Relationship Crimes

In addition to murder, the law also requires the death penalty for adultery, bestiality and homosexual activity. However, the hardness of heart principle described above means that the death penalty should only be enforced in a society where the majority of people are Christians. In a Christian society adultery and homosexual activity should be very rare, so this penalty would seldom be enforced for these crimes. Public disapproval would mean that they almost never occur in public, so the required three independent witnesses would not be available. The death penalty is specified for these crimes to remind us of the strength of God’s disapproval for them, but it should never need to be enforced.

God hates adultery, bestiality and homosexual activity. We were created in the image of God, so a man and a woman “becoming one flesh” is the best representation of the image of God. From this it follows that adultery and homosexual activity are an insult to the image of God. Just as he hates divorce because it mars his image, he hates homosexual activity for the same reason. He also hates the effect that they have on families and the structure of society. They are a form of treason against the Kingdom of God. The death penalty reminds us of the seriousness of these sins, but God’s mercy prevents it from being applied.