Is Capital Punishment Biblical?

God did design capital punishment. No question about it. People say, “Does the Bible teach capital punishment?” Well, of course: it teaches it all over the place

If you read through the Old Testament law, you’ll find there was capital punishment required for many sins. For example, sex sins required capital punishment.

You know something interesting? In those periods of time in the Mosaic era, do you know who the executioner was when there was a sex crime or when there was a murder or when there was a dishonor to the parents or when there was a kidnapping or any of these crimes that were capital offenses?

The agent of vengeance who carried out the death penalty was the able-bodied male most nearly related to the victim. You know what that did? Boy, that really made society conscience of it! —

We say today, “Capital punishment isn’t a deterrent.” Of course not! Nobody’s involved in it. It happens somewhere in the corner somewhere, in a private little corner with nobody there, when nobody knows, and we don’t understand the agony of it. In 99% of the cases there is no agony of it!

But then it was very public. It was a family matter. It was right out there and people lived with the consequences of facing what sin brought and what crime brought, and believe me, it came as a deterrent.

There were three methods in the Old Testament: stoning, with the sword, burning. Stoning was used for those morally guilty, the swords were used for those who committed murder, and some even were burned.

There was an interesting incident there in Leviticus 20:14:

"And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you."

Sexual sin there—burned with fire.

“And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.” Leviticus 21:9

Does the Bible teach capital punishment? Yes. And I believe that if it was still done in a biblical fashion today, we’d have a lot less crime than we have now.