How should nonbelievers be treated?
The texts prescribe killing religious persuaders, separating from unbelievers, and loving even enemies, producing sharply different standards of treatment.
- Textual conflict
- Interpretive tension
- The passages pull in different directions, but the conflict depends on how their wording, scope, or narrative context is read.
- Importance
- Foundational
- A central claim about origins, salvation, divine justice, or religious authority.
Killing a relative for religious persuasion substantially conflicts with love that does no harm, while separation alone is not incompatible with kindness.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
A relative urging worship of other gods must be killed
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Believers must separate from unbelievers
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
People must love neighbors and enemies and do them good
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.
Understanding the contradiction
Deuteronomy 13:6-10 targets a specific act, urging worship of other gods, and requires killing the persuader without pity even when the person is a close relative. It is broader than punishment of an unrelated enemy but narrower than a command to kill every person lacking belief. 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 instructs separation from unbelievers without prescribing execution.
Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:27 require love and positive action toward enemies. Romans 13:9-10 says love does no harm to a neighbor, while Matthew 7:12 demands reciprocal treatment. These principles conflict ethically with killing a family member for religious persuasion. Separation is a different behavior and does not automatically exclude every form of kindness, but the lethal rule presents a direct practical opposition. The comparison should distinguish those commands instead of treating all nonbelief and every response to it as one category.