Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 178:709 (Jan 2021)
Article: Suicide And The Thief In John 10:10
Author: James M. Wisland

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Suicide And The Thief In John 10:10

James M. Wisland

James M. Wisland is director of research and education at the Arctic Resource Center for Suicide Prevention in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Abstract

Some in the church associate John 10:10 with suicide, identifying Satan as “the thief” who comes “to steal and kill and destroy.” Careful exegesis, however, shows that while Satan may be working in the background as a sinister force of deception, Satan is not presented in John’s Gospel as having the power to create life or directly instigate death. Rather, the thief represents the false shepherds who do harm to God’s flock by rejecting Jesus’s messianic signs of healing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website reports that suicide “was responsible for more than 47,500 deaths in 2019.”1 In addition, those who ended their lives in this way each left behind, on average, ten family members and/or close friends. These data points translate into the startling reality that about half a million people were directly impacted by suicide in that one calendar year. If 20 percent of them (100,000 people) attended church, and if there were 380,000 churches in the US at the time, then it is conceivable that a quarter (26.3%) of all the churches in the US encountered loss from suicide in one fashion or another.2 This happens year after year, with the number of suicide

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deaths and the corresponding rate gradually increasing.3

How does the church respond to this social and theological tragedy? Frequently, John 10:10 is cited, where Satan is understood to be “the thief” who comes “to steal and kill and destroy.” In discussing John 10:10, Jim Logan says of Satan, “First, he wants to steal the eternal significance of your life. . . . Second, Satan wants to kill you. But he can’t do that without God’s permission, so he’ll tell you to do it for him. Most of the people I deal with have had serious thoughts of suicide because . . . they’re convinced it’s the only way out.”4 This demonic association with suicide becomes so dominant in some circles that other legitimate contributors to the suicidal act are not considered.5 Careful exegesis of this passage, however, does not suppor...