You Shall Not Murder | Exodus 20:13

Introduction

Pastor Jim Wilson tells a story about a time he visited a maximum security prison to teach. One of the inmates asked him, “How can you get rid of bitterness towards somebody who beat up your three-year-old son unmercifully?”

Jim explained how, and added, “You know, when you get rid of your bitterness you can help this person so that he won’t beat up other little kids.”

The inmate said, “No, this guy cannot be helped. He’s not with us anymore”

The inmate was in maximum security because he had murdered that man for what he had done to his three-year-old son! Jim writes, “Even though he had killed the man, he was still bitter.”

Perhaps you’ve never murdered anyone, but you have undoubtedly been sinned against. You have been wronged, and that means you are familiar with feelings of bitterness, anger, rage, hatred, and malice—the same emotions that led that man to commit murder. If murder itself cannot remove feelings of bitterness and rage, what hope is there?

Today, we come to the sixth commandment, where God addresses this universal human problem. What does God have to say about these things? What grace does God have for you here?

“You shall not murder.”
—Exodus 20:13

God’s purpose in the sixth commandment is not merely to inform you that murder is wrong. God’s purpose is to conform you—your thoughts, attitudes, and actions—to his holy ways.

My aim is to show you how God makes it possible for you to keep this commandment, which you thought you were already keeping. And I want to do that by considering three myths or misconceptions concerning the sixth commandment. 

Myth #1: The sixth commandment is obvious.

When it comes to moral laws and ethical standards, is there any law more universally agreed upon than this one? Everyone knows murder is wrong!

Atheists, like Christopher Hitchens, have mocked God and the ten commandments. Do we really need thunder and lightning and earthquakes, and a divine voice from a mountain to tell us that murder is wrong?

Hemant Mehta, known as “The Friendly Atheist” on YouTube, says, “We all have morals, we all have ethics. Ours don’t derive from a holy book, and I would hope that your Bible isn’t the only reason you’re not out there killing everybody in sight.”

At first glance, the sixth commandment looks like the least controversial and the most obvious. But is it?

While God’s law is written on our hearts, without the special revelation of Scripture, we would not know what murder is, why it’s wrong, how evil it is, or what to do about it.

It’s not so obvious what murder is.

We don’t even have to leave our own culture to find that the sixth commandment is not obvious at all.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. We thank God for that! But according to Pew Research, 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

There is no debate as to what abortion does: it ends the life of a human fetus. But is that murder? Sixty-one percent of Americans don’t think so. And in many states it remains legal to kill the most innocent and vulnerable humans. States like California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota have either enshrined abortion protections in their State Constitutions, or their Supreme Courts have decided their State Constitutions already grant the right to kill unborn babies. Seven states have no gestational limit on abortion, which means it is perfectly legal to kill a baby up until the moment of birth. And that is not murder, we’re told.

Or consider assisted suicide or euthanasia, which is legal in ten states and Washington D.C., while many other states are debating legislation to legalize assisted suicide.

Clearly, it is not so obvious what murder actually is. What grace that God has spoken! “You shall not murder.”

The wording in the ESV captures the sense of the Hebrew word used in this commandment. The sixth commandment does not prohibit all taking of life; it forbids murder—the unjust taking of innocent human life, whether by willful intent or negligence.

Scripture is clear that not all killing is murder. In the very next chapter, in Exodus 21, God authorizes the death penalty for crimes like murder and human trafficking. And in Exodus 22, God permits killing in the case of self-defense (Exodus 22:2–3). Likewise, killing in a just war is not murder either. Before Israel entered the Promised Land, God himself commanded his people to destroy the nations that lived there (Deuteronomy 7:2).

What the sixth commandment forbids is intentional murder and negligent homicide. It makes no difference if you commit murder with your bare hands in cold blood or if you put multiple layers of plausible deniability between yourself and the victim. Cain attacked his brother and killed him (Gen. 4:8). But King David arranged for Uriah to be abandoned on the battlefront, “that he may be struck down, and die’” (2 Samuel 11:15). Both were guilty of murder.

God also forbids negligent homicide. Exodus 21 deals with a case where an ox gores a person to death. The owner is not liable unless “the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it in” (Exodus 21:29). In that case, both the ox and the owner were to be killed.

Deuteronomy 22:8 teaches that property owners are responsible for the safety of everyone on their property. If a homeowner failed to put a railing around his roof, and someone fell off and died, the homeowner was liable.

God’s Law further distinguishes between unintentional manslaughter and murder. Deuteronomy 19 says that one who “kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past” (Deut. 19:4) has not committed capital murder and should not be punished (Deut. 19:6).

If these legal distinctions seem like common sense, that’s because the Mosaic Law has so shaped the laws we have grown up with that even atheists assume they knew this on their own. But we know what murder is because God has spoken.

It’s not obvious why murder is wrong.

Even if we agree that murder is wrong, only the Bible provides a meaningful reason why murder is wrong. An atheist might say murder is wrong, but he can’t give a compelling reason why. To the atheistic materialist, you are merely protoplasm and carbon. There is literally no difference between kicking the dirt and kicking a baby. The atheist may object that he doesn’t like kicking babies—unless they haven’t been born yet—but his worldview has no ability to tell us why it’s objectively wrong.

Some might say that laws against murder preserve safety and stability in society, which sounds good … until you think about it. Everyone who commits murder does so because he believes the world would be a better, safer place without that person around. And who’s to say he’s wrong?

Utilitarian ethics measures everything by “the greater good.” The problem is that that standard can always be used to justify the murder of any group of people in the minority. Hitler exterminated the Jews for the greater good of Germany.

But God’s Word reveals the transcendent, objective reason why murder is wrong. Murder is wrong because human beings are the image of God.

God makes this explicit in his covenant with Noah after the flood: “And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:5–6).

The image of God is not something you earn or prove—it’s what you are because you’re a human. Every human is in the image of God—from a fertilized embryo to a centenarian with dementia, from world famous athletes to a child with severe cerebral palsy. And that is why it is wicked to intentionally end the life of an innocent human being.

It’s not obvious just how evil murder is.

While it does seem that there is a natural revulsion to bloodshed, we have been largely desensitized to murder. It is so common in the news and in our entertainment. Even those who agree that murder is wrong are often unaffected by news of it.

Again, God’s Word helps us. The puritan Thomas Watson has a helpful outline of what Scripture teaches about how heinous murder is.

It is a God-affornting sin, since man is the image of God (Gen. 9:6). Murder is an attack on the image of God. The murder of a human being is to the image of God what vandalism is to a priceless piece by da Vinci or Rembrandt.

But murder is an affront to God in another way: murder usurps the very authority of God. God is the giver of life, and God alone has the authority to take life (Deuteronomy 32:39). Therefore, whoever ends the life of another human attempts to exalt himself above God and takes God’s prerogative as his own.

Murder is a crying sin. After Cain murdered his brother Abel, the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground” (Genesis 4:10). Through modern forensics, the blood of victims literally testifies many times. But more importantly, the blood of the innocent cries to God for justice (Rev. 6:10).

Murder is a diabolical sin. Jesus said that the devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth” (John 8:44). He murdered Adam and Eve and all humanity when he lied and said, “You shall not die.” And 1 John 3:12 says that Cain “was of the evil one and murdered his brother.” That means Cain belonged to and came from the evil one.

Murder is a wrath-procuring sin. There are consequences for murderers in this life and the next. Psalm 55:23 says, “Men of blood and treachery shall not live out half their days.” And Revelation 21:8 says, “As for murderers, … their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

And I would add one more to Watson’s list: murder is a defiling sin. Numbers 35:33–34 says, “You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land …. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell” (cf. Ps. 106:38).

Do you know why there is so much talk about carbon emissions and plastic pollutants in the ocean? Because people find it easier to blame pollution on fossil fuels and plastics than to confess the guilt of shedding innocent blood. Our land is polluted. Our environment is affected. But paper straws and electric cars can’t atone for the blood of 25,000 murders every year and 60 million aborted babies since 1973.

We would not know just how evil it is without God’s Word.

It’s not obvious what murder deserves.

Just how lightly we take the sin of murder is evident in the absurdly lenient sentences often handed down to murderers in our country. In some states, it’s possible to receive a 20-year prison sentence for first degree murder—premeditated, willful murder with malicious intent. There is a nonprofit organization currently advocating “for a cap on punishments for serious offenses at 20 years.”

Just as murder is far more serious than we think, it deserves more than we think. God’s law was unique in the Ancient Near East in the sanction God required. Other nations allowed monetary settlements, but God required the death penalty. Various other crimes in the Old Testament carried death as a maximum sentence, but for capital murder, the mandatory sentence was death.

God told Noah, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6). Since God gave this to Noah, and since every person on earth is descended from him, it’s obvious that this civil penalty for murder is not limited to Israel as a nation.

Listen to how seriously Numbers 35 states this: ​​“You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it” (Numbers 35:33; cf. Deuteronomy 19:13). 

Thomas Watson wrote that one way murder is committed is “by not executing the law upon capital offenders. A felon having committed six murders, the judge may be said to be guilty of five of them, because he did not execute the felon for his first offence.”

We would not know what murder deserves without God’s Word.

Myth #2: The sixth commandment is easy.

Of all the ten commandments, this is the one most people feel good about. It’s the first one where we breathe a collective sigh of relief. “Finally! One that I have not violated. I have not always loved God with all my heart, soul, and might; I have disobeyed and disrespected my parents; but … I can proudly say I have never murdered anyone.”

But the sixth commandment prohibits much more than the act of murder. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preached on the Law of Moses and explained its true meaning. He started with the sixth commandment, and he said, “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” (Matthew 5:21–22).

According to Jesus, the sixth commandment forbids not just murder, but also murderous thoughts, motives, attitudes, and words. To be angry at your wife without cause, to insult your brother, to call that driver in front of you an idiot—these are acts of murder in seed form.

Have you ever noticed how Scripture names sins in clusters or bunches, kind of like grapes? In Galatians 5:19, Paul writes, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: ….” He lists several sexual sins, and then he lists these violations of the sixth commandment (v. 20): “enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19–21).

In Romans 1:29, Paul mentions malice, envy, murder, strife, and maliciousness.

In Ephesians 4:31 he says, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” (cf. Colossians 3:8).

These words give us a detailed description of the attitudes and dispositions in our own hearts that violate the sixth commandment. Anger is that feeling of strong displeasure that inclines you to act in judgment toward the object of displeasure.

Anger is not necessarily sinful. God himself feels anger (Ps. 78:49), and Jesus expressed anger in righteous ways (Mk. 3:5; 10:14). And Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry and do not sin.”

We sin in our anger in two ways. First, we sin when we are angry without just cause, that is, not because God’s law has been broken, but because someone has dared to break the laws of my kingdom. We also sin when our anger is justified, but we express it sinfully, either by blowing up verbally or physically (what Scripture calls “fits of anger”) or by clamming up and brooding, giving someone the cold shoulder, the silent treatment.

Perhaps you’ve never gone through with it and murdered anyone, but Scripture says that before we knew Christ, all of life was one big violation of the sixth commandment! “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another” (Titus 3:3).

If you’re honest, you’ve probably experienced these attitudes and broken the sixth commandment in the last week, if not already this morning. Who do you believe has wronged you or treated you unfairly? Whom do you resent? Whom do you dread running into? Toward whom do you feel ill-will? Who is most likely to receive the brunt of your wrath?

While none of us like to think of ourselves as angry or bitter people, this is a sin every one of us is guilty of. This brings us to a final misconception.

Myth #3: The sixth commandment is impossible.

If the sixth commandment forbids not just acts of murder, but attitudes and thoughts and motives, who can possibly obey that?

Just think about the people and situations that provoke you to your ugliest anger—other drivers on the road, your kids at bedtime, your unreasonable boss, that know-it-all co-worker, your inconsiderate spouse, … your mother-in-law.

Think about how you act when you’re angry. Don’t you feel out of control when you’re angry? Don’t you say and do things you regret … sometimes immediately? Do you ever tell yourself (or others), “I couldn’t help it; I was just so mad”?

That’s the myth I want to dispel in closing.

Jay Adams writes, “When you say you can’t [hold back your anger], what you really mean is you don’t or won’t.”  Then Adams points out what happens if, right in the middle of exploding in uncontrollable anger, the phone rings or there’s a knock at the door. Does your tone of voice change if the neighbor’s at the door or your boss calls? Just as you have learned to control your temper in certain settings, you can, by God’s grace, learn to control your anger in any situation.

The sixth commandment reveals that God's gracious will is to transform your heart and to conform your attitudes and behavior to his holy ways. Proverbs 19:11 says, “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”

To experience this ‘good sense,’ you must first be convinced that Jesus died so you can be forgiven for your sinful anger. All of God’s righteous anger against your sin—including your unrighteous anger, murderous rage, malice, envy, and bitterness was poured out completely on Jesus. Genesis 9:6 pronounces the sentence: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.” As the sinless substitute for sinners, Jesus endured this sentence. By man was his blood shed.

But Jesus endured more than the unrighteous hatred of man on the cross. He endured the righteous wrath of God so that you can be forgiven—fully and forever—for all of your sinful anger and malice and bitterness. And let me be clear! If you have had an abortion, the mercy and grace of God abounds to you.

Jesus also died to set you free from slavery to angry passions. To be forgiven is glorious—that is what we call justification. But the good news doesn’t end there. God also intends to sanctify you, making you more like Jesus in everyday life. The moral law of God tells us what that looks like. Being united by faith to Jesus—the one who fulfilled the law—makes that possible.

So how does Jesus free you from sinful anger and bitterness? The tricky thing about anger and bitterness is that it’s always focused on someone else and their sin against you. This is why we think we can’t stop being bitter until they pay for what they did. The only solution is to recognize that whatever sins others have committed against you, your bitterness is your sin. You don’t have to wait for whoever wronged or offended you to change. You will only be free from your bitterness when you confess it to God as sin and enjoy his forgiveness in Christ. This is how Christ transforms our bitter hearts and conforms us to the sixth commandment.

The fact that God’s righteous wrath has been poured out and satisfied is the very reason that you can be free from all your unrighteous wrath. You see, anger is an intense reaction against what we perceive to be evil. We have a God-given sense of justice, though it’s often miscalibrated and skewed. Nevertheless, when we believe someone has wronged us, we feel inclined to do something about it.

And the good news of the Gospel is that God has done something about it. Justice has been served. God’s wrath has been satisfied. Therefore, you can and you must give up your right to punish those who wrong you. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19). Whatever awful sins have been committed against you, you can be confident that none of them will go unpunished. Either God has already punished those sins in Christ on the cross, or he will hold unrepentant evildoers accountable.

Meditating on the judgment of God that we deserve softens our hearts. In Matthew 7:2, Jesus said, “For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.” With the judgment you pronounce you will be judged. Are you critical and harsh toward every infraction? That is the standard God will hold you to. You who rage at the idiot who cuts you off in traffic—have you ever cut someone off? You who blow up when a toddler spills milk—have you ever spilled anything? If you insist that every violation of your rules must be met with fire and fury, then God will hold you to account for every infraction you have committed.

The remedy is to be amazed by God’s grace toward you in Christ. “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31–32). Put off bitterness, wrath, and anger, and put on kindness and forgiveness. Deal with those who sin against you the way God has dealt with your sin.

According to the sixth commandment, this is God’s will for you. God intends to produce the fruit of the Spirit in you—to make you more and more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, gentle, and self-controlled.

Can you imagine?