Theological term
Lex Talionis
68 sermons · All terms
A Biblical View of Abortion
Exodus 21:22–25 presents a case of accidental premature birth caused by fighting men, and the lex talionis applied to any resulting harm — including harm to the child — establishes that the pre-born bear full legal and moral standing under the law of God. This sermon argues that abortion is first and foremost a theological issue, an assault on the imago Dei, and that the church is without excuse in its silence or ambiguity on this question. Drawing on texts from Genesis through the New Testament, the preacher demonstrates that the pre-born are persons from conception, that the civil use of God's law restrains even unregenerate society, and that the church must respond with weeping, prayer, witness, and gospel proclamation.
Capital Punishment
Romans 13:1–4 and Genesis 9:6 together establish that capital punishment is not a relic of Mosaic theocracy but a creation-order institution grounded in the doctrine of the image of God. The sermon traces a biblical theology of capital punishment from Noah through the Mosaic economy into the New Testament, demonstrating that Paul's command to 'give place to wrath' in Romans 12 flows directly into his description of the civil magistrate as God's minister and avenger in Romans 13. Common biblical and pragmatic objections are examined and answered in turn, and the sermon closes with a call to hold together the sanctity of life, the duty of civil justice, and the proclamation of justification by faith alone in Christ.
The Sanctity of Life
The sanctity of human life is grounded not in sentiment but in the biblical doctrine that God created man in his own image — a dignity that persists after the fall and extends to every category of person, including the preborn. Exodus 21:22–25 is examined as a text that directly addresses the legal standing of the unborn: the lex talionis applied to a premature birth demonstrates that God's law protects prenatal life with the same weight it protects any other. The sermon then takes up the wickedness of murder across its biblical dimensions — divine prohibition, divine hatred, divine observation, and divine punishment, including eternal judgment — while insisting that the church's primary instrument against these evils is the preaching of the gospel and the doctrine of justification by faith alone, under which even those guilty of abortion may find forgiveness in Christ.
A Biblical View of Capital Punishment
Capital punishment is not merely a contested social policy but a divine ordinance rooted in the Noahic covenant, grounded in the doctrine of the imago Dei, and confirmed throughout the whole of Scripture into the New Testament. This sermon traces a biblical theology of capital punishment from Genesis 9 through the Mosaic law, the example of the apostle Paul before Festus, and the role of the civil magistrate in Romans 13:1–4. The argument is that nations and magistrates are in sin when they fail to execute murderers, because blood-guilt defiles the land, and that no ransom may substitute for the life of a murderer. Hearers are called to pray for civil rulers to wield the sword as God's ministers of wrath, and unbelievers are confronted with the reality that the death penalty is a foretaste of the eternal wrath that awaits the unrepentant.
A Biblical View of Criminal Punishment
Ecclesiastes 8:11 diagnoses a fundamental disorder in civil society: when criminal sentences are not executed swiftly, human hearts are emboldened to multiply evil. This sermon from a series on biblical ethics works through that text to establish the biblical foundations of penology — the doctrine of criminal punishment — arguing that God has tasked the civil magistrate, not the individual, with executing retributive justice as His appointed instrument of wrath in history. Drawing on Deuteronomy 25, Romans 13, and the broader Mosaic penal code, the sermon contends that the three biblically prescribed methods of punishment (restitution, corporal punishment, and capital punishment) are not barbaric but are the most humane and dignity-preserving responses to crime available, and that the modern prison system is a departure from God's revealed standard. The sermon closes with the eschatological warning of verses 12–13: those who escape the magistrate's sword will not escape the judgment of God, and the only refuge on that day is faith in Jesus Christ.
A Biblical View of Criminal Punishment Part 2
Ecclesiastes 8:11–13 frames the whole inquiry: when punishment is not swiftly executed, sinners are emboldened. This second installment in a series on biblical criminal justice critiques the modern prison system on five scriptural grounds, expounds the case of the rebellious son in Deuteronomy 21:18–21, and argues that biblical punishment — including corporal punishment, restitution, and capital sanction — preserves the dignity of the image-bearer in ways that humanitarian penology cannot. The sermon closes by grounding the entire discussion in the necessity of fleeing to Christ, since the law's severity exposes human guilt and points to the Saviour.
A Biblical View of Private Property
The eighth commandment — 'You shall not steal' (Exodus 20:15) — grounds a comprehensive biblical ethic of private property that reaches far beyond street crime into fraud, extortion, currency debasement, and even the withholding of tithes. This sermon works through the prohibition in its many forms, then sets out four theological reasons for the command rooted in God's sovereignty, man's dignity as image-bearer, and the positive law of Scripture. The exposition closes by calling hearers to diligent labor, charitable giving, and contentment — and by pointing thieves and extortioners alike to the justifying blood of Christ, under which such sinners have been washed and sanctified.
A Christian View of Abortion
Abortion is not a political question but a theological and ethical one, answered definitively by Scripture. This sermon works through the biblical case for the sanctity of human life from creation to law, grounds the personhood of the pre-born in texts from Genesis through Luke, and then expounds Exodus 21:22–25 to show that God's law affords full legal protection — including the lex talionis — to the unborn child and the mother alike. Christians are called to weep over this ongoing atrocity, to arm themselves with Scripture, to pray and witness faithfully, and to proclaim both the law that condemns and the gospel that saves to all who have participated in it.