“You shall not murder.” —Exodus 20:13

6 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE 6TH COMMANDMENT

1. The command to “murder not” does not prohibit using lethal force in self-defense, community-defense, or national defense.

   • Hebrew word “ratsach” means “murder” not “kill.” It denotes the unlawful, immoral, intentional or unintentional, taking of human life.

2. Murder is terribly wrong because every person is a one-of-a-kind, irreplaceable, image of God himself!

   “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” —Genesis 9:6
   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.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. —Genesis 1:26

3. This commandment tells me that I am special, significant, and loved.

   For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 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. —Psalm 139:13
   Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you….” —Jeremiah 1:4

4. This commandment reminds me that everyone else is just as special, significant, and loved as I am.

   Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all. —Proverbs 22:2 (NIV)
   Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. —Proverbs 14:31 (NIV)

5. This commandment applies to many of our most debated social issues.
   

   • E.g.: warfare, policing, self-defense, capital punishment, health care, suicide, abortion.
     

     “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…” —Declaration of Independence

6. This commandment is most relevant to our own hearts.

   “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.” —Matthew 5:21
   Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. —1 John 3:15

Pastor’s Challenge: Let God help you stop “murdering in your heart.”