Pope John Paul II once said that our modern world
is a “culture of death.”[1] When you consider the disregard for human
life that is expressed in our world, it’s hard to disagree with that
statement. One only needs to turn on the
news to learn that human life is taken every day in this world. Whether it is the result of gang violence,
racial violence, genocide, serial killings, terrorist attacks, school shootings,
or abortion (over one million abortions take place in this country every year),
it’s hard to miss our culture’s disregard for human life.
How did we get here? Mark Rooker sees two factors responsible for
the cheapening of human life in our world today. The first is evolutionary theory, which reduces God’s image bearers to highly
evolved animal life. This view normally
leads to a cheapening of human life because it reduces mankind to animal life
and deems certain members of our race less “fit” and therefore expendable. The second factor is Western entertainment.
Rooker says, “By the time an average
American youth has reached the age of 18, he has witnessed more than 80,000
murders via television, movies, or video games.”[2]
“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.”[3]
We might do well to ask how different we are than blood thirsty Romans who used
to cry out in the Coliseum. Philip Ryken
says that since we are teaching our children to kill, we should not be
surprised when they do.
God’s Word, however, does not call for a culture
of death among His people, but a culture of life. In the sixth commandment, which reads, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13), God demonstrated the
sacredness of human life by commanding His people not to harm it. In such a culture as ours, this is an area
where we must let our light shine as brightly as possible. God’s people must value the sacredness of
human life and seek to preserve it. My
prayer is that God would bring us to the place where we truly treasure human
life the way He does and are willing to do all we can to preserve it.
I.
The Reasoning Behind the Sixth Commandment
While the sixth commandment does not contain an
explanation along with the command as some of the other commands do, we do find
explanation for this command elsewhere in Scripture. From Scripture, we first see that the sixth commandment is rooted in the sanctity
of human life. The Bible teaches
that all human life is sacred because mankind was made in God’s image. Genesis
9:6 says, “Whoever
sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God
made man in his own image.” That
man bears God’s image is the theological
foundation for the sixth commandment and the death penalty. It implies that murder is not only an attack
on the man who bears God’s image but also upon God Himself. Consider what
would happen to a student who desecrated the photograph of their school
principal hanging in the school foyer.
The principal would rightly take offense, and there would be
consequences for the student. Likewise, “to damage a life is to deface one of God’s
masterpieces.”[4]
Secondly, the
sixth commandment is rooted in the sovereignty of God over life and
death. God says in Deuteronomy 32:39, “See now
that I, even I, am he, and there
is no god beside me; I kill and
I make alive; I wound and
I heal; and there
is none that can deliver out of my hand.” We are not to take a human
life (even our own) because life and
death are in God’s hands, not our own.
It is God’s prerogative to give and take away (Job 1:21) life. Let’s now
consider the meaning of this commandment.
II.
The Meaning of the Sixth Commandment
Let’s begin with the literal meaning of this command. “Murder”
is a good translation because it mainly refers to maliciously or unlawfully
taking human life. One author says that
it “applies to ‘murder in cold blood,
manslaughter with passionate rage, and negligent homicide resulting from
recklessness or carelessness.”[5]
The reason understanding this meaning is important
is because there are distinctions made
in Scripture between murder and other types of killing. First, the
Bible makes a distinction between murder and accidental killing. Exodus
21:12-14: “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to
death. But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his
hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. But if a man
willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my
altar, that he may die.” This passage distinguishes between murder and
accidental manslaughter. What we see is that the death penalty was not
applied to accidental killings and some cases of manslaughter. Instead, there were cities of refuge for the
person to flee to (Numbers 35) for
safety.
The
Bible also makes a distinction between murder and government-sanctioned killing. What I
mean by government-sanctioned killing is execution
and lives that must be taken in war. According to Paul, governmental authority is “God’s servant” for our good and does
not “bear the sword in vain” but is “an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on
the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:3-4). So the Bible teaches that God has ordained the
powers that be to be His servant to carry out justice in His world, and
sometimes that will mean taking human life in order to promote the sanctity of
human life. The death penalty actually serves
to promote life by removing someone from God’s world who has demonstrated that
they have such a disregard for human life that they will take it and also by
serving as a deterrent to others. Also,
the Hebrew word used in the sixth commandment is never used of taking someone’s life in war. Again, this too would fall under
government-sanctioned killing: God’s servant is deciding going to war to
protect it’s citizens (which promotes life) or for some other worthy cause that
will in the end promote life.
Thirdly, the
Bible also makes is between murder and self-defense. Exodus 22:2-3 says that if a thief breaks into someone’s home and
is struck so that he dies, the person who struck him is not be guilty of his
blood (unless the sun rises on him). When Sanballat and Tobiah gathered forces
to attack Israel and stop them from rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah
instructed God’s people to fight and defend themselves (Nehemiah 4:11-14).
What I want you to notice is that each of these
distinctions center on the motive of
the individual taking the life (is there malicious intent to harm?) and the preservation of human life (will this
execution or war preserve and promote the value of human life?). Issues like abortion, euthanasia, etc. should
be measured from this perspective. For example, abortion, though lawful in some
places, does not seek to preserve human life in most cases.
Most of us are probably feeling like we have kept
this commandment up to this point, but as we read the rest of the Bible, we
find that there is a deeper meaning to
the sixth commandment. The deeper meaning of the sixth commandment
is that we love our neighbor with our thoughts, words, and deeds to such a
degree that we would not only never hate them, curse them, or harm them, but
would also show them mercy by seeking to preserve their life in any way that we
could.
Let’s start with Jesus in Matthew 5:21-26. Remember,
Jesus doesn’t change the law; He interprets it. In other words, Jesus always gives the best
interpretation of any Scripture or doctrine, and in this passage, Jesus
interprets the sixth commandment: [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. [23] So if you
are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has
something against you, [24] leave your gift there before the altar and go.
First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. [25]
Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court,
lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and
you be put in prison. [26] Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until
you have paid the last penny. (Matthew
5:21-26 ESV) So Jesus says the sixth commandment covers everything
from murder to hating your fellow man.
John made this same application: [7] Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices
righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. [8] Whoever makes a practice of
sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The
reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. [9] No
one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and
he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. [10] By this it is
evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:
whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does
not love his brother. [11] For this is the message that you have heard from the
beginning, that we should love one another. [12] We should not be like Cain,
who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him?
Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. [13] Do not be
surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. [14] We know that we have passed
out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love
abides in death. [15] Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you
know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (1 John 3:7-15 ESV) John
says that whoever “hates” his brother
is a “murderer” and does not possess
eternal life.
James also says that because mankind bears God’s image,
we are not to curse other people (James
3:9). That is because when we curse
others we are expressing malice and hatred in our hearts, and that makes us
guilty of breaking the sixth commandment.
Have you ever thought about just what we are saying when we say
something like, “Damn you”? In our anger
we have just stated that we desire this person be damned in hell for all
eternity. So according to the sixth commandment,
is seems that looks can kill and words can hurt.
Another sense in which the sixth commandment is either
kept or broken is in whether or not we seek to preserve human life in
appropriate ways. See, whatever a commandment prohibits;
the opposite is normally being prescribed. For example, the prohibition against harming
human life implies that we should be good Samaritans and seek to preserve human
life. This commandment calls us to love
our neighbor and to show them mercy. Romans 13:8-10 says, “[8] Owe
no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has
fulfilled the law. [9] For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,
You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other
commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” [10] Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law.
One pastor said that sometimes all it takes to
break this commandment is to do nothing.
Luther said: “This commandment is
violated not only when a person actually does evil, but also when he fails to
do good to his neighbor, or, though he has the opportunity, fails to prevent,
protect, and save him from suffering bodily harm or injury. If you send a person away naked when you
could clothe him, you have let him freeze to death. If you see anyone suffer hunger and do not
feed him, you have let him starve.
Likewise, if you see anyone condemned to death or in similar peril and
do not save him although you know ways and means to do so, you have killed
him. It will do you no good to plead
that you did not contribute to his death by word or deed, for you have withheld
your love from him and robbed him of the service by which his life might have
been saved.”[6]
Listen to the application the Heidelberg Catechism
gives this commandment. It asks the
question, “Is it enough then, if we do
not kill our neighbor in any such way?”
It then answers, “No; for when God
condemns envy, hatred, and anger, he requires us to love our neighbor as
ourselves, to show patience, gentleness, mercy, and friendliness toward him, to
prevent injury to him as much as we can, and also to do good to our enemies” (A.
107).[7]
When we see just what the sixth commandment
prohibits and requires, we are all in trouble.
We’re all murderers to some degree.
But there is good news. God has
made a way for murders to be forgiven and adopted into His family. He has made a way to give eternal life to
those who disregard life. His way was to
send His only Son, Jesus Christ, who kept this command to the very core and was
Himself murdered in our place. The blood that should be required from our
hands, God has allowed to be paid by His.
In the crucifixion of Christ, we see Jesus forgiving the very people who
were taking His life. If His forgiveness
is that great, then there is no reason that you cannot be forgiven for all the
sins you have committed either. But you
must turn to Him in faith and full surrender today in order to receive this
forgiveness. Will you do so today?
[1]
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-03-31/news/9503310188_1_encyclical-abortion-and-euthanasia-pope-john-paul-ii
[2] Rooker, Mark (2010-04-29). The Ten Commandments (New
American Commentary Studies in Bible and Theology) (Kindle Locations
3398-3399). B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition.
[4] Philip Ryken, Written
in Stone, 138
[6] Martin Luther, quoted
by Philip Ryken, Written in Stone,
143-144
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