The Crime of Suicide

The word suicide does not occur in the Bible. The BBC English Dictionary says, "People who commit suicide deliberately kill themselves". In other words, it is an act of taking one's own life. It is an act of murder. It is an act of taking a life created by the Creator deliberately.

In the International Standard Bible Encyclopeadia, the word "Suicide" is listed under "Crime". It says:

"No special law is found against this crime, for it is included in the prohibition against killing. Contrary to the practice and the philosophy of paganism, the act was held in deep abhorrence by the Hebrews because of the high value placed on human life. It was held inexcusable that any but the most degraded and satanic should lay hands on their own lives. Only the remorse of the damned could drive one to it".

In other words, suicide is driven by the remorse of the damned. Only the condemned and satanic demon possessed/oppressed person who shows remorse, without repentance, will be driven to commit suicide.

I believe no laws were given in relating to suicide in the Old Testament is obvious. The person who had committed suicide could not be punished further. Suicide is the ultimate punishment from God.

Examples of Suicides

I found three examples of suicide in the Bible:

1. King Saul and his armorbearer (2 Samuel 31:4,5).

Saul was the first king of Israel. He was involved in a fierce battle againt the Philistines. The Philistines killed his sons and he himself was severely wounded by the archers. Saul asked his armorbearer to killed him with the sword because he did not want to die in the hands of the uncirumcised Philistines. But, his armorbearer refused. "Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it". His armorbearer committed suicide the same way.

2. Zimri, the fifth king of Israel (1 Kings 16:8 to 20).

In the beginning Zimri was a servant of king Elah. One day when king Elah was drunk, Zimri killed him and proclaimed himself as king. Later, when Zimri saw that the city Tirzah was taken, "he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house down upon himself with fire, and died" (1 Kings 16:18, NKJV). His reign lasted only seven days (V. 15) before he committed suicide.

3. Judas Iscariot (Matthew 27:3 to 5)

He was a disciple of Jesus and was chosen for the office of an apostle. He betrayed Jesus. When he saw that Jesus was condemned he was conscience stricken, was remorseful but fell short of repentance (Matt. 27:3). Then, "he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself" (V. 5). He is a clear case of a person driven to suicide by "the remorse of the damned".

Notice that, there are two things in common among all these four persons who committed suicide. They were all wicked and non of them was a born again christian.

Suicides committed by Christians

In my opinion, the crime of suicide committed by a christian is the crime of murder of the worse kind. In other words, a christian who has committed suicide is the worse criminal. There is no chance for him to repent - a dead man cannot repent. Even the worse murderer in the world, even if he is sentenced to death, but under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, before he is hanged, still have a chance for repentance. If he repents, his body may perish but his soul will be saved. A good example is the repentant criminal who was crucified with Jesus (Luke 23:39 to 43).

There is a great difference between repentance and remorse.

According to Nelson's Bible Dictionary "repentance" means, "A turning away from sin, disobedience or rebellion and a turning back to God. True repentance is a 'godly sorrow' for sin, an act of turning around and going in the opposite direction. This type of repentance leads to a fundamental change in a person's relationship with God". In other words, only a true christian can exercise true repentance in true Biblical sense.

The word "remorse" cannot be found in most Bible Dictionaries. According to BBC English Dictionary, "remorse is a strong feeling of regret and guilt about something wrong that a person have done".

My understanding is, "repentance" comes from the spirit of man under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. True repentance must be granted by God (2 Tim. 2:25). The dead spirit of the unregenerated man cannot, by his own free will exercise true Biblical repentanc.

On the other hand, "remorse" is an emotional responce and a feeling of guilt comes from the "conscience" of the regenerated or unregenerated man. It is in the soul life or soul realm of a person.

I believe a truly born again christian, even found to have psychiatric illness, will not resort to end his life by committing suicide. Psychiatric illness is a result of mental and emotional breakdown. This is a disease of the soul life of a person. He still can repent because conviction of sins and repentance come from God's Spirit to his spirit directly bypassing his "wounded" soul. Therefore, even for a christian with an unsound/disturbed mind he still can repent under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

We must not ignore the possibility of curses affecting the life of a christian who has psychiatric or mental illness.

According to Deuteronomy 28 the related curses of mental illness are:

"The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart" (Deut. 28:28, NKJV, emphasis added).

"So you shall be driven mad because of the sight which your eyes see" (Deut. 28:34, emphasis added).

"..... the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life" (Deut. 28:65,66, emphasis added).

Notice that these curses come from God and not from the Devil. In Proverbs 26:2 Solomon establishes the principle with respect to curses:

"Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight."

The root cause of all these curses is disobedience to God (Deut. 28:15). It is possible that a christian who has mental illness, will not be able to control his own thoughts and emotions and reactions. The key words "confusion", "unexplained fear", and "depression" indicate the result of some form of occult involvement.

In my opinion a truly born again christian will not be driven to suicide. I can only see two reasons why suicide happens to a christian - either he is under a curse or he is not a true christian.