Does God View Murder as Wrong?
A moral position is agreement
with God bases on Bible facts, and eternal truth no matter what our feelings
may dictate or worldly ideologies may demand.
Murder is strictly wrong to
God and His Bible explicitly forbids this serious sin for an individual and
society.
What Does the
Bible Actually Command?
- The Sixth Commandment:
Exodus 20:13 famously states, “Thou shalt not kill” prohibiting the unlawful and malicious taking
of human life rather than all killing in general.
- The Hebrew Clarification: The
Hebrew word used is ratsakh, literally meaning to murder, slay, or
kill and here specifically refers to the unauthorized, premeditated, and
unlawful taking of human life.
- This refers specifically to murder and not
to capital punishment or to manslaughter. The command teaches respect for
human life.[1]
- To help preserve society and because people
are made in God’s image (Gen. 9:6), the Israelites were commanded not to
take another person’s life by murder (rāṣaḥ, “to slay”).[2]
- Why Is Murder Wrong:
Scripture teaches that humans are made in the image of God (imago Dei).
Therefore, murdering a human being is viewed as a direct assault on God
Himself and an illegal takeover of His sole authority over life and death.
- Life is something that the God of Israel
does not treat lightly, and it is thus incumbent on his people to behave
likewise. W. Harrelson puts the entire matter in a helpful perspective:
- In short, the sixth commandment stakes out
the claim of God over all life and serves notice to all human beings—but
especially those who claim the biblical heritage as binding upon
them—that God’s claim upon life is to be given priority in the decisions
taken by a community of its individual members.[3]
Are there Bible Exceptions
to Consider?
The Bible makes a clear
distinction between unlawful murder and authorized or accidental killing:
- Permitted Actions to Consider: Taking
a life is not considered sinful murder in cases of accidental manslaughter
(with cities of refuge provided for protection), necessary self-defense,
or authorized wartime combat.
- Capital Punishment Considerations: God authorized governing authorities to
carry out justice or capital punishment for severe crimes, which is
separate from individual personal murder (Gen. 9:6; Lev. 24:17; Exo. 21:12; Rom. 13:4).
- Capital Crimes Considerations: The
Bible contains many passages that establish or support the death penalty
for murder and major offenses—capital crimes. God instituted capital
punishment as a constant standard to value human life and give governments
the authority to punish plain wickedness. Governing authorities still have a
God-given responsibility to use serious punishment, including execution.
What Did Jesus
Teach in The New Testament?
- Reflect on Matters of the Heart: In
the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21–22), Jesus draws out the
implications of this command, teaching that harboring deep, unrighteous
anger, hatred, or insults against another person violates the spiritual
intent of the law, equating internal malice to murder of the heart.
Jesus
fully expects moral purity in our hearts, teaching that deep seated irritation,
abusive language, and disdain have serious spiritual guilt concentrations comparable
to physical murder.
- Reflect on Fulfilling the Law: The
New Testament reiterates that harming a neighbor breaks God’s law, while
loving a neighbor fulfills it. Satisfying the deep
intentions behind God’s law requires looking at our attitude of heart. God’s
laws are about love and respect for human life, not just avoiding a crime.
The New Testament affirms the
sixth commandment as “Thou shalt not kill”
and expands it to forbid
unjustified anger and hatred in our heart. In addition, Jesus also teaches that
repairing a broken relationship is more important than observing religious
rituals (Matt. 5:23-26).
What Did the
Apostles Have to Say about the Law?
The writers of the New
Testament letters repeat this commandment as a guide for Christian living:
- Paul: Commands like “thou shalt not kill” are summed up in the rule
to love your neighbor as yourself (Romans 13:8-10). Genuine
love actively avoids hurting others, it naturally satisfies the ethical
demands of God’s law.
- James: If we do not commit murder,
but we commit adultery, we still break the whole law (James 2:10).
God’s
law is a single, connected system from the Lawgiver Himself, not a list of
separate options. Because failing once
ruins the whole record, we desperately need God’s grace and mercy and not mere
human self-righteousness.
Conclusion:
So, there you have it! Murder
is the intentional, unlawful taking of an innocent human life. Additionally, the
New Testament does not forbid all use of government authority or self-defense,
but it condemns personal malice, hatred, and unlawful violence.
·
Lindsay
Clancy was charged with three counts of first-degree murder for
the January 2023 strangulation deaths of her three young
children—5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and
8-month-old Callan—in Duxbury, Massachusetts. –Facebook
·
Clancy
pleaded not guilty, and her defense attorneys argued she was not criminally
responsible due to severe postpartum psychosis. -NPR
·
Her trial
ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked and could not reach a unanimous
verdict, and she remains held in a psychiatric hospital pending further
proceedings by the Plymouth County District Attorney. —PBS
Sadly, Modern Feminism
affects personal values, moral judgment, and social responsibility. This was
supremely evident in the very recent Ms. Lindsay Clancy murder mistrial. Certain
modern stories avoid personal accountability by blaming systemic structures
for their individual actions and personal crimes. Ms. Clancy resorted to ‘victimhood.’
Further, redefining traditional gender roles replaces clear ethical guidelines
with subjective personal preferences jeopardizing all judicial law and order.
Beloved, this is rank moral relativism!
Supporters argue that early
and continuing goals focus on basic legal fairness, voting access, and
workplace protections. Well, where is the justice for the three innocent
children who were murdered by their own mother? How many more ‘mothers’ will
follow her example to justify killing their babies?
[1]
William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible
Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad
(Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 109.
Exodus 20:13 famously states, “Thou shalt not kill” prohibiting the unlawful and malicious taking of human life rather than all killing in general.
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