The question of suicide¹ has gained a new urgency in our society because it has become a public health problem.² The fact that in some countries, physician-assisted suicide is legalized or even societally condoned raises important questions for the Christian believer and how to relate to it. For many today, the human power of choice, given by God, extends also to the power of choice to end our own lives. The individual liberty and the right to define one’s own destiny fares well in a secular culture where human autonomy and self-determination are valued highly. In a society where Judeo-Christian values and convictions diminish in importance and the human right to choose becomes more powerful,³ Christians are called to engage the issue of suicide from a biblical perspective.⁴ This even more so because the question of ending one’s own life involves the most intimate and personal choices a person can make. These choices are central not only to one’s personal dignity and autonomy, but ultimately affect our very existence and thus deal with the question of life itself. For Bible-believing Christians, this also touches upon our accountability towards God, our Creator.⁵ This statement seeks to explore what the Bible has to say on this issue.⁶

From a biblical perspective, the complexity of suicide is a challenge because in the Old Testament Hebrew and New Testament Greek texts, there appears to be no vocabulary expressing an equivalent concept for the English term “suicide.” Beyond the absence of a particular biblical terminology,⁷ we have to recognize that in suicide we encounter a deep human paradox. According to Lewis B. Smedes, “it is, on the one hand, a sign of human power, the ultimate power to determine one’s own final destiny. On the other hand, it is the ultimate sign of human weakness and failure.”⁸ In the self-termination of life, the greatest freedom and dignity that human beings are endowed with—namely, their ability to choose freely— comes to a permanent and irreversible end. The dignity that comes from our ability to freely choose is obliterated. “To destroy oneself is to destroy one’s own dignity”⁹ and ability to choose. In contrast to animals, human beings are capable to freely affirm or destroy their life. Dietrich Bonhoeffer aptly pointed out, “Human beings can do what no animal can: they can voluntarily bring death upon themselves.”¹⁰

Suicide is also complex and complicated because it is rarely caused by a single circumstance or event. Instead, a range of factors—at the individual, relationship, community, and social levels—can increase the risk.¹¹ While there is a well-established link between suicide and mental disorders (especially depression, but also alcohol use disorders), especially in high-income countries, many suicides also happen when people experience substantial conflict, disaster, violence, abuse, or significant loss with a strong sense of isolation. There is also what has been called “coerced suicide,”¹² where language, especially in cultish environments, can prompt someone to choose to die.¹³ Suicide rates are high¹⁴ amongst vulnerable groups who experience discrimination, such as refugees and migrants;¹⁵ indigenous peoples; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex persons; and prisoners. Beyond these risk factors in the intentional taking of one’s life, suicide also involves other complex questions, such as various ethical, medical, and legal issues like the “withdrawal or withholding of medical treatment, involuntary treatment, high-risk, experimental, and unconventional treatment, euthanasia, assistance, and physician assistance in suicide, request for maximal treatment, and many others.”¹⁶ It also creates significant trauma and shame for family members and friends of the person who committed suicide.¹⁷

In this article we will not deal with the issue of euthanasia, nor will we focus on possible and potential reasons why people end their life. Since for Seventh-day Adventists the Bible is the ultimate norm and highest authority in matters of faith and practice, we will rather explore some relevant biblical teachings that can help us in dealing with this question from a biblical perspective. These biblical perspectives will guide our theological response to it.

The Biblical Evidence

The Sacredness of Human Life

Before looking at some specific biblical passages that deal with suicide, we should remember that from a biblical-theological perspective the issue of suicide cannot be comprehended adequately without an understanding of the Christian belief in the sanctity of human life that is derived from the biblical doctrine of God as Creator (Gen 9:6).¹⁸ Furthermore, the apostle Paul reminds us that “you are not your own”! (1 Cor 6:19 NKJV), because we ultimately belong to God. He is our Creator, and the Bible teaches that humankind was made in the image of God with the ability to reason and the capacity to choose. Carrying the image of God, the Christian attitude toward human life is one of reverence and sanctity. The biblical doctrine of creation regards life as a property of the divine Creator where all human beings derive the right to life from God. Our origin in God implies the duty of cherishing, protecting, and preserving human life,¹⁹ and brings with it an accountability toward God. This accountability toward God is anchored not only in the sixth commandment, which specifically prohibits killing,²⁰ but also in the entire Decalogue which expresses respect for human life. Since God remains the ultimate owner of our lives, the Christian church throughout its history has generally held that it is a sin to kill human life deliberately and directly.²¹ Because God is the Lord and Giver of all life, humans have a responsibility and duty to respect life and not to take life. God has the sole prerogative to determine when life begins and ends. The sacredness of the human person, as made in the image of God (Gen 1:26–28), not his or her value, helps us to respond fruitfully and faithfully to questions of life and death.²² It is in the light of this biblical understanding of the sanctity of human life that believers are called to consider the question of suicide and other ethical issues.

Biblical Passages Dealing With Suicide

Before we turn to the few explicit passages where death by suicide is mentioned in the Bible,²³ we will briefly look at some passages where in Scripture people express the desire to die. While these people did not end their lives, they nevertheless were plagued by desperate thoughts because they had become deeply exhausted to the point where life had become so burdensome that they even expressed the desire not to live anymore. This is significant for our discussion because it illustrates the fact that even faithful believers are not entirely exempt from these thoughts. One is reminded of the prophet Elijah, who after courageously taking a stand for God was threatened with persecution and became so exhausted fleeing from Jezebel that he “requested for himself that he might die” and said, “It is enough; now Lord, take my life” (1 Kgs 19:4 NASB). In a similar manner, after his great disappointment that things had not turned out as he had hoped, the prophet Jonah exclaimed, “O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” (Jonah 4:3 NKJV). While Elijah and Jonah did not end their lives and God continued to work with them, both at one point in their lives thought that it would be better to die than to live! Nevertheless, they left it in God’s hands, rather than taking it upon themselves whether or not they should die. Job is another example that comes to mind. After having been confronted with a barrage of calamities and the death of his children and being exposed to severe sickness himself, Job cursed the day of his birth (Job 3:1, 11) and wondered why death does not come (3:21). In the New Testament the apostle Paul at one point became so burdened beyond his strength that he did not know how to carry on his work and “despaired even of life” (2 Cor 1:8 NKJV). In the book of Revelation, during the severe circumstances described in the fifth trumpet, people “desire to die” (Rev 9:6) but death will flee from them. These examples indicate that the biblical writers knew examples where people were in the mood to die, even though they did not end their lives. We can learn from these biblical examples that God treats His children kindly, deals with their suicidal thoughts with compassion, and desires to sustain human life.

Death is one of the inescapable realities of human existence in the Bible. It is interesting that in the Old Testament, which is full of wars, bloodshed, murder, and other acts of violence, the death at one’s own hand is rare and “there are only a handful of instances of suicide, all in narrative texts.”²⁴ This has led some pro-suicide proponents to conclude that the Bible does not explicitly denounce the act of suicide.²⁵ While the Bible does not deal exhaustively and very explicitly with the issue of suicide, there are nevertheless several passages in the Bible that can shed some light on this question.²⁶ There is the story of Saul (1 Sam 31:3–5), Saul’s armor-bearer (1 Sam 31:3–5), Ahithophel (2 Sam 17:23), Zimri (1 Kgs 16:18–19), and Judas (Matt 27:3–5). We will also look briefly at the story of Samson (Judg 16:28–30), although some dispute that this is a case of suicide.

Saul (1 Sam 31:3–5)

This is the first incident of suicide in the Bible. After Saul’s sons were killed on the battlefield, the Philistines pressed hard after Saul who became critically wounded. Not wanting to be abused by his enemies, Saul asked his armor bearer to kill him (1 Sam 31:4a), but when he refused to implement Saul’s command, Saul took his own sword and fell on it, ending his own life with his own hands (1 Sam 31:4b). This narrative differs from the story later told by an Amalekite messenger in 2 Samuel 1:6–10, who claimed that he killed the king. The most likely explanation for this discrepancy is that the Amalekite lied.²⁷ However, what is even more important for our investigation is David’s reaction to the purported act of voluntary euthanasia as a deed of mercy for the suffering king Saul. He was displeased with such an action, finding “the Amalekite’s action not to be compassionate but offensive and worthy of severe punishment (2 Sam. 1:1– 16).”²⁸ Although some have maintained that no ethical evaluation of Saul’s suicide is given, it has been pointed out that the intentionally framed progression of Saul’s story in 1 and 2 Samuel indicates that “his respect for life gradually diminishes”²⁹ and Saul “gradually loses respect for human life and finally takes his own.”³⁰ O’Mathúna concludes that “rather than viewing Saul’s suicide as an isolated incident with no moral comment, this scene is the tragic conclusion to a literary masterpiece soaked in moral comment. Tragedy implies that what ‘is’ is not what ‘ought’ to be.”³¹ Death and the killing of himself fits the pattern in which Saul had begun to deal with all his problems. “To claim that Saul’s suicide can be taken to commend suicide is to completely misinterpret the purpose of this tragic narrative.”³² Ironically, Saul did not escape being treated dishonorably by the Philistines, which was his fear that led to the decision to kill himself. After his death he was decapitated (1 Sam 31:9), stripped of his armor, and his body was fastened to the wall of Beth Shan in Philistia (1 Sam 31:9–10).

Saul’s Armor-Bearer (1 Sam 31:3–5)

The second episode of suicide in the Bible is closely connected to the first. After failing to obey Saul’s request to kill him and after watching Saul die by his own hand, his armor-bearer followed suit and did the same (1 Sam 31:4–5). This was not a heroic act of solidarity to be simulated by others. The biblical text reveals that the deaths of Saul and his armor-bearer actually caused the rest of the Israelites to flee the battle (1 Sam 31:7). “It is an act driven by fear which causes the Israelites, in turn to fear and give up their fight.”³³

Ahithophel (2 Sam 17:23)

The third case of a suicide in the Bible is that of Ahithophel. Ahithophel knew how to execute a successful revolt. After David’s son Absalom rejected Ahithophel’s counsel to assassinate his father, Ahithophel returned to his hometown, put his house in order, and strangled himself. The fact that he first organized his household before he killed himself indicates that this was a calculated and deliberate suicide that was conducted with intentionality.³⁴ Ahithophel knew that if David got word of his counsel he would be treated as a traitor.³⁵ Thus, his suicidal action was likely driven by fear and cowardice. The story shows that “without descending to the level of the explicit, the writer conveys the truth that human wisdom untempered by divine revelation produces results that are neither desirable nor productive.”³⁶ While David sought counsel in the Word of the Lord (1 Sam 23:4–6; 2 Sam 5:19, 23, 7:1–17) and received corresponding blessings, Absalom’s counsel from mere human advisers like Ahithophel led to frustrated plans, curses, and the death of the one who opposed the Lord and His anointed.

Zimri (1 Kgs 16:18–19)

The fourth incident of suicide that we find in Scripture is Zimri, king of Israel. After Zimri assassinated Elah (1 Kgs 16:8–10), the Israelites decided to appoint their own king, Omri, the commander of the army, and they laid siege to Zimri’s headquarters in Tirzah (vv. 16–17). Once Zimri saw this event transpire, he set the royal palace on fire “over himself” and thus committed suicide (vv. 18–19). It is not clear from the biblical account why Zimri committed suicide; perhaps he wanted to avoid the humiliation of being captured, shamefully treated, publicly executed, and having his body abused.³⁷ Zimri was the shortest reigning king in Israel and reigned only seven days.³⁸ His entire reign is characterized by committing “sins” and “doing evil” (vs. 19), which would include his suicide that ended his life. Thus, he “is the most spectacularly unsuccessful king of all. Not only does he fail to put a son on the throne of Israel (however briefly)—he himself also fails to reign for more than a week. . . . Zimri’s suicide brings the seven-day ‘reign’ to its end.”³⁹

Before we turn to the last clear episode of suicide in Scripture, the death of Judas, we will briefly look at another story in the Old Testament, the death of Samson.

Samson’s Death (Judg 16:28–30)

Samson’s case is a bit more ambiguous. His death is often associated with committing suicide. Towards the end of his life, he was blind and stood between the supporting pillars of the Philistine temple of Dagon. While Samson expressed his desire “to die with the Philistines” (Judg 16:30 NKJV) he also prayed to God (“O Sovereign Lord”) that He might “remember” him and “strengthen” him “once more” so that he might get revenge on the Philistines (v. 28).⁴⁰ These biblical indicators have led numerous biblical commentators to conclude that this act was not suicide, even though Samson died as a result of it and expressed his wish to die with the Philistines. Some commentators have concluded that the motive was divine justice and judgment, not self-escape.⁴¹ In light of the later positive biblical assessment of Samson as a man of faith (Heb 11:32–34), it is doubtful that Daniel I. Block’s one-sided characterization of Samson as “totally self-centered” with a “total lack of concern for the divine agenda” is correct.⁴² Him being mentioned in Hebrews 11:32 as one of the heroes of faith, however, does not justify his desire to die with the Philistines. Despite his flawed character, Samson still was an agent of God’s judgment and was used by God. This leads us to the last clear incident of suicide in the Bible, the death of Judas.

Judas (Matt 27:3–5)

After Jesus was condemned to death by the Jewish leaders, Judas was “seized with regret” (metameletheis) over his betrayal and tried to return the money, which they refused, and so he cast the thirty pieces of silver down in the temple, resulting in the defilement of the temple (Matt 27:3). Judas was cognizant that he had sinned because he had “betrayed innocent blood” (v. 4). Throwing the pieces of silver into the temple, Judas departed and hanged himself (v. 5). Craig Blomberg has pointed out that “this verb [metamelomai; v. 3] is much rarer in the New Testament than the typical verb for ‘repenting’ (metanoeō) and seems here to refer to a change of mind or feeling of regret, which falls considerably short of full-fledged repentance.”⁴³ Jesus’s statement about Judas at the Last Supper reveals his true spiritual condition (Matt 26:24). It is interesting that in Scripture hanging was considered a curse from God (Deut 21:23) and even the Romans, who saw certain acts of suicide as honorable, viewed suicide by hanging as dishonorable.⁴⁴

Some Ethical Assessments and Conclusions

None of the biblical passages that report suicides command it; neither do they commend the act of self-murder. They simply report it. There is not a single remark in the five biblical accounts of suicide that speak positively of taking one’s life or that praise the person who does so. Eugene H. Merrill has pointed out that none of the episodes in the Old Testament “is viewed in a favorable light, as a viable option to be emulated in difficult times.”⁴⁵ Each of these biblical suicides is the culmination of a life that had turned away from God. The individuals who execute their own death in the Bible are men who have rejected the living God, which is true especially with Saul, Ahithophel, Zimri, and Judas. If we consider the incidences of suicide in the Bible in this light, these biblical cases leave little question about the wrongness of the act.⁴⁶

This conclusion is supported by another biblical passage, which is perhaps the most important passage in the Bible on this topic of suicide and one that, unfortunately, is often overlooked by those who support the right to suicide and advocates who oppose it alike: Acts 16:28.⁴⁷ Here Paul was preventing the suicide of the Philippian jailer. After Paul and Silas were thrown into prison in Philippi for preaching the gospel, an earthquake struck the foundations of the prison and caused all prisoners’ chains to come loose (Acts 16:26). Being afraid the prisoners might escape, and in order to avoid shame and punishment, the jailer drew his sword and was about to kill himself (v. 27).⁴⁸ The Roman mindset would have considered this an honorable way to die. However, Paul shouted, “May you not do this evil deed [kakon] to yourself, for we are all here!” (Acts 16:28).

“The significance of the text lies in the fact that it contains an example of an apostle explicitly categorizing suicide as an “evil” moral deed and giving a direct prohibition against it.”⁴⁹ While such an act might have been permissible or even commendable by Roman standards,⁵⁰ Paul did not follow the pagan Roman value system but evaluated the act of suicide according to the moral judgment of God’s will.

In light of the sacredness of human life, that is derived from the fact that God is our Creator and in light of the fact that human beings bear His image, suicide fails to honor God’s design for the preservation of human life. Not only are human beings called to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:26–28; 8:17; 9:1, 7; Exod 1:7) and to rule over the earth as God’s stewards, they are also called not to hate their own body. Instead, they should “feed” and “care for” it (Gk. thalpō, lit. “cherish”) (Eph 5:29), rather than destroy it through (self-)killing. Such self-care is not sinful but reflects the love of God who calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt 22:39; Mark 12:31).

Furthermore, God’s commandment “You shall not kill” (Exod 20:13) is a precept that holds true throughout the entire storyline of Scripture. We are reminded that we ultimately belong to God (1 Cor 6:19). We belong to Him by creation and redemption and, therefore, we do not have the right to destroy what belongs to God. The sixth commandment forbids all murder, including the murder of oneself.⁵¹ As Lewis Smedes has aptly said, “My own life is as precious as that of any other. It is God’s gift to me, just as my neighbor’s life is God’s gift to him. To assault myself is to violate what God commands me to respect.”⁵² The sixth commandment is a divine “law of life that obliges us both to let people live and help them to live.”⁵³ Life is God’s gift and therefore, as the owner of all human life, God alone has the right to take it. Suicide fails to recognize life as such a God-given gift. No Israelite acting on his own could decide that he had the right to end someone’s life nor to take his own life. Biblically speaking, our life must always be viewed as a gift that we receive from God.

While the Bible does not deal with suicide extensively, it never praises suicide as something good or commends it as something to emulate. Rather, it views it as a category of murder, where the willful and planned termination of human life is implemented. Such an act is sinful for at least the following reasons: (1) it is the irremediable and permanent destruction of life, which biblically speaking is a gift God has given; (2) it is an affront to God Himself, because every human being bears the image of God his Creator; and (3) no human being is absolutely autonomous but we are each accountable to God in the decisions we make. No wonder that in Judaism suicide is prohibited and assisting suicide is legally punishable in the Talmud.⁵⁴

This leads to the question of whether the God-given right to choose is a fundamental human right that allows a person to end his or her life. In this case suicide would be somewhat justified and even be a responsible action.⁵⁵ This is perhaps the strongest argument made by those who support suicide as a viable option.⁵⁶ In many cases the self-termination of one’s own life is seen as an effort to confer ultimate human meaning on a life that, from one’s limited human perspective, has become meaningless. We have to remember, however, that, biblically speaking, our ability to choose is never an autonomous freedom independent from or even possibly in opposition to God, but always a freedom that grows out of our relationship with God and is therefore accountable to God. Freedom misunderstood as a human act of autonomy from God leads to situations where people who are ending their lives elevate their autonomy above God in such a way that the creature is no longer accountable to the Creator anymore. In fact, this attitude of total autonomy and absolute freedom is associated with evil’s origin in challenging divine authority (Isa 14:13–14). It is not the baseness of one’s choice or motive that makes self-murder reprehensible or its virtuousness that would make it commendable. While God has created human beings with the capacity to choose, our freedom to decide is not virtuous in and of itself. Our human will can be used to do things God detests. Theologically speaking, the unsanctified human will is affected by sin and, thus, in bondage and in need of God’s prevenient grace. Human beings were not created totally autonomous. We were created in the image of God to exist in a faithful relationship with God our Creator and Redeemer. Therefore, we are accountable to God for our decisions. The real question is not whether we have the freedom to choose, but whether we freely choose what is right in God’s eyes. God, who has created life, commanded, “You shall not kill” (Exod 20:13 KJV, ASV, CEB, NABRE, NLV, NRSV). The ultimate right to determine when life should end belongs to Him. Therefore, for Christians the question of who has the final authority over life is not a question that can be determined by human beings but rests solely with God.

Suicide and the Meaning of Life

The ethical conundrums surrounding suicide are questions faced by many who suffer. Nobody likes pain. Nobody likes to suffer. Many people choose rather to end their life than to suffer.⁵⁷ They might have the impression that the world would be better off without them, and that they are only a burden. Yet the ultimate issue regarding suffering as a precursor to suicide involves more than one’s subjective feeling. It is not a matter of compassion or lack of it, but rather the realization that pain, suffering, and the course of individual lives also have spiritual dimensions that need to be taken into consideration. Suffering does not necessarily make human life meaningless or valueless. Without glorifying suffering, we need to realize that living in a fallen, sinful world necessarily includes pain and suffering as part of the human experience.⁵⁸ In suffering we can ultimately learn something from God Himself. God the Father had one Son on this earth who was without sin; yet, during this time, Jesus was not without suffering. Scripture teaches us that there may sometimes be a role for suffering in our lives (e.g., Rom 5:3; 8:17–18; 2 Cor 1:5–7; Phil 1:29). That does not mean we should not try our best to ease human suffering and eliminate suffering and pain wherever possible. It means, however, that we have to acknowledge and humbly recognize the finiteness of our abilities and our reliance upon a loving and merciful God.⁵⁹

Is Suicide the Unforgivable Sin?

When the self-destruction that takes place in the act of suicide is seen as an exercise of a supposed autonomous human being usurping sovereignty over oneself, it is not only a senseless act but also a violation of God’s commandment and a repudiation of His desire that we should live.⁶⁰ As such, suicide should never be encouraged. At the same time, people who have lost a loved one through suicide should not despair or harbor shame or feelings of guilt. It is easy to believe that as a parent, spouse, partner, or friend, one might have prevented this act of suicide and therefore consider oneself somewhat guilty for that. But we need to remind ourselves that God knows every person much better than we do. While suicide is a serious and very painful act, there is only one unpardonable sin in Scripture (Matt 12:32; 1 John 5:16). Suicide is not that sin. We must refrain from judging other people’s eternal destiny. Only God is omniscient. God knows, God loves, God forgives, and He desires to do everything in His power to save, and that is true also for a person who has ended life through suicide. While it would be highly doubtful that a true believer would end their life by a suicidal act, we recognize that there might be situations where even genuine believers commit rash actions,⁶¹ or where people fall under the deceptive influence of Satan’s temptations, or where they are in a state of dire mental depression and confusion, and in such bewilderment might decide to take their own life. God knows all those circumstances and the factors that might lead a person to such a terrible decision. A Christian who regularly exhibits love, could, in a moment of weakness, carry out an irrational act of despair in an uncharacteristic fashion, and take one’s own life. It may be that such an act would not characterize their overall life trajectory and behavior toward God. Ellen G. White recognized this important spiritual aspect: “The character is revealed by the works, not by occasional good deeds and occasional misdeeds, but by the tendency of the habitual words and acts.”⁶²

The knowledge of the sacredness of human life and God’s desire to sustain it and guard it by prohibiting us from ending it should always be balanced with the fact of God’s goodness, omniscience, and desire to save and forgive. While every suicidal death is tragic, and no suicide should ever occur, we must remember that God sees things we do not see; He knows the heart, He knows the totality of every human life, and, in His love, He wants to save every human being. Therefore, we do well to remember that God who loves the suicidal person much more than anyone in this world is also the very one who will make the final judgment. This is the only, yet very real, comfort we can have when we are confronted with the tragic reality of a death by suicide.