Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder. This is the Sixth Commandment of God’s Moral Law. In Deuteronomy 5:17, the Mosaic Law mirrors the Moral Law of “You shall not murder.” The King James version of the Bible translates this commandment as “Thou shalt not kill.” The Hebrew word is “rāṣaḥ”, meaning to murder, slay, or kill; premeditated with malice and forethought.
Bible Commentator Matthew Henry states that the sixth commandment concerns our own and our neighbor’s life: “Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not do anything hurtful or injurious to the health, ease, and life, of thy own body, or any other person’s unjustly.” This is one of the laws of nature [a law of “right” or “justice”, and was strongly enforced by the precepts given to Noah and his sons in Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.” There is an inalienable Right to life and liberty derived from nature’s God. It does not forbid killing in lawful war, or in our own necessary self-defense, nor the magistrate’s putting capital crime offenders to death, for those things tend to the preserving of life; but it forbids all malice and hatred to the person of any, and all personal revenge arising therefrom; also all rash anger upon sudden provocations, and hurt or harm said or done, or aimed to be done, in passion. And, as that which is worst of all, it forbids persecution, laying wait for the blood of the innocent and excellent ones of the earth. Proverbs 6:16-19 confirms, “These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren."
We desensitize ourselves and make light of violence and death there days. My father’s High School Football team’s Cheerleader squad raised the spirit of the crowd in games against their opposing team by cheering: “Kill, Kill, Hate, Hate, Murder, Murder, Mutilate”. You may hear someone yell to their tram: “Knock ‘em dead” or "Murder them!”. They don't actually want killing and dead players on the field; their intent is to inspire their team players to play hard, aggressively compete and win the game, but they don’t know what they are actually saying by these statements. Words have meaning.
The Episcopal Book of Common Prayer’s Prayer of Confession states: “Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.” The reality is, it is sinful to allow oneself to indulge in thoughts that lead to actions named in all the Ten Commandments. They are grasping thoughts that lead to grasping deeds. we step from the outer world of word and deed into the secret place where all good and evil begins: the heart. The inner life actually determines a person's destiny, as the desires of a person's life are held and nurtured there. Christ explains in Mark 7:21-22 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.”
Our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ expounds this Sixth commandment in Matthew 5:21-22 elucidating that, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ [you senseless, empty headed man] shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” James 1:14-15 explicates that “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” Every word you speak and every action you take begins with a thought. Thought precedes action and hatred precedes murder. If we hate someone, we break the sixth commandment. That is why 1 John 3:15 can warn us, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
Isaiah 55:7 declares, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. God is love, not hate. God made life; death entered due to sin. Murder doesn’t cross the mind of God. God changes the heart to be like His and Jesus is our model; not to say: “I won’t hate, harm or kill someone because that is wrong in the eyes of God”, but to the level of a transformative mindset and thinking: “Why would I do that?” Love God and love others.
Love, joy and peace in Christ,
Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment