Life For Life

On November 26, 1981, in Leetown, MS, James Billiot killed his stepfather, mother, and 14-year-old stepsister with an 8-pound sledgehammer. It was a gruesome crime. The State sentenced Billiot to death in December 1982. Today, 40-years-later, he is still on death row.

Billiot is one of thirty-five folks on Mississippi’s death row. They’ve been there an average of 20 years. Mississippi has executed twenty-two people since capital punishment resumed in 1976. Far less than the rate of murder.

Because of Adam’s sin in the Garden, there will always be murder, that is, until Christ’s kingdom comes in fullness and death is put to death. But, this does not mean godly men should do nothing until then. God loves justice and His Word defines how to carry out justice. We must institute justice God’s way in our cities for the sake of peace.

Since vicious crime has recently increased in our town, we should reflect on God’s requirement for capital punishment. God instituted the death penalty for murder in Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his image.” Because man is God’s image-bearer, murder of another human being is an egregious crime worthy of a death sentence. God repeated this requirement in several places in the Old Testament.

However, because man is a sinful human being, he is inclined to two forms of injustice. The first is injustice through leniency. Men are inclined to be too soft on crime. Therefore, God said, “Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye,” etc. (Deuteronomy 19:21). Mercy must not become leniency.

The second form of injustice is harshness. For instance, it is unlawful to take a man’s life for petty theft. “Life for life” and “eye for eye” teach that criminal punishment must not be excessive (Exodus 21:22-24, Leviticus 24:17-23). The Eighth Amendment reflects on this by restricting “cruel and unusual punishments.” As the federal government’s power grew, this amendment sought to check the harsh use of state power (think Spanish Inquisition).

A God-honoring society will be one in which the punishment, including death, will fit the crime and be carried out quickly (Ecclesiastes 8:11). As we have recently experienced, a town will be lawless without these parameters. Good citizens will live in fear while criminals will live fearlessly.

Some well-meaning Christians object that Jesus relaxed the “eye for eye” policy in Matthew 5:38-42. Menno Simons, whose followers are the Mennonites, taught Christians should be pacifists. However, consistent with Old Testament law, Jesus taught that an “every-man-for-himself” form of retaliation is sinful.

Christians should love mercy but also remember there is a point at which mercy becomes a “soft and finally cruel form of indulgence.” Scripture teaches, “Whoever spares the rod hates his son” (Proverbs 13:24). Since the family is the foundation of the culture, the same principle applies to faithful criminal sentencing.