly severe on this point, God has provided a very important balance to this: “At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death” (Deuteronomy 17:6; also 19:15; Numbers 35:30, Hebrews 10:28).