When people respond about Manny Pacquiao's statement about death penalty, most people ridiculed him. I feel pity for the senator, but that the same time, I feel more pity for the response of the people.
Looking back at his statement, the senator said, "God allows governments to use capital punishment. Even Jesus Christ was sentenced to death because the government impose the rule then." (According to Rappler)
Perhaps the Senator is not a very good orator but I understood his point.
Jesus was sentenced by Pontius Pilate to cruxifixction even though he is wrongly accused. Justice system back then did not allow proper investigation and so on. Except for the plot to kill Jesus where in the Pharisees and the Sadducees were successful in it. But looking back in the Scriptures, we should all understand this:
"For the wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23a
We are all actually sentenced to death.
Let that sink in for a moment. We are all under capital punishment. Death
Just as one man had sinned, death came through sin, so death spread through all men because all sinned. (Romans 5:12)
But what is it about that comment that made me agree on?
In Genesis, right after the flood, God told Noah this, "And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." (Genesis 9:5-6)
A bit too deep that is. But it does seem to direct that God is pro-death penalty and He has given man the authority to shed blood.
David Gushee, a professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University wrote this:
"The most plausible biblical support for the death penalty is Genesis 9:5-6. This pivotal text, framed as part of God's covenant with Noah after the Flood, says that God requires a "reckoning" for human life (ESV), that this divine reckoning shall be undertaken by humans as if on behalf of God, and that this reckoning is a corollary of human beings having been made in the image of God.
This is a short passage, and a somewhat cryptic one. It is possible to interpret 9:6 as an observation or proverb rather than a command. But when linked to 9:5, and especially when considered in the context of a flood sent as divine judgment in large part because of human violence (Gen. 6:11), it is hard not to read it as divine institution of the death penalty against murderers to protect humans made in the image of God."
So how does it work? What does this has got to do with Pacquiao's statement about Jesus being sentenced to death.
If you're a big fan of Romans (not the citizens of Rome but the letter the Apostle Paul wrote), Paul talked about the laws, laws of God given to men and how it condemns us to unrighteousness. The law was made due to the knowledge of sin. It meant that it was there so that we may know that we do sin.
"As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes." Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:10-20)
We always need to read beyond a verse and take the context as a whole. No one is righteous, not one. We are all sinful creatures. We do not fear God, we do not even seek God. But we all know that we are accountable to Him. Yet in whatever law there is, we are all guilty of breaking them.
We also need to understand what Paul wrote about governing authorities.
"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." " (Romans 13:1-9)
Christ came to earth so that He will save us from the capital punishment. God uses the laws that was created for His own good by letting His Son be under the law in order to save us from the law. By allowing Jesus to be sentenced to death, although Satan or even the people against Jesus thought they have succeeded, it had allowed Jesus to take upon all of OUR SIN so that we are no longer under the law in which OUR PUNISHMENT is DEATH.
Mind you, in the context of "Do not kill" The Hebrew word רָצַח ratsach, it's often translated to kill. Though to kill can be too broad, but the Hebrew language is very specific that it is murder, not kill. Murder meaning premeditated, to assassinate, to kill. Illegal killings.
So in light of all the mockery, God did allow the government to use capital punishment for His own purpose. He allowed Jesus to be sentenced to death because Jesus was carrying all of our sins.
Christ died so that we might live. We were condemned to death but with His life, we were free from that condemnation. In court in which our plea should be guilty, a Man steps in to take the blame and release us from the bondage of sin.
"Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:18-21)
Death penalty, it seems that God does allow it. Death was often the punishment for disobedience as you will often encounter in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and even in the New. But as John Piper did say, "That capital punishment is the only fitting response to those who kill a human being (in reference to Genesis 9:5-6) And the point there, is not to make the taking a life through capital punishment an evidence the small value of life, it's exactly the opposite. Human beings are so incredibly unique and significant that a high handed crime to take another human being's life, the only way, to settle accounts and uphold the dignity of human life is to kill that person. Get the logic, at least get the logic here, the image of God in man is HUGE in this on going content. So, when we deal with keep in mind that it is a very complex issue at least in our culture, even when you settle on the principle. I feel settle about the principle. That is biblical and right to believe in capital punishment. How to implement it is another story and a complicated one." (On sermon about "Implications of Being Made in the Image of God"). I stand with that principle too.
"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." " (Romans 13:1-9)
Christ came to earth so that He will save us from the capital punishment. God uses the laws that was created for His own good by letting His Son be under the law in order to save us from the law. By allowing Jesus to be sentenced to death, although Satan or even the people against Jesus thought they have succeeded, it had allowed Jesus to take upon all of OUR SIN so that we are no longer under the law in which OUR PUNISHMENT is DEATH.
Mind you, in the context of "Do not kill" The Hebrew word רָצַח ratsach, it's often translated to kill. Though to kill can be too broad, but the Hebrew language is very specific that it is murder, not kill. Murder meaning premeditated, to assassinate, to kill. Illegal killings.
So in light of all the mockery, God did allow the government to use capital punishment for His own purpose. He allowed Jesus to be sentenced to death because Jesus was carrying all of our sins.
Christ died so that we might live. We were condemned to death but with His life, we were free from that condemnation. In court in which our plea should be guilty, a Man steps in to take the blame and release us from the bondage of sin.
"Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:18-21)
Death penalty, it seems that God does allow it. Death was often the punishment for disobedience as you will often encounter in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and even in the New. But as John Piper did say, "That capital punishment is the only fitting response to those who kill a human being (in reference to Genesis 9:5-6) And the point there, is not to make the taking a life through capital punishment an evidence the small value of life, it's exactly the opposite. Human beings are so incredibly unique and significant that a high handed crime to take another human being's life, the only way, to settle accounts and uphold the dignity of human life is to kill that person. Get the logic, at least get the logic here, the image of God in man is HUGE in this on going content. So, when we deal with keep in mind that it is a very complex issue at least in our culture, even when you settle on the principle. I feel settle about the principle. That is biblical and right to believe in capital punishment. How to implement it is another story and a complicated one." (On sermon about "Implications of Being Made in the Image of God"). I stand with that principle too.
The government, even our own government, though corrupt, they are still the governing authority that God has appointed. And whatever God has appointed them to do, they are also accountable to Him. If Death penalty is implemented, then we do have to adhere to the law. It is up to the government to be accountable in making sure that the justice system is sound and fair. And before we make a mockery about what the Senator has said and start to judge one another about who's being Pro- Death Penalty or Anti-Death Penalty, we all have to remember, we are ALL under Death Penalty.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." Romans 6:23
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