Image of God - Part 2

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man (Bereshit / Genesis 9:6).

This is one of the things that God said to Noah after Noah, his family, and the animals left the ark. It is the basis for what is called "capital punishment." It is noteworthy that our responsibility to take the life of murderers is not based on vengeance toward them. It is not focused on the need of punishment, but rather upon the sacredness of life.

I suspect this sounds contradictory to some, who may wonder if life is so sacred, why would God direct us to execute murderers. But such is the seriousness of the offense. If someone would dare destroy the life of an image bearer, their own life must be required of them.

I didn’t really want to get into a discussion of capital punishment, but I wonder if our one of the reasons why certain societies have outlawed it is not because of valuing life more, but rather due to our losing sight of who we really are. Failing to sufficiently deal with murderers says more about how we view the value of the victims than it does about our concern for the perpetrators.