The Gospel Coalition

The sixth commandment is hardly controversial. Can anyone really argue with a prohibition against murder? It’s a short commandment. In the original Hebrew, it’s just “Don’t Kill.” That’s it. No explanations. No further promises or rewards or punishments. The command stands by itself.Our society in many ways is becoming increasingly violent. School shootings. College shootings. We hear stories on the news about “road rage,” people getting so upset over a traffic jam or the way someone’s driving that they’ll bludgeon someone else to death. Little league parents conspiring to kill the umpire. 

On top of all this, our media intake is more violent. Many of the most popular shows on television are violent. How many torture scenes are there on 24? Or how many people have been killed violently on Lost? And the problem is… it’s not just mature adults watching a lot of these shows. According to the American Psychological Association, by the time the average child finishes elementary school, he or she will have watched eight thousand televised murders and a hundred thousand acts of on-screen violence. 

No, this commandment is not going away. We need to be reminded of the prohibition against murder. And we need to see where murder starts and how it can be stopped. But before we go any further, we need to see what this commandment means.

What does this commandment mean?
 There are eight different words for killing in Hebrew. The word here is never used in the legal system or military. Neither is this word for hunting. What is forbidden is the unlawful killing of a human being. This commandment forbids the unjust taking of an innocent life.

Can NOT doing something also be a way of breaking this commandment? Sometimes all it takes to break the sixth commandment is to do nothing at all. Think about the parable of the Good Samaritan. The priest and the Levite are guilty of bloodshed by not helping the man who was hurt on the side of the road. By not acting, they were complicit in the violence.

What does this commandment teach us about God?
 God is sovereign over life and death – not people. Killing someone violates God’s sovereignty and robs him of his glory. Killing someone else steps into the place of God and assumes his authority. There is a sense in which all the commandments have to do with God’s character. But this one is especially applicable. God is the Creator. He is the One who gives life. He is the One who takes life. When we step in and decide to take life, we are putting ourselves on the throne. That’s why murder is so horrifying. There are all kinds of sins, but murder is one of the “worst.”

What does this commandment teach us about ourselves?
 The fact that it would be in here lets us know that we are important. Human beings are made in the image of God. Human life is precious. This commandment is a compliment. If life weren’t precious, if humans weren’t valuable in the eyes of God, then this commandment wouldn’t be here. This lets us know how important we are in God’s eyes.

This commandment also tells us something about our relationship to other people. In the 1600′s – poet preacher John Donne was lying in his rectory, very ill. And during this time, he heard over and over the tolling of the funeral bells at his church. With each insistent tolling, he wondered who from his parish had died. Then at last he replied to himself, “Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” Why? In what way is the death of any person my death? Because, as Donne wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less… any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.”

There’s a sense in which a murder actually kills two people. It kills the victim, and then it kills something in the heart of the murderer. And it doesn’t take long to realize that when people in your family or close friends die – something dies in you along with them. That’s why grief and pain is so hard to accept sometimes. The death of one person affects us all.

Christians believe that human life is sacred. That is why Christians have always been at the forefront of the fight for life that is considered “disposable.” What is true of the unborn is true of all of God’s children. The young and the helpless, the elderly and the infirm, the diseased and the disabled – we are all made in the image and likeness of God. None can be discarded. All must be preserved.

We believe this commandment stands against several commonly accepted practices in our day. Abortion. Euthanasia. Assisted-suicide.

 We care for the sick and dying. We send relief to the oppressed. We work to make laws that protect the unborn. Christians believe that life is precious and should be protected – at all stages. We judge a person’s worth based on their origin, not based on their productiveness. That’s why it is a shame to think that so many babies with Down Syndrome are now being aborted. It’s a shame to think that parents in China are forced to kill baby girls, in order for the Chinese army to grow. It’s a terrifying thing to see a United States court demand that a family stop feeding their incapacitated daughter, Terri Schiavo, and allow her to die of thirst.

How does Jesus intensify this commandment?
 You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire.

Jesus puts anger and murder up on the same level. Anger leads to murder. Keeping this commandment means more than not murdering anyone. It means loving our neighbor. Showing kindness to strangers. Mercy to our enemies.
Avoiding the murder of the heart which expresses itself in anger.

According to Jesus’ definition, Are you a murderer? Do you ever say anything to hurt someone? Do you ever take secret satisfaction in another’s misfortune? Do you have an enemy? Do you want to make someone pay for what they’ve done? Do you ever get so angry that you’re out of control?

Words can kill, just like a knife can kill. Woodrow Wilson, the president during the first world war was basically assassinated by words. There were men out do destroy him, not politically, but personally. And they basically succeeded. They demeaned him, questioned his motives, mocked him. And he eventually died, a broken man, buried under an avalanche of personal attacks. Abraham Lincoln might have fallen at the hands of an assassin, but so did Wilson. Wilson was killed by untrue words.

There are many ways to kill a person on the inside. Laugh at someone’s hope. Kill a hope, kill a future. Kill something of someone themselves. Mock someone’s ambition. Tell someone that they’ll never amount to anything. Tell your kids that they’re good for nothing, stupid, worthless. You will succeed in destroying their lives, even if they continue to live. Do you kill by withholding that which sustains life? Love and attention.

There is a striking similarity between physical and verbal violence. They both come from the same source – a hateful heart. And they all kill.

Can you enrich someone else’s life instead of cheapening it? How can you lengthen someone’s life, rather than cutting it short? Be a life-giver! Not a life-taker!

 Murder starts with anger like cool water in a pot that’s being heated. Our emotions are like that water. Something sets us off and we begin to simmer. Problems continue to rise and our temperature gets bigger. A few little bubbles start appearing in the water. We begin to seethe just like the water begins to steam a little bit. And then before long, the pot is shaking, and it’s too late. We strike out against someone. The water boils. The pot overflows.

How does Jesus keep this commandment in our place?
 Jesus was peaceable when he was provoked. He offered perfect obedience to the sixth commandment. When he was led to the cross, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter. Jesus didn’t take someone else’s life. He gave his own. And through is death, our taking of human life, whether physically or verbally, is forgiven.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2007 Kingdom People blog