The issue of the death penalty was once again debated in the House of Commons on a motion that the sentence of capital punishment should again be available to the courts. The motion was defeated by a large majority, the Labour Members of Parliament voting almost to a man against it. This result gives a good measure of the prevailing religious and moral outlook of the House of Commons, which is basically anti-biblical and in large part anti-Christian as well. This attitude of the Commons to the death penalty is, so far as can be ascertained, not shared by the people of the country at large, who would require, in the present climate of mounting violence, that the death penalty should be restored.
The question of prime importance in resolving the issue is, what does the Bible say? It is what God says in His Word that is to be the guide to nations and individuals and not mere sentiment. On this subject the Bible speaks unequivocally. To Noah God said: “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man.” (Gen. 9:5 and 6). Earlier in the history of mankind when Cain slew his brother Abel, the blood of Abel cried for vengeance, and God pronounced Cain cursed from the earth. He was to be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth, and be thereby a warning to others. God sent a mark on him as otherwise he would be slain. God was pleased for wise ends, in this instance, to commute the death sentence and sentence him instead to perpetual banishment. But death was to be the ordinary punishment for murder as we see in Noah’s day.
In the New Testament we find that God puts the sword in the magistrate’s hand, which can only indicate the power he possesses to sentence to death. And what crime is so worthy of such a sentence as that of murder? The magistrate “beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil” (Rom. 13:4). So that Old Testament and New agree in the sentence to be passed on the murderer — that it is to be one of death. What harm is there, some may say, that the death penalty may no longer be executed on the murderer? One evil that flows from the abolition of capital punishment is that it vitiates the whole process of sentencing in courts of law. Crimes of a less serious nature are likely to carry a heavier sentence than that of murder. In this way human life is devalued. Another evil flowing from the abolition of capital punishment is that the guilt of the blood shed by the murderer passes over to the nation and God will require this blood at the nation’s hands. A further evil which flows from abolition of capital punishment is the increase of violence. As the sin of murder does not receive the proper check — that is, the execution of the death penalty, others will take liberty from this to murder other of their fellow-creatures. We know that great attempts have been made to prove that murder is not a deterrent but even with the falsification of statistical evidence, it appears unmistakeably true that the abolition of the death penalty has resulted in an increased and increasing number of murders.
At the end of the debate in the House of Commons, Members of Parliament went into the lobbies to vote on the issue. To many, no doubt, it appeared a simple issue of whether or not the murderer should die. The issue, however, was much more solemn than this in view of the increasing instances of murder. The real issue at stake was whether the murderer should die or whether the innocent should die. Those who voted for the death penalty, in effect signed the death warrant of the murderer; those who voted against, in effect signed the death warrant of many innocent persons. A further issue — and one of the highest importance in the administration of justice — to which Members of Parliament did not appear to give much place was the question of whether the Divine law or merely human law was to have the supreme place in the life of the nation. In this instance the divine law was disregarded although it is the only proper basis for the administration of justice.
The failure of the House of Commons to live up to its responsibilities bodes ill for the life of the country. Until Parliament restores the ultimate sanction to its proper place, we have little hope of other measures taken to combat crime and violence having the desired result. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isa. 8:20).