The truth behind the death penalty

“[Avoid the forbidden woman,] lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless,”
-Proverbs 5:9

A lot of people would describe the moral laws of the Bible to be rather restrictive. Adultery was a capital offense, as was being caught in premarital sex. We moderns would likely scoff at such laws as primitive and unenlightened.

We may likewise laugh at verses like this, that talk about losing honor because of sexual sin. Perhaps this is a part of that old system that does not really apply today.

Surely we would agree that this remains partially true. I mean, some people get nervous about sex, and do not want their bedroom activities to come to light. Maybe they would consider some honor lost, depending on what becomes public. If you are caught cheating on your wife, certainly you’re going to run into some trouble there. In very rare cases, there are diseases, unwanted pregnancy, or something of the like associated with sex. But then again, most of those diseases are curable, and our enlightened society can take care of an unwanted pregnancy too.

So our enlightened society may dismiss this verse as speaking to something that is gone now. Even some churches would say that, saying that these laws belong to an older time, but that we are in a dispensation of grace now.

But here’s the thing about God’s Law as revealed in the Word. Whether or not our nation recognizes these penalties, they reflect something of God’s eternal truth. Premarital sex is not even a crime anymore in America, but with God, it still is.

And God is careful to explain to us that the wages of sin is death. No sin can be forgiven without the spilling of blood. The severity of punishment in the Law is a reflection of God’s just and holy nature, and His reaction to our rebellion against His righteousness. We can try to dismiss our own sin away if we like, but when we engage in sexual sin when He tells us not to, then we are rebelling again a perfect and righteous God. This is a crime against His holiness, and it must be punished.

So this Law given in the Bible not as the practices of an unenlightened culture, but as the expectations of a perfect God. If we don’t see the sense in them, it is because WE are unenlightened, not Him.

And His Law goes right down to our hearts. Jesus tells us that if we look at another person with lust in our hearts, then we are guilty of adultery. So it’s not even about remaining a virgin until you’re married, but also keeping your imagination pure too.

We so quickly dismiss sin in this culture, but in truth, we are without excuse. We deserve death for what we have thought, said, and done. There is nothing we can do to earn eternal life. We have already lost it by our own actions.

But God is a God who saves. God is a God of love. He is just, yes. He is righteous and holy. But He also does not want to see us in death. To solve this, He sent His only Son, Jesus, to earth. He lived a perfect life, utterly free from sin, and died upon a Roman Cross. In that death He took upon Himself the sins He did not commit – our sins. He paid the price for them, sating God’s wrath against us.

We all deserve death. There is no way we can be good enough for heaven. But if we repent and believe in Him, we will find life.