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What does the Bible say about suicide?[From
GotQuestions.org]
 Question
#8 on the GotQuestions.org Top 20 is “What does the Bible say about
suicide?” Imagine receiving a question late at night from someone “My
life is meaningless and there is no point in living. If you don’t
convince me otherwise, I am going to commit suicide in the next hour.”
What in the world would you do? What I did – I wrote the best possible
response I could come up with in 10 minutes and sent it to the
questioner. Thankfully, I heard back, and she stated that she had decided
not to commit suicide, but, unfortunately, I never heard back from her
again.
Recent stats say that over 1
million people a year commit suicide. Just imagine how many people
consider committing suicide but never go through with it. When I was a
teenager, I contemplated committing suicide. But thankfully, God slapped
some sense into me, even though I was not a believer in Christ at the
time. Suicide is the ultimate admission from a person that he/she does
not have (or at least is not experiencing) the abundant life God promises
through Christ (John 10:10). Suicide is the ultimate “I give up”
statement. It is a surrender to the belief that a life is so messed up
that there is no possibility of salvaging anything from it.
Suicide is a permanent “solution”
to temporary problems. It is so sad to hear news reports about teenagers
who commit suicide after a relationship break up, or due to bullying at
school, or due to some other trivial issue. While it obviously did not
seem trivial to the person who committed suicide, in the grand scheme of
things, there is nothing that warrants suicide. Problems that seem so
overwhelming today will be looked back upon years later as virtually
meaningless. Especially for the Christian, with eternity in mind, there
is nothing that could happen in this world which would justify committing
suicide.
The Bible mentions six people who
committed suicide (Judges 9:54; 1 Samuel 31:4-6; 2 Samuel 17:23; 1 Kings
16:18; Matthew 27:5). None of them were righteous, to say the least. The
Bible nowhere explicitly states “it is a sin to commit suicide,” but the
Bible does condemn murder (Exodus 20:13). Suicide is “self-murder,”
therefore suicide is a sin since murder is a sin. Aside from the “do not
commit murder” command, suicide is also sin for the following two reasons,
one theological and one practical: (1) it is God and God alone who has
the right to determine life and death, and (2) suicide reveals a belief
that God is not powerful enough to help you solve your problems.
The vast majority of people will
agree with us that suicide is a sin. The debate begins, though, with the
question of whether suicide is forgivable. Typically, a suicide-related
question will be along the lines of: “For God to forgive us, we have to
repent from our sins and confess our sins to God. If someone commits
suicide, he/she has no opportunity to repent or confess. Therefore,
suicide is not a forgivable sin. Anyone who commits suicide is sent
straight to hell.” There is one primary problem with this line of
thought: it does not recognize that Jesus died for ALL of
our sins. When God purchased us with the blood of Christ, ALL
of our sins were paid for (1 Peter 1:19). If a person who has truly
received Jesus Christ as Savior, thereby demonstrating that he/she has
been redeemed, reconciled, forgiven, justified, etc., by God, commits
suicide, the sin of suicide was paid for by the blood of Christ. Now, we
can question whether a true Christian could commit suicide, but, if a
true Christian were to commit suicide, it would be forgiven. Verses that
connect confession with forgiveness (such as 1 John 1:9) are referring to
relational forgiveness between a believer and God, not the judicial
forgiveness that was perfectly accomplished by the atoning sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. No, suicide is not an unforgivable sin. Suicide is not
greater than the price Jesus Christ paid for us with His atoning
sacrifice.
A side issue related to suicide
that we are often asked about is whether Jesus’ death should be
considered a suicide. After all, Jesus knew what was going to happen to
Him, yet He did nothing to avoid it. In fact, He walked straight towards
it. Isn’t that suicide? No, it most definitely is not. Sacrificing your
life on behalf of others is not suicide. Suicide is intentionally killing
yourself for selfish reasons. Yes, Jesus willingly sacrificed His life,
but Jesus did not kill Himself. Similarly, a fireman who dies trying to
save someone in a fire did not commit suicide, even if he knew running
into the burning building would cost him his life. Another biblical
example would be Samson (Judges 16:26-31), who pushed down the pillars of
the temple, knowing that it would take his life. However, it was Samson’s
goal to destroy the Philistines. Samson was willing to sacrifice his own
life in order to achieve that goal, but the goal was not specifically to
commit suicide. Sacrificing your own life in order to save others is an
admission that “you are not your own…you were bought with a price” (1
Corinthians 6:20), and that God’s purposes for your life are greater and
higher than your preferences.
What does the Bible say about
suicide? Simply put, suicide is a sin. It is never the right thing to
take your own life. What does the Bible say about suicide? Don’t do it!
If you are an unbeliever, God is able to redeem your life and give you a
true purpose for living through Jesus Christ. If you are a believer, God
has already redeemed your life, and no matter how horrible your current
circumstances, God can accomplish great things through the rest of your
life.
Related GotQuestions.org article: suicide
SMH
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