“You shall not murder.” Only four words in English and just two words
in the original Hebrew. That’s it; pretty
straight forward right? When we look for
clarity on something, we look for as concise a definition as possible. Well, it doesn’t get any clearer than “You shall not murder.” Or does it?
You see, if we were to rewrite or to write out this commandment in terms
of its actual application in the world, it would read one of two ways
primarily. The first would be something
to the effect of you shall not murder, unless it’s for war, because of illness,
as a mercy killing, for the greater good, and on and on and on…until pretty
much it has diluted this commandment to nothing aside from things like gang
violence, random killings, and serial killers.
Now, there are some of these things that are allowable according to
Scripture, which we will get to in just a moment. The other application of these words is that
nothing should be killed. This is the
type of interpretation that breeds groups like Westboro Baptist Church (the
group that cheers as slain soldiers are buried because they say that war is a
sin against God). This is the
interpretation that leads many to view things like capital punishment as
sinful. It causes some people to
consider the eating of meat, the wearing of furs, hunting, fishing, or any
other act that ends in the killing of anything; person, plant, or animal, as a
sin. Well, it is my opinion, and more
importantly a more accurate biblical interpretation, that both of these
interpretations are wrong, at least in their entirety. So, what is the right view of this
commandment? Well, it is my hope that by
looking at this text today a little more closely, and in conjunction some other
verses of Scripture that provide some clarity, that we will see just what it is
that we are called to do and not to do by this commandment. It is my hope that we will see that the
answer to how we are to live in light of this commandment falls somewhere in
between these two extremes that we’ve just mentioned.
As
we study this commandment today, we have to first understand what is actually
meant by the Hebrew text, by the two Hebrew words that make up this commandment. Yes, “You
shall not murder” is a correct translation, but a more accurate translation
would be to say that “You shall not do any immoral killing. You shall not unlawfully murder.” That is the sentiment held within the Hebrew
text for this verse, and we use accounts like, God’s words to Noah in Genesis 9
and even God’s own clarification of this law as it is found in Exodus 21 to
arrive at this conclusion. So, knowing
that the original language carries with it such sentiment, it means that there
must be such things as moral killings and lawful murders. You see, this command of “no murdering” or “no killing”
is not simply a generic term for any kind of killing, it is a specific term for
the violent killing of a personal enemy. This term, found here in the sixth
commandment, is never used for acts of war in the Bible. It is never used for capital punishment in Scripture.
It’s never used for lethal self-defense.
It is never used on any occasion when
God or angels are the subject or doers of this verb. Instead, it always has to do with the forbidding
of planned or premeditated murder, assassination, or various kinds of
manslaughter. So this commandment in no
way forbids things like the death penalty (which God actually commanded Moses
to institute), going to war, or lethal self-defense. Now, we could sit here all day and debate
whether any of these are or have been used or applied justly both today and
throughout history, but this isn’t a courtroom.
I realize that wars have been started needlessly throughout
history. I know that sometimes
self-defense could have been milder. I’m
not debating those things, because that’s not our goal today. Our goal today is to determine what God’s law
says about murder, and what that should look like in our lives.
So,
since we’ve looked at what this commandment doesn’t forbid and doesn’t mean,
let’s focus in a little more on what it actually does mean. See, this command is the “forbidding of any
act of violence against an individual out of hatred or anger or malice or
deceit or for personal gain in whatever circumstances and by whatever method
that might result in death even if the person is not attempting to kill.”
(Ligon Duncan). In other words, we are
to do nothing that even runs the risk of taking a human life if it is not
sanctioned by God. Abortion is not
sanctioned by God, even for the purposes of stem cell research. Now, the question invariably gets asked “What
if the health of the mother is at stake?”
Well, very quickly I would like to say that this is a judgment
call. By this I mean, that either
option, saving the child or saving the mother, find themselves preserving
life. There is not one life that is
worth more than the other, and this is simply a decision that the parents must
make together. In addition to abortion,
we are not to practice euthanasia, or mercy killings as they’re more commonly
known. Believe me, I know what it’s like
to long for death to come to someone you love.
I shared with you last Sunday about my grandmother and her battle with
Alzheimer’s. There is nothing in this
world that I want more than for her earthly suffering to stop, but it’s not my
place to make that decision. I have made
the in-home visits that a pastor makes to check on people. I’ve had to sit there and upon asking someone
what they want or if there is anything that I can do, I’ve listened as they’ve
said, “I just want to die.” Talk about a
helpless feeling; to know that that is the only way that suffering can end and
being powerless to do anything about it.
It’s hard to imagine that two little words could seem so unclear, but
that’s the world that we find ourselves in today. You see, this commandment has its roots in
the preservation of life. It’s not about
just not taking a life, but doing what we must to preserve it.
I want to take
just a moment and pause on our trying to interpret this commandment and look to
the greatest preacher and teacher that the world has ever known. I want to look to Jesus himself as he expounds
upon this commandment in his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says, “You have heard that is 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.” (Matt. 5:21-22 ESV).
Wow! You know, we might have felt
really good about ourselves if the command was just against senseless
killings. We might have felt really good
about ourselves if it was just a command against murder, abortion, or even just
against physical violence, but this, this takes things to a whole new
level. Whoever is angry with his
brother, insults his brother, or calls his brother a fool is liable. Wow! Remember,
this isn’t Jesus adding to the Law, this is him giving the fuller understanding
of it. I read these words from Matthew 5
and all I can think is that I’ve probably already gotten angry several times
today. Yes, murder is a sin, but Jesus
is telling us here that anger is too, that is at least anger that is unjust. By unjust anger, I am talking about the
trivial things that we all get angry over; the anger that is directed at people
and events, and not at sin. Anger is the
feeling and emotion that leads us to murder.
When we say that we sin in thought, word, and deed; well anger is the
though, insults are the words, and murder is the deed. Seeing these words of Jesus makes us even
more thankful than we already were (if that’s possible) that there is no sin
that is not covered by Christ’s blood.
That regardless of the regularity with which we violate this commandment,
Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient to atone for our sins. It’s not about our keeping the Law, but about
Christ’s fulfilling it and the Holy Spirit applying that to our hearts. That doesn’t mean that the Law is useless, but
it becomes a mirror for us to see just how broken and shameful we are as
compared to where we are supposed to be.
So,
how are we to live in light of the words, “You
shall not murder.” Well, let me try
and recap or sum up all that we’ve said in a few concise statements. Scripture commands that we defend ourselves
as a means of preserving what God has created.
If that preservation requires the taking of another’s life, then so be
it. However, we must not just take a
life (or even allow a life to be taken) and claim that it was simply for the
greater good. There are times when our
emotions will cause us to see this commandment not as clearly as we do right
now. When it’s a choice between mother
or child, things don’t seem as clear.
When it’s the choice between keeping someone connected to machines or
allowing “nature to run its course” then “no” doesn’t seem so definitive. But understand this one thing from these
words, we are created in the image of God.
As such, we are precious things and we are to seek the preservation of
all of our fellow created things.
However, this doesn’t begin with outward actions. This begins with inner feelings and
emotions. This begins when love and
compassion are replaced by unjust anger and malice and hatred. This commandment is a directive from God, for
all of us to erase such hatred, to erase such anger, and to look and point only
to the love and refuge that can be found in God alone. Glory be to God; in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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