What the Bible Says About Euthanasia

Euthanasia, the deliberate ending of a person's life to relieve suffering, is not named directly in Scripture, yet the Bible offers profound principles that speak to it. At the center stands the conviction that God alone is the author and sustainer of life, and that the timing of life and death belongs to him. As the Lord declares, "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive" (Deuteronomy 32:39). Hannah's prayer echoes the same truth: "The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up" (1 Samuel 2:6). Life and death are held in God's hands, not entrusted to human choosing. The sixth commandment, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13), protects the sanctity of innocent human life, including the lives of the weak, the sick, and the dying. Scripture teaches that every person is made in God's image and that the days of each life are appointed by him: "In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them" (Psalm 139:16). Job affirms the same: "Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass" (Job 14:5). In the face of suffering and loss, Job's response models faith rather than despair: "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21). Ecclesiastes acknowledges that there is "a time to be born, and a time to die" (Ecclesiastes 3:2), reminding us that our lives unfold within God's sovereign timing. These truths lead most Christians to regard the intentional taking of life, even to end suffering, as overstepping a boundary that belongs to God. At the same time, Scripture is full of compassion for the suffering. Believers are called not to hasten death but to surround the dying with love, comfort, prayer, and care, trusting the One who holds every life and every moment in his hands.