On Capital Punishment
The biggest problem with argumentation about capital punishment is that policies are made and changed on the basis of mere argumentation while the issue impresses serious people as so grave, involving as it does the taking of human life, that if there is any room for reasonable dispute not only the presumption, but also the conclusion as well, must fall on the side of abolition.
The problem is compounded because there are no New Testament prescriptions of the death penalty, assumed as just under the Old Testament Law, but militated against by the mercy of God in Christ—e.g., in the pericope adulterae in John 8 (whether or not it is a part of the original gospel). There are perfectly cogent and decidedly Christian arguments for both sides. Nor does tradition help us much, for the tradition does not appear to contain a fully considered magisterial consensus. Once again, human lives hang in the balance while exegesis and theology refuse to come firmly to our aid. Capital punishment is only one of many issues like this, and full advantage is taken of the fact by those who keep our streets full of murderers in the name of justice and charity.
I do not think that we were left without explicit scriptural guidance under the New Covenant on such matters without the full knowledge and intent of God. We are free to decide—we must decide—what to do ourselves, and we will be judged in accordance with the decisions we make. We must, as free men, probe the mind of God, and we are invited, indeed required, to do so. This is where I would begin consideration of this and every similar matter.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
S. M. Hutchens is a Touchstone senior editor.
• Not a subscriber or wish to renew your subscription? Subscribe to Touchstone today for full online access. Over 30 years of publishing!
personal subscriptions
Purchase Print &
Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives including pdf downloads for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
gift subscriptions
GIVE Print &
Online Subscription
Give six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for the reduced rate of $29.95. That's only $2.50 per month!
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
kindle subscription
OR get a subscription to Touchstone to read on your Kindle for only $1.99 per month! (This option is KINDLE ONLY and does not include either print or online.)
Your subscription goes a long way to ensure that Touchstone is able to continue its mission of publishing quality Christian articles and commentary.
more from the online archives
32.6—November/December 2019
Historical Truth, Beguiling Stories & Three Kinds of Hearers by Anthony Esolen
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
