Podcast: The Trouble with Killing People

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“You shall not murder.”
-Exodus 20:13

What in the world am I going to say about this one? You know, when I started doing a series of podcasts on the Ten Commandments, I didn’t really think it out. Idolatry, the Sabbath, honoring your parents, these are things that can fill up five to ten minutes. Murder? I mean, do I really need to do a podcast on why it’s bad to murder people? There really isn’t a lot of wiggle room here. I mean, even the Bible only spends four words of the Ten Commandments on it (only two in the Hebrew), while the Sabbath gets four complex sentences.

Except that this is the one I perhaps most often disobey.

Surprising? I’d bet it’s the same way with you. See, we sometimes get so caught up in the absolute legalism of the Commandments that we forget the spirit behind them. Jesus reminds us that we can sum up the entire Law with two commands – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. . . . You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

See, I haven’t really accomplished anything if I simply don’t gun down people I come across. Most of the time, that’s not terribly hard to do. In fact, I’ve made it my whole life without doing it even once.

But do I rise to the true standard of God, which is love? Maybe I stop short of killing someone, but do I stop before wanting to? Do I even stop before getting unduly angry? Do I hold back terrible words out of love? Do I take their hurtful words with love and forgiveness? Do I put them above myself and God yet still above that?

Jesus talks about this particular commandment in detail in Matthew 5: “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.”

Why is this? Why is this so harsh? It’s because the source, the meaning behind this commandment and all of the other ones is love. Our human law mostly tells us what we cannot do, but God’s perfect Law does not stop in what we should not do, but what we should do, and even what we should feel.

Frankly, I’ve been angry a lot in my life. When I was younger, I used to be angry at just about everyone. I did not act out of love. My temper has quelled somewhat, but it still pops up. I have been angry, I have insulted, and I have called people names. I am guilty, as Jesus tells me, of murder.

A lot of people don’t worry about God and eternity that much because they think they are good people. And even if that were true – even if it were true that you’ve never lied, never lusted, never were selfish, never angry – even if that were true (and it’s not, by the way), can you say that your whole life was guided by nothing but love for God and your fellow man?

If you say no, as we all must if we are honest, then we must realize that we are in danger of eternal death, because that is the rightful punishment for sin.

Jesus is the only one who did live perfectly and utterly without sin. He alone did not deserve death, and yet He died nonetheless. In that death, He took the punishment that belongs to us because of our sin. If we repent and believe in Him, we will be forgiven. He paid our price for us.

And if you confess, be sure and confess of murder too.