Thou Shall Not Murder

In my preparation for this series on the Ten Commandments I have come to the sad realization that it is not sufficient for me to preach upon how we obey each of the Ten Commandments, but why we should obey them. Increasingly, people who claim fidelity to God and His Word derive their morality from society rather than Scripture. So why, according to Scripture should we not murder? To answer this question, it is helpful to the story of God’s covenant with Noah.

Our Scripture lesson this morning is taken from Genesis 9:1-7:

Genesis 9:1–7 ESV

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”

May God bless this the reading of His holy and infallible Word.

So why should we not murder Why does God command such a thing? The first reason we glen from our text this morning is...

We Should Not Murder Because God Loves Life

God loves life because He is the Creator and sustainer of all life. One of the most important chapters of the whole Bible is Genesis 1. Sadly, there is perhaps no other chapter more routinely doubted than this. There is a reason that Satan so vigorously attacks the Doctrine of Creation, and the Devil knows that if he can get us to doubt that God is the Creator of all things, he will undermine everything else in the Bible, especially the Gospel.

You see, if Jesus is not the Creator of all things, including every living creature, He is not the Savior of the world! However, He is the Creator of all things and as the Creator of all things He as absolute authority over all life. This is clearly seen in our text this morning. Prior to God’s covenant with Noah, humanity did not have the right to shed the “lifeblood” of any creature. People speak of the “right to choose”, we have no “right to choose” when it comes to taking the life of any creature, we either have permission or we don’t! We now have God’s permission to kill animals, but we do not have God’s permission to kill other human beings, except in self-defense and as a judicial act of the state.

This permission to kill animals is not open ended, God places limits upon it. His love of life is not only seen not only in His creation of it, but in His care for it as well. Throughout the Law of Moses, we find ordinances regulating the treatment of other creatures, plants and the land itself. Some theologians call this “creation care”. God loves and cares for His creation and we should as well. In the Sermon of the Mount, there is are well-known verses that speaks of the this care.

Matthew 6:26 ESV

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

His care extends not only to animals, but to plants as well:

Matthew 6:28–29 ESV

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Do you not hear what Jesus is saying, even the most insignificant living things is under God’s loving and watchful care. God loves life and we should as well!

The second reason we find in our text to not murder is because humanity is made in God’s image.

We Should Not Murder, Because Humanity is Made in God’s Image

There are two ways in which humanity is in God’s image. The first, is that we are created in such a way that we are reflect God’s glory. Our ability to reflect God’s glory has been marred by sin. This is reflected in Paul’s well know statement, “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Thankfully, God has a plan as to how the glory of His image in humanity will be restored and brought to a level even more glorious than before—our salvation in Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:29 ESV

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

The second way in which humanity is in the image of God, is that we are created to be His representatives on this earth.

Genesis 1:26–28 ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Notice this “dominion” language, this is in direct opposition to the modern environmental movement, which sees humanity as a curse rather than a blessing. The idea that human population must be “controlled” is contrary to the Word of God. Jesus taught us that there are two infallible signs to recognize the handiwork of Satan—lies and murder.

This is most clearly seen in the pro-abortion movement. Even the label they give themselves, “Pro-Choice” is a lie. Abortion has nothing to do with choice. We always have a choice. We can choose to obey God or disobey Him. No, what abortionists want is not freedom of choice, but freedom from justice! They want to murder unborn children and not face the consequence for their “choice”!

Both science and Scripture are clear, human life begins at conception.

Psalm 139:13–16 ESV

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

In the womb, a child is not primary the product of biology, but of God’s creative power. Each and every human being is hand crafted by God! The reason God instituted the death penalty of murder in Genesis 9 is because we were created in the image of God. This is something biology cannot do. An embryo is more than a “blob of cells”, he or she is a human being created in the image of God!

This is why the command not to murder includes more than just the physically taking of life and includes an attack upon the worth or dignity of another human being.

Matthew 5:21–22 ESV

“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.

This is not hyperbole on Jesus’ part, to attack another person is to attack God Himself! Are you starting to get a sense of how much God loves life, especially human life? Do you see why we should not murder, but rather love life as well?

If you need any more evidence, our passage provides us more:

We Should Not Murder, Because God Has Ordained Civil Government to Protect Life

Theologians identify this Genesis 9 as the place that God instituted civil government because only civil government can justly enforce capital punishment. To rely upon the family or even the community is to invite bias. This is why vigilantism and revenge are outlawed in the Bible. In Romans 13, Paul calls the power to defend the sanctity of human life “the sword”.

Romans 13:1–4 ESV

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

Capital punishment is hotly debated in our society, but there should be no debate in the church. God in His wisdom has ordained it, and the need for it is apparent when you read the Genesis narrative carefully. Prior to the flood there was no capital punishment and as a result that society descended into violence.

Genesis 6:11 ESV

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.

God in His love of life gave us civil government to protect life. This is why the abortion issue is such a watershed issue. When a civil government actively works towards the taking of innocent human live it has placed both itself and the nation in the cross-hairs of God’s judgement. The narrative of the Bible is clear on this—God always judges and destroys violent nations.

Too many Christians wrongly assume that America is immune to God’s judgement. Israel and Judah made that mistake, and both were destroyed by God’s “agents of wrath”, that is the Assyrian and Babylonian civil governments; and both Assyria and Babylon were subsequently destroyed because of their violence. Things have not changed. Why did Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union fall? One word—violence! Of all violence, state—sponsored violence is the worst, because it is a failure of the state to do the one thing God commissioned it for!

Because we have drifted so far from God and Scripture, our culture has become a culture of death. Many in our society are not even sure what makes one a human being. Consequently, they are not sure what constitutes murder. Thankfully, we do not have to share in that moral confusion. Scripture gives as a clarity of thought; it gives us wisdom. So let us be a people who agree with God, that all life is to be loved and protected, especially human life. Thou shall not murder!