Note: This article is not intended to provide the kind of counsel needed for those contemplating suicide. This is intended to consider the issue theologically and biblically. If you or someone you love is contemplating suicide, please seek out a trusted friend, counselor, or pastor to speak to.
When Rome was sacked by the Goths in 410 AD, it left many Christians wondering: Where is God? The preeminent Christian theologian of the day, Augustine, responded to this unrest with his massive tome, The City of God. And in the very first book, Augustine responds to the story of a number of Christian women who threw themselves into a river to be drowned so that they could avoid being ravished by the Gothic invaders (1.16-17, 26).
This leads Augustine into a long meditation of systematically examining what the Bible says concerning suicide. Augustine noticed that the sixth commandment, "You shall not murder," (Ex 20:13), unlike the 9th and 10th commandments, lacked the phrase "your neighbor" which he took to mean that the command to not murder isn't restricted only to the murder of others, but self-murder as well. Further, Augustine comments:
It is not without significance, that in no passage of the holy canonical books there can be found either divine precept or permission to take away our own life, whether for the sake of entering on the enjoyment of immortality, or of shunning, or ridding ourselves of anything whatever. (City of God 1.20)
Thus suicide is just another form of murder, and so it is a grave, serious sin. Further, just like murder, it not only affects the one who is killed, but all those connected to the victim. Not only is one life taken away, but countless others are now saddled with the burden of loss and confusion and what ifs? It may even so capsize the lives of others that they may feel they too want to take their own life to escape the pain. While many people who are thinking about suicide are convinced that they are making everyone's life better, the reality is the exact opposite. It is a sin not only of violence but of selfishness.
Is Suicide Unforgivable?
Does that mean that any person—even a professing Christian—who commits suicide is automatically in hell?
No.
In addressing the women who committed suicide for fear of being raped, Augustine writes:
And if, for this reason, some of these women took their own lives rather than suffer anything of this kind, who with any human feeling would refuse to forgive them? (City of God, 1.17)
This popular misconception likely stems from the Roman Catholic practice of forbidding suicides from receiving a Christian burial or being buried in a Catholic cemetery. Or it may come from the seventh circle of Dante's Inferno where suicides are punished by being transformed into gnarled and disfigured trees.
Gustave Dore's depiction of the suicide trees from Dante's Inferno
So, many have extrapolated from that that if anyone—even a Christian—commits suicide, they are automatically sent to hell. Since 1983, the Catholic church no longer forbids suicides from receiving a Christian burial and Dante's Inferno may make for good literature, but not necessarily reliable theological guidance. And, most importantly, the Bible nowhere teaches that self-murder inherently and without qualification sends someone to hell.
The Bible does tell us that the blood of Jesus covers all our sins, even the sins we have yet to commit. The Bible also teaches that through a combination of our own sin-nature and from living in a fallen world with fallen bodies, sometimes our minds, our emotions, our wills all conspire together to lead even the godliest of Christians into sinful choices that they deeply regret, but find forgiveness for in the atoning work of Christ. The life of the great Christian poet, William Cowper, is evidence of this.
Speaking of Christians who have committed suicide in exceptionally trying circumstances, Augustine simply states:
Of such persons I do not presume to speak rashly. (City of God, 1.26)
Thus, if we know of another Christian who has tragically ended their life, we should not assume that they are now in hell, and we certainly ought not tell anyone that. We weep, we mourn, but if the rest of their life indicated that they did in fact trust in Christ, then we can admit that sin is deceitful, Satan is cunning, and this world is fallen. The dark night of the soul can steal over any of us and scar us deeply, leading us to sometimes make tragically sinful choices. But we can rest in the unending mercies of God and trust that our good God is a compassionate Savior, far more gracious than we dare to imagine. The Judge of all the earth will always do what is right (Gen 18:25).
A Warning
But, that does not mean suicide is not eternally deadly.
Suicide is a sin, but it is a unique sin in that it immediately ends your life. At the end of our life, we are then brought before the Judgment Throne of God. "It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment," (Heb 9:27). Thus, if a person does not know the Lord and commits suicide, they are ushering in their own judgment. If you do not trust in Jesus Christ and think that by taking your own life you are going to end your suffering, I promise you…you won't. Augustine writes:
No man ought to inflict on himself voluntary death, for this is to escape the ills of time by plunging into those of eternity. (City of God, 1.26)
In John Bunyan's allegory, Pilgrim's Progress, when Christian and Hopeful are trapped in the dungeon of Doubting Castle, the Giant named 'Despair' perpetually goads the two men to kill themselves, and beats them mercilessly when they do not. When Christian begins to lose hope, he asks Hopeful if they shouldn't take Despair's advice and just end their life, that the grave would at least be rest. Hopeful responds:
Indeed our present condition is dreadful, says Hopeful, and death would be far more welcome to me, than thus for ever to abide: But yet let us consider, the Lord of the Country to which we are going, hath said, Thou shalt not Murder…For one to kill himself, is to kill Body and Soul at once. And moreover, my brother, thou talkest of ease in the grave, but hast thou forgotten the Hell, whither for certain the Murderers go?
Self-murder is a final thrusting of the fist in God's face, a last act of defiance and disbelief where we seize the reins from God's hands, even if it is only to cast them into the dust.
What sends one to Hell is rejecting Jesus Christ, it is turning from the one door of salvation and choosing your own path (John 14:6). But, taking our life could be a way of expressing our rejection of Jesus as Lord, even if we have been baptized, even if we claim to follow Him, even if we say Lord, Lord (Matt 7:21). Suicide could be us saying, God, I hate this life you gave me, you ruined it, you hurt me, I don't trust you, I hate You; I want out. Or, it could be us saying, God, I hate this life because I ruined it and I don't think you could ever really forgive me or make any sense of this mess; I don't trust You, I want out. Self-murder is a final thrusting of the fist in God's face, a last act of defiance and disbelief where we seize the reins from God's hands, even if it is only to cast them into the dust.
Yes, Christians are still beset with the flesh, which means there are times where we capitulate to our sin nature and break God's Law, even grievously. So, it is possible that a real, born-again, elect, blood-bought Christian may sin seriously and choose to take their own life, yet still be saved from eternal destruction. And we should be very slow to judge another Christian who has ended their own life; we do not know their heart.
But you do know your own.
And if you hear that suicide is not the "unforgivable sin" and then think, Okay, good to know, I think I might take my own life now. Then know that that mentality—intentionally planning and plotting to sin—is not the mindset of a Christian. Those who are indwelt by the Spirit are not those who make a practice of sinning: "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God," (1 John 3:9). There is more to be said about what this verse means and how warning passages work in general, but lest you take away from the previous point that suicide is a permissible option for Christians, let me warn you: If you are banking on God to forgive you for the sin your are intending to commit, then John is willing to tell you: You have no reason to believe that you have been born-again—those who are born of God fight sin with all their might!
This is why Augustine feels free to firmly state:
No man should put an end to this life to obtain that better life we look for after death, for those who die by their own hand have no better life after death. (City of God, 1.26)
Yes, we do still have the flesh living in us, but we also have the Spirit and the Spirit rules over our lives. Yes, it is possible for the circumstances of life, the illness of our mind and body to align together and for us to capitulate to the flesh—even in a sin as grievous as self-murder—but take no comfort in the thought that you can "make a practice of sinning" and think that you will be safe at judgment.
In Sum
Of course, this article is not intended to serve as the kind of patient and careful counsel that someone contemplating suicide needs. Nor is it intended to give practical help with what to do—if I can't end my life, what do I do then with these feelings of despair? It is rather trying to think about this issue from a theological perspective. If you are considering ending your own life, you should seek out the help of a trusted friend, pastor, or counselor.
But my aim is to leave you with two thoughts:
On the one hand, we should not teach or believe that self-murder, suicide, inherently damns anyone. When we die, all Christians will die with plenty of sin still residing in their heart, but all of that sin has been atoned for already. And we should admit that there are dark, dark seasons in our lives that may conclude with us making the wrong choice. The blood of Jesus has cleansed us and washed us of all our sin (1 John 1:9).
But, on the other hand, if you are currently plotting your own suicide because you think When I die, I'll be in heaven, then what I hope this article is convincing you is: don't be so sure. That is not the fruit of a Christian. Christians are those who, imperfectly and stumbling all the while, nevertheless rebel against sin, who trust God with their life, and bring their seasons of deepest darkness to Him—not with the clenched fist of defiance, but with the empty hands of faith, desperate for their Heavenly Father to provide the light and hope they so badly need.
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