If killing is prohibited by the Sixth Commandment, shouldn Christians oppose the death penalty?
A. The Sixth Commandment (Ex. 20: 13) does not prohibit all killing, for that would contradict other biblical passages that clearly prescribe the death penalty for certain crimes. “Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death” (Lev. 24:17), the Bible says. And “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death” (Ex. 21:12). A better translation of the Sixth Commandment is found in modern editions of the Bible such as the New King James Version and the New International Version, which render the Sixth Commandment in this way: “You shall not murder.” The Hebrew word used in this verse is rasah, and it has the specialized meaning of murder by an intentional, malicious act. Murder is the deliberate taking of innocent life. When society executes a criminal, we are not taking an innocent life. The primary principle of punishment in the Bible is proportionality. That means that the punishment must be proportionate to the crime committed. This principle has been recognize
