The command in Genesis 9:5-6 was given to the patriarch Noah as he and his family offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God after surviving the Great Flood. Since that time, God-fearing governments have recognized the need for the death penalty or capital punishment, especially for the crime of murder. But in recent years, humanists and religious liberals have sought to ban capital punishment. Meanwhile expensive and time consuming legal barriers have been erected which make the carrying out of executions difficult in the United States. Add to this mix is the pontifex maximus of the Roman Catholic Church - Pope Francis.Since World War II, the Roman Church has looked negatively upon capital punishment. Ironically, Vatican City, the “papal kingdom” within the nation of Italy, carried out executions until the early 19 Century. Now Francis wants to make opposition to the death penalty part of the official doctrine of the Roman Church on par with its opposition to abortion. In a recent speech, he said that capital punishment is “contrary to the Gospel, because it entails the willful suppression of a human life that never ceases to be sacred in the eyes of its Creator.” He goes on to claim that this opposition is part of the “pro-life” (anti-abortion) position of the Roman Church.
What “gospel” is he referring to? Nowhere in the New Testament is capital punishment condemned. Notice the words of the apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit regarding governments and capital punishment in Romans 13:1,4). The phrase “bear the sword” refers to the use of the sword as an instrument of punishment, usually by beheading. When righteous Paul was to be judged by the Roman Governor Festus regarding the Jewish officials’ false charges against him, he proclaimed by inspiration, “For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar” (Acts 25:11; cf. Luke 12:11-12). That would have been the perfect time for the inspired apostle to inform the Roman governor (and us) that the death penalty is immoral. But he did not, because it is not.
It is the height of arrogance for “Christ’s so-called representative on earth” to equate the killing of the innocent (abortion) with the legal execution of the guilty. This is one more proof that the Roman Catholic Church has long ago rejected the Scriptures (“sola scriptura”) for the doctrines of men (note Revelation 22:18-19). ---Roelf L. Ruffner
---Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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