Eye for an Eye... Is the Bible a Statist Book?

There are many, both Christians and non-Christians who think of the Bible as being a staunchly pro-government, or "statist" book because of verses like Exodus 21:24 - "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" (see also Leviticus 24:20).  Agnostic and atheist libertarians see this as a reason to discard the Bible and some Christians see this verse as a reason for endorsing harsh government punishments against certain crimes, but the fact is, they have misunderstood the intent of the verse.  What we have to remember is that God was instructing Moses to write to a people that had been living for several hundred years under a VERY authoritarian government in Egypt and who were used to being punished excessively for small crimes by a vengeful dictatorship.  

The intent of those Old Testament verses then, which can also be seen by analyzing the normal nuances of the Hebrew words used in the original language, is that punishments should ONLY be an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, etc.  The verse was intended to restrain future Hebrew judges and kings from being excessive in their punishments in the way that they were used to seeing in Egypt.  This portion of the Hebrew law originally served the same purpose as our Constitution and Bill of Rights, to RESTRAIN the government, not to increase it.

We get an even further understanding of what God meant here when we look at Jesus's response to that law in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:38-39 - "You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.' But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also".  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus looked at several Old Testament laws, corrected historically inaccurate impressions of those laws, and extended their meaning for the then future time of grace after His sacrifice.  If Exodus was meant to restrain government from using too much force in retaliation for crimes against one another, Jesus suggested not to involve government led retaliation for personal crimes at all.  The idea here is that if we respond to our enemies with kindness rather than retribution, they are much more likely to see reason to believe the gospel when we share it.  Paul extended this idea of leaving the government out of disputes in his first letter to the Corinthians in chapter six when he commanded that Christians not take their disagreements with one another to the courts.  One reason he gives is that we can not trust a heathen court system to intercede correctly for us.  What could be more libertarian, or more applicable for today?

That pattern of leaving the government out of disputes is maintained throughout the New Testament.  Although the government is often hostile to Christians, we are never advised to lobby the government to change in any way.  Paul only ever uses his special advantages as a citizen in the Roman governmental system to increase his freedom of expression in sharing the gospel, never to try to lobby the government to control the sinful behaviors of others. 

As Christians, we are never advancing the gospel or the will of God when we use the violent arm of the government to punish people's sins.  That is not what Christ did; it is not what Paul did; it is not what we are commanded to do.  Our job as Christians is to share God's word with as many people as we can get to listen, to disciple those who believe, to pray for those who do not, and to love ALL of them and treat them kindly regardless of how they treat us.