Jesus Rejects the Death Penalty

The Bible can help us evaluate the death penalty. It speaks to the value of life in many different places.  One extraordinarily relevant passage is the incident in the New Testament that is often called “The woman caught in adultery” (John 8:1-11).

Although that heading focuses on the woman, the story is mainly about the death penalty.

A group of scribes and Pharisees bring a woman to Jesus and ask Him about the fact that the Law of Moses called for the execution by stoning of people convicted of adultery. The men know that Roman law does not allow the Jewish leaders at that time to execute people (John 18:31).

In response to their inquiry, Jesus rejects capital punishment.

What does it mean to “cast the first stone”?

Many modern readers don’t see that Jesus is talking about capital punishment because, when Jesus says, “Let the one who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7b, NABRE), they interpret it primarily as a metaphorical statement about not judging other people.  That’s not what the conversation was about.

To “cast the first stone” means to initiate an execution.  We can see this by going back to the original source in the Law of Moses.  In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses directs that when someone is to be stoned to death, the witnesses must be the first to raise their hands (Deut. 17:6-7) in the act of execution.

Modern governments don’t execute people by stoning.  They inject people with a deadly drug, or put them in a gas chamber and fill the chamber with poisonous gas, or line them up in front of a firing squad.

If we apply Jesus’s words to our modern context, He is saying:

• “Let the one who is without sin inject the deadly drug.”

• “Let the one who is without sin fill the chamber with the poisonous gas.”

• “Let the one who is without sin pull the trigger of the gun.”

When the men who questioned Jesus leave, presumably after realizing that they are not sinless, Jesus asks the woman: “Has no one condemned you?” (John 8:10b)

She says, “No one,” and he replies, “Neither do I condemn you” (John 8:11) – that is, “Neither do I condemn you to death.”

In this exchange, Jesus sets the conditions for capital punishment.  Only those who are sinless have any right to initiate an execution.  We are not sinless.  And He, the Sinless One, rejects that option.

We must not ignore Jesus’s words.  Jesus rejects the death penalty.

Why does Jesus reject capital punishment?

Why would God tell us not to use the death penalty?

It took Christians a long time to figure that out.  We know that God loves us and that God loves sinners.  We also know that all people are made in the image of God.  It took us a long time to put all of that together and understand that every human being carries an infinite dignity given to them by God and that we are called to honor that dignity, even in people who have tarnished it badly.

God breathed life into each of us (Gen. 2:7), and only God has a right to take that life away. Jesus took a clear stand for life when he said, "Neither do I condemn you."

There are many reasons to reject the death penalty.  For Christians, the foremost reason is that our Lord Jesus rejected it.

Related material:

• Catholic Mobilizing Network is a leading voice for ending capital punishment and providing healing and justice for the families of murder victims.  Their Executive Director, Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, invited me to include a version of this analysis in her article, In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus signals His opposition to the death penalty, which was published by Vatican News on April 4, 2025.

• I have posted a blog article that highlights how, although the passage headings provided by scholars in our Bibles are often very good at helping us understand the Scriptures, the traditional heading for John 8:1-11 disguises the central meaning of the passage.  You can see that post here: Jesus, the Woman Caught in Adultery, and Capital Punishment.