Can deadly force be used
to defend ourselves or our family?

Can deadly force be used
to defend ourselves or our family?

Q. What does the Bible say about defending yourself or your family? Can deadly force be used in self-defense?

A. The sixth of the Ten Commandments states we are not to kill (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17), so this would seem to mean we cannot use deadly force in defending ourselves or our family. Jesus, however, gave us a clear explanation of the sixth commandment by stating we are not to murder (Matthew 19:18). Murder is many times a pre-meditated event carried out by the murderer. Self-defense is our response to those who initiate violence against us and is carried out with the intent of protecting ourselves (or others) from injury or even death.

Jesus said if a home owner knew a thief was coming to his house he would not allow his home to be broken into:

"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up." (Matthew 24:43, KJV)

"And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." (Luke 12:39, KJV)

This example shows that God gives us the right to defend our posessions or life against loss (even though it says nothing about killing someone in order to prevent such losses).

Ecclesiastes 3:3 says there is a time to kill, of which the Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary says,

"…judicially, criminals; or in wars of self-defense; not in malice. Out of this time and order, killing is murder."

In Numbers 35 God gave instructions regarding six cities where a person might take refuge if he or she has killed another person. These cities were created by God to prevent someone who killed by accident from being killed themselves before they could stand a fair trial:

"Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. And of the cities which you give, you shall have six cities of refuge. . . .

"These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there." (Numbers 35:9-13,15, NKJV)

Verse 22 of Numbers 35 gives some examples of death by accident and how God wants the situation handled:

"‘However, if he (the person who kills) pushes him (the person killed) suddenly without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait, or uses a stone, by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies, while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments." (Numbers 35:22-24, NKJV)

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown states concerning the Levitical cities of refuge:

"Under the excitement of a sudden provocation, or violent passion, an injury might be inflicted issuing in death; and for a person who had thus undesignedly committed slaughter, the Levitical cities offered the benefit of full protection."

It’s interesting to note that, even though the cities of refuge no longer existed, churches were considered places of refuge in the Middle Ages. Our modern version of a 'place of refuge' is putting someone who kills in jail so that they can live to stand trial.

The above principles can be used to help determine if the Bible permits justifiably killing someone in self-defense or not.