Is the death penalty fair? Why would a loving God tell people to stone each other to death? What happened to “turn the other cheek?” Why is there a “life for a life” clause? Doesn’t God believe in forgiveness and second chances?

The death penalty was introduced in Genesis 9:5-6, and it was for murder. Cain, the firstborn son of Adam and Eve (the first humans), committed the very first murder. He murdered his brother Abel in Genesis 4:8. In Genesis 4:9-15, God punishes Cain with hardship in growing crops, and Cain complains his punishment is too much and he is afraid someone else (his parents or other siblings) will kill him. So God shows him mercy by branding him with a mark that would serve as a symbol of protection.

Many years later, in Genesis 4:23-24, Lamech, one of Cain’s sixth-generation descendants, brags about murdering a man and believes that Cain’s mark will be on him too and protect him. I believe that this warping of God’s mercy on Cain created a “Murder Olympics”, where people interpreted the mark of Cain as a reward of special protection. This is likely one of the reasons that Gen 6:11 says the world was “filled with violence.” God had to stop this with the death penalty, which is why there was a flood. In Gen 3:22-23, God put Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden to prevent them from eating from the Tree of Life. This stopped them from negating the death they would receive as punishment for breaking God’s prohibition on eating the Forbidden Fruit. Imagine if God didn’t do that, and they got eternal life despite having a sin nature. Then, there would be an eternal war between Cain and Abel, and no flood could stop it, because humans would be immortal. IT would be hell on earth, and people would be tortured and abused eternally. Instead of dying and going to hell, everyone would be born into it. In Gen 9:5-6, after the Flood, God then establishes the death penalty for murderers because humans obviously can’t handle the mercy he showed Cain. Seems justified to me. In Deut 17:6, God says that murderers must be put to death, but only if there is more than one witness. Numbers 35:30-34  says the same and more, establishing that no one can exchange the murderer’s death for a ransom. In fact, the murderer’s death can’t even be covered by an animal sacrifice. Murder pollutes the land spiritually, and the only way to cleanse the land of murder is to execute the murderer.

People may still wonder, why would God have sinners executed in the Old Testament but not the New? One must remember that sin spreads like a disease; if one person commits it, then others will follow suit. Leaven (yeast) is often used as an analogy for sin (Gal 5:7-10, 1 Corinthians 5:5-7). The death penalty only applied to crimes where people were “caught in the act”, meaning secret sin was judged by God, usually with diseases that make people unclean, like skin diseases, which is why these diseases required sacrificial offerings of reconciliation with God when the person was cured (Lev 14-15). Miriam contracted leprosy in Numbers 12 for speaking against Moses. In the case of adultery, there was a special ritual to test if a woman was faithful to her husband by having her drink water mixed with dust from the Tabernacle. If she were faithful, nothing would happen, but if she committed adultery and lied about it, she would have a vaginal prolapse and become barren (Num 5:11-31). The distinction is that if a sin is done in secret, then God can deal with a person personally, and if they don’t repent, their sin is exposed through illness. However, if a crime is public (the guilty are caught in the act by witnesses), then it must be dealt with immediately. Otherwise, people will think they can just do whatever they want. There is a death penalty for things like adultery (Deut 22:22) and idolatry (Ex 32:1-29) because they are covenant violations, and God takes oaths and covenants very seriously. For the sin that wasn’t caught publicly, that should be considered an act of mercy by God, giving people time to repent, and then sacrificing an animal in their place. This was necessary because death is the cost of sin (Romans 6:23).

Jesus called himself the bread of life in John 6:32-59; he was the unleavened bread (or the sinless one). The Israelites ate unleavened bread during Passover, and when we take communion, it represents the flesh of the unleavened or sinless Messiah. Jesus also represents the Passover lamb since the lamb’s blood covered the Israelites and protected them from death, just like his blood covers us. Jesus’ death covered the sin of those who believe in him, functioning as a fulfillment of the sacrificial laws, so we don’t need to sacrifice animals or die since Jesus died for us (Heb 10:1-18). The Holy Spirit was not present in those under the Old Covenant to transform their hearts, so God had to intervene directly to stop sin, as people are naturally too stubborn to change due to their sinful nature. However, in the New Covenant, Jesus died in place of our sins, including murder, so that we can be made right with God. He took our punishment on the cross (Isa 53:10, 2 Cor 5:21), and therefore we don’t need to die; we instead can simply repent and follow the Holy Spirit.

This does not mean believers can continue to sin without a care in the world. Hebrews 6:4-8 and 10:19-31 both make it clear that there is condemnation for people who play games with this New Covenant. Those who are genuinely saved don’t want to go back to living in sin because they believe that they need freedom and that Christ provided the way out. If a person claims to follow Christ but disagrees with the Bible, then they are not believers; they are just cultural Christians who practice religious behavior because of the environment they are in. In the New Covenant, the death penalty is no longer required. Instead, the church has the right to excommunicate a person until they repent (Matt 18:15-20, 1 Cor 5:1-13, 2 Cor 2:5-11), but no one can be put to death because Christ already died for them. The goal is to be free from slavery to sin, not freedom to sin more (John 8:31-36, Rom 6:6-22). Jesus shed his blood to make us ritually pure so that we can receive the Holy Spirit on the inside, and the Holy Spirit is what helps us overcome sin nature (Gal 5:16, Gal 6:7-8). Only those who believe in Jesus receive the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17, Romans 8:5-11). Believers are saved from eternal damnation because Christ died in their place and can expect a future with new bodies that last forever (also known as eternal life). 

John 10:10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My [Jesus’] purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.