The 6th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Kill

Thou Shalt Not Kill

1. INTRODUCTION

This is the commandment that everyone knows, and at least most people agree with!

“Well at least I didn’t kill anyone”

Most people have no truck with the idea of worshipping other gods, or with playing by our own rules in relationships, but almost everyone agrees that it’s wrong to take a life.

It’s also the commandment that most people think they keep. The American talk show - the view “I’m good on all those.” But as we’ll see today - keeping the 6th commandment isn’t as easy as most people think!

2. THOU SHALT NOT KILL?

Exodus—Saved for God's Glory Lawful and Unlawful Killing

After the horrific attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, some people said, “If we kill as a response to this great tragedy, we are no better than the terrorists who launched this awful offensive. Killing is killing, and killing is wrong.” - Christianity Today Quote

But is this the Biblical position? Is this what the 6th commandment teaches? That all killing is wrong?

No. The 6th commandment does not teach pacificsm. The 6th commandment is not the same as the first precept of Buddhism; “Avoid killing or harming any living thing.”

In Hebrew the 6th commandment is just two words: לֹ֥֖א תִּֿרְצָֽ֖ח׃ . Ratzach, the word translated ‘kill’ is one of many words in Hebrew to describe the act of taking a life. It is never used to describe taking a life on battle field, there’s another word for that - neither is it ever used to describe sacrificial killing, or the killing of animals, and there is a different word that is used most often in scripture to describe the lawful killing of a criminal.

Elsewhere in the Old Testament God commands the Israelites to put lawbreakers to death.

Leviticus 20:1–2 ESV

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.

Capital punishment was a legal statute established by God for the people of Israel. It was there as a means of meting out justice, and as a deterrent, it was a good thing rather than something evil. So according to scripture - not all killing is equal. Scripture makes a disctinction between murder for example, and taking life on the field of battle.

Exodus—Saved for God's Glory Lawful and Unlawful Killing

Stephen Carter explains, “War is horrible and should be fought rarely, and only to avoid greater horrors.”

The 6th commandment does not mean - thou shalt not kill, ever. The KJV translation isn’t perhaps the best rendering of the 6th commandment. It is better captured by the NIV or ESV - You shall not murder. It is not all killing that is in view here in the 6th commandment, but rather unlawful killing. The unjust taking of life.

3. EXTERNAL/INTERNAL

So why is unlawful killing such a heinous evil?

To understand why murder is so wrong, we need to first understand something about human life. It fashionable these days to say that humans are just highly evolved animals. That we’re just slightly more developed versions of our bipedal cousins living in the jungles of Africa.

But that is utterly wrong - to think that there is no distinction in value between human life and animal life. Of all life on planet earth - only one species was created in the image of it’s maker - mankind.

Genesis 1:27 ESV

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

This is what gives human life innate value and worth. Whether young or old, in the womb or out of it, whether able bodied or otherwise, whether tall or short, whatever colour, whatever creed, every human life carries the IMAGO DEI, the image of God, His seal, His likeness. And therefore to take a human life is to do violence to something sacred.

 “Our neighbor bears the image of God: to use him, abuse, or misuse him is to do violence to the person of God who images himself in every human soul.” - Calvin

So this commandment isn’t just a condemnation of premeditated murder but also condemns the drunk driver who kills a pedestrian on the way home from the pub.

It condemns any violence, any abuse, and harm brought upon another human either through premeditation or through negligence.

This extends to life in the womb and also to the life of the terminally ill. They carry the image of God in them - and this isn’t negated by their size, location or physical or mental ability or lack therof - we are not to do them harm, or standby and let others do harm to them.

Heidelberg Question 105.

What doth God require in the sixth commandment?

Answer. That neither in thoughts, nor words, nor gestures, much less in deeds, I dishonor, hate, wound, or [a] kill my neighbor, by myself or by another; but that I lay [b] aside all desire of revenge: also, that I [c] hurt not myself, nor willfully expose myself to any danger. Wherefore also the magistrate [d] is armed with the sword, to prevent murder.

Jesus taught that obeying the sixth commandment was about more than just not physically murdering your neighbour, but that we are also commanded not to let hatred take hold of our hearts.

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 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.

So maybe we haven’t physically done violence to someone - but have we hated them? Have we held resentment in our hearts towards them? Then according to Jesus, we have not kept the 6th commandment in all it’s fullness.

4. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

Heidelberg Question 107.

Is it then enough that we do not kill our neighbour in any such way?

Answer: No: for in condemning envy, hatred, and anger, God requires us to love our neighbour as ourselves,' to show patience, peace, meekness, mercy, and kindness towards him, and, so far as we have power, to prevent his hurt; also to do good, even unto our enemies.'

There are some people in the world who are simply more passive than others, they would never do harm to another, perhaps more because of their temperament than anything else. So do they keep the 6th commandment? Those who wouldn’t say boo to a goose because they don’t like conflict? No.

We are not just to be anti-murder, we’re to be pro-life. We are to seek the welfare of our neighbour, not just ensure that we ourselves do no harm to them. This may actually mean that we invite conflict!

Story of Andre at school - kicking that other kid. I may not have done it the right way, but I did the right thing in preventing harm coming to someone vulnerable. Sometimes we need to raise our voice for the vulnerable - sometimes we need to invite some kind of suffering upon ourselves in order to protect others.

Is this not what Jesus has done for us? He has spared us unimaginable suffering by inviting suffering upon Himself. Standing in between us and the righteous anger of the Father against our sin, The Son took the suffering that should have been ours so that we might have life.

Will we not do likewise? Will we be unwilling to suffer in the slightest to protect our neighbour from harm.

Maybe today you need to come to Jesus and ask for forgiveness - maybe you haven’t killed anybody, perhaps you haven’t physically harmed anyone, but you know that you’ve been harbouring resentment, you know there’s anger towards someone in your life. Maybe they hurt you, perhaps they did something wrong and have never even apologised, well that’s not right, and you’ve been wronged, but you can’t right that wrong by hating that person. Come and ask the Lord for grace, ask Him for forgiveness today.