Megachurch pastor and Trump Evangelical adviser Robert Jeffress defended the death penalty on Sunday with the argument that governments reserve the right to execute criminals, even though the central figure of Christianity was wrongfully put to death.

Jeffress, who has a history of eyebrow–raising comments, appeared on Fox & Friends over the weekend for a discussion about the circumstances for invoking the death penalty. The conversation touched on criticisms of capital punishment and calls to remove it, to which, Jeffress said its “not a violation of the sanctity of life. It’s an affirmation of it.”

“Let’s admit, the death penalty is sometimes inequitably and even mistakenly applied. We know that and we ought to do everything we can to prevent that. But I remind people, the greatest example of an innocent person being executed was Jesus Christ himself. He was totally innocent, and yet in spite of that, the New Testament never calls for an end to the death penalty. Instead, Paul said in Romans 13, God has given government the power of the sword, the ability to execute in order to bring punishment against those who do evil.”

For additional context, here’s how Jeffress has defended the death penalty in the past:

Pope Francis is dead wrong about capital punishment. God has commanded government to use the death penalty to demonstrate the seriousness of murder: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.” — Genesis 9:6 — Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) August 5, 2018

Watch above, via Fox News.

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