2 Chronicles 15:13 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel Would either worship other gods, or refuse to join with them in the worship of the true God; that was either an obstinate idolater, or an obstinate atheist, should be put to death Which was not a new law of their own making, but an order to put in execution the law of God to this purpose, contained Deuteronomy 18:2, &c., which, if it had been duly executed in former times, would have kept the land clear of those many abominable idols which were found in and brought God's wrath upon it: compare Hebrews 10:28. But though they might do well in executing the sentence of the law upon idolaters, this ought not to be pleaded by any persons professing Christianity as a precedent for persecuting any of their fellow-Christians, much less for putting them to death who may happen to differ from them in any point of doctrine, or mode of worship; because all Christians, as such, however they may disagree as to some lesser points, yet worship one and the same living and true God; and, added to this, the spirit of the gospel is very different from that of the Jewish law: see Luke 9:55. Nor may we, under our mild dispensation, attempt to compel by force any man to become religious. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.