Capital Punishment, Covenant Justice and the Cross of Christ: The Death Penalty in the Life and Death of Jesus

Abstract

Abstract: This paper aims to contribute to a distinctively Christian view of capital punishment within a peace church perspective. The present essay builds from the previous work of Mennonite-Anbaptist writers on this question--John Howard Yoder, Christopher Marshall, Gardner Hanks and Millard Lind. It offers a two-part argument concerning capital punishment, based on the teaching of Jesus in the Gospel of John and the message of the cross in the epistles of Paul. ********** In the past decade three Mennonite-Anabaptist writers have contributed significantly to the debate concerning Christian conviction and capital punishment: Christopher Marshall, Beyond Retribution (2001); (1) Gardner Hanks, Capital Punishment and the Bible (2002); (2) and Millard Lind, The Sound of Sheer Silence and the Killing State (2004). (3) These books follow the earlier work of John Howard Yoder, The Christian and Capital Punishment (1961) and The Death Penalty Debate (1991, with H. Wayne House). (4) Each of these writers argues that a biblically-based perspective concerning violence, justice and the cross cuts against Christian support for the death penalty. From that platform, this essay seeks to develop these views in several new directions. (5) Within a peace church perspective, Jesus' life and teaching, as well as his death and resurrection, are not only revelatory of God but also normative for the church. The two dimensions of a distinctively Christian view of capital punishment within a peace church perspective will thus be shaped primarily by the teaching and cross of Jesus Christ. Accordingly, the argument that follows unfolds along two lines: that Jesus' teaching in the Gospel of John amounts effectively to a permanent moratorium on the human practice of capital punishment in fulfillment of the substance of covenant law; and that Paul's gospel announces the good news that God has put a final end to the death penalty through the cross of Christ. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND COVENANT JUSTICE IN THE TEACHING OF JESUS: A DEATH PENALTY MORATORIUM In the Gospel of John we find the only instance where Jesus addresses directly the question of the death penalty, the story of "the woman caught in adultery" (Jn. 8:2-11). (6) This story, as will become clear, depicts Jesus acting to fulfill God's covenant justice--justice that brings good news for the poor, justice that transcends retribution for the sake of redemption. Preliminary Objections Several potential preliminary objections might be anticipated. First, some may want to object that the authority or veracity of this text is questionable because it is not found in the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament and is found at various places in later manuscripts. (7) Bruce Metzger, a leading New Testament textual scholar, argued that, such variations notwithstanding, this story "has all the earmarks of historical veracity." (8) In any case, that this text has been handed down as part of the accepted canon of Holy Scripture, and has been commented on as Holy Scripture since the Patristic period, (9) is sufficient, in my view, to establish its authority for the church. Second, some may want to object that the story concerns lynching, not capital punishment--Jesus intervenes to stop an illegal procedure, to thwart mob justice. The details of the story, however, appear consistent both with the Torah and with the legal custom of rabbinical Judaism at the time. Hanks persuasively argues that the evidence shows that "Jesus' intervention stopped a legal execution fully sanctioned by the Jewish authorities." (10) Third, some may want to object that this case is presented to Jesus as a trap. Because Jesus' reply is intended to avoid the horns of a dilemma, the objection goes, we cannot read any "moral" from the story because, again, capital punishment is not the issue. Thus argues H. Wayne House, professor of biblical and theological studies and professor of law: "The real issue placed before Jesus was not a guilty woman but a baited trap. …