The Death Penalty and the Church

The Issue

The death penalty, or capital punishment, is a system in which the state takes the life of a person convicted of a grave crime as punishment. Debate within the church centers on two questions. The first is whether God has delegated to the state the authority to take life. The second is how the teachings on the dignity of life, forgiveness, and repentance should be applied to the penal system. Both sides appeal to the same foundation, that human beings are created in the image of God, but they interpret it differently.

The Retentionist Position

• Argument: Capital punishment is understood not as personal revenge but as the administration of public justice that God has entrusted to the state. Retentionists distinguish between the individual, who must not avenge himself (Romans 12:19), and the governing authority, which is "the minister of God" that bears the "sword" to punish evil (Romans 13:4).
• Scripture: Genesis 9:6, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man," is read to mean that capital punishment is justified precisely because life is sacred. Exodus 21:12 and Acts 25:11 are also cited.
• Grounds and tradition: Retentionists point to justice for victims and their families and to the deterrence of heinous crimes. They also emphasize that many Protestant traditions, including the Reformers, have recognized the state's power to punish as an order established by God.

The Abolitionist Position

• Argument: God alone is the Lord of life, and even those who have committed the gravest sins should still have the opportunity to repent.
• Scripture: Abolitionists cite Genesis 4:15, in which God protected the murderer Cain from being killed; Ezekiel 33:11, in which God declares that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; and Matthew 5:38-39 and John 8:1-11.
• Grounds and tradition: Abolitionists argue that wrongful convictions cannot be undone, that the penalty is open to political abuse, and that its deterrent effect has not been proven. As an alternative, they propose life imprisonment without parole. In South Korea, the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) and the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), among others, have campaigned for abolition together with the Catholic Church and Buddhist groups.

The Situation in the Korean Church

South Korea has carried out no executions since December 30, 1997, and is therefore classified as "abolitionist in practice." The Constitutional Court of Korea upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty in 1996 and 2010. In July 2022 it held public oral arguments in a third case, but reports indicated that no decision had been reached as of the end of 2025.

The abolition movement among Korean churches is reported to have gained momentum in 1988. That year, Rev. Moon Jang-sik, then a religious committee member at the Seoul Detention Center, agreed with the Buddhist community to form an organization, and the Korean Christian Federation for the Abolition of the Death Penalty was subsequently established. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap) organized a Special Committee for the Study and Promotion of the Abolition of the Death Penalty in 1990. In 2015, the leaders of seven major religious bodies, including the general secretary of the NCCK, issued a joint statement calling for abolition.

Public advocacy by church organizations has come mainly from the abolitionist side. However, this cannot be taken to represent the views of all church members, and there are also voices within the church that support retaining the death penalty.

Questions for Reflection

• How should the penal laws of ancient Israel be applied to the modern state?
• How should personal forgiveness and state justice be distinguished and related to each other?
• How can the church care for victims and their families while also carrying out correctional ministry that helps prisoners come to repentance?