–– Evan Cantrell

The audio version of this article is available here: YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

In 2020, Tafadzwa Shama and Tapiwa Makore (Sr) killed and dismembered Makore’s nephew, 7-year-old Tapiwa Makore (Jr). The killing was part of a pagan ritual intended to ensure the prosperity of their cabbage growing business.

In 2023, the men were sentenced to death for their horrific crime. However, in December 2024, Zimbabwe repealed the death penalty, almost 20 years after its last execution in 2005. As a result, Shama and Makore had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. 

When faced with brutal crimes like the murder of little Tapiwa Makore, our hearts cry out for justice through the ultimate punishment. However, activists argue that the death penalty only breeds more violence, and is ineffective and unproductive. They hold up Zimbabwe to the rest of Africa as an example of what should be done in abolishing the death penalty. 

What does God’s Word say? Is it right for believers to desire that the death penalty be carried out, or does this stand in conflict with the command to “love our enemy”? 

Today we will answer four key questions about the death penalty, “Why?”, “Who?”, “When?”, and “How?”.  

Firstly, why should we execute the death penalty? Capital punishment was first instituted by God in Genesis 9:5-6. God says that because man is made in His image, the violation of that image through the crime of murder demands the life of the murderer in return. 

Believers often argue that this principle has been set aside in the New Covenant era. To answer this objection, we must look at the words of Paul in Romans 12:17-21

“¹⁷ Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.. […] ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. ¹⁹ Never take your own revenge, beloved, but ^[p]leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. […]  ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

However, he continues this same argument in Chapter 13 as follows:

“13 Every ^[a]person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except ^[b]from God, and those which exist are established by God. […] But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.”

This text makes it clear that the commands against personal vengeance and the institution of capital punishment are not in contradiction. They are two sides of the same coin. 

This also answers our second key question – who should carry out the death penalty? Only the civil government, which God established for this very purpose – to be His instrument in avenging evil and bearing the sword. Therefore, we are to forsake personal vengeance, and leave it to God and to the ministers that He has put in place to carry out His vengeance. 

Desiring that the government carry out God’s wrath is not a violation of the command to love our neighbour. In fact, Paul continues in Romans 13 to say that respecting the God-ordained role of government is part of how we love our neighbour. 

If God has given the death penalty because of His image in man, and He has given government alone the authority to execute it, when and how should we carry it out? Here are a few brief principles: 

Firstly, when – for what crimes, and under what circumstances? 

1. Only when the violation of the image of God is so severe as to demand the ultimate punishment. Whilst the death penalty was applied more broadly under Mosaic law, many of these applications were intended only for the people of Israel as a holy nation set apart by God, and are not intended to be binding on us today.  
2. Only when a public and fair trial establishes the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. Under Mosaic law, God required the testimony of two witnesses before someone could be put to death. We best respect the image of God in an accused criminal by demanding a stringent standard of proof, while accepting that only God has perfect, omniscient justice. 

Finally, how should the sentence be carried out: 

1. Publicly – a public execution satisfies the legitimate desire of those affected by the crime to see that justice is carried out. It also ensures accountability for the State and deters society from further crime. 
2. Swiftly – Ecclesiastes 8:11 says that when a sentence against evil is not carried out swiftly, the hearts of men are given to do evil. When an offender is fairly convicted and all reasonable appeals are exhausted, the sentence must be carried out immediately or justice is stripped of all meaning. 
3. Humanely – no human torture could be more just, or more excruciating, than God’s eternal judgment. We ought simply to carry out the just sentence swiftly and effectively, and trust the rest to Him. 

If we understand that Scripture tells us that innocent blood stains the land, and only the blood of the evildoer can wash it out, what should we do about it? 

1. Pray that God will raise up righteous leaders who uphold divine standards of justice. 
2. Work for justice in your own community – vote for parties that uphold it, support campaigns in favour of it, run for public office to campaign for it yourself. 

All of these actions would be ways for you to love your neighbour, promote divine justice in society, and cleanse our land from the stain of innocent blood.