Topical Studies
The Sixth Commandment
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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A Christian finds himself in a particularly difficult position over war because of his conflicting loyalties. He knows and wants to obey God's commandment that clearly says, "You shall not kill." Conversely, he sees in the scriptures that God's people conducted wars and that God seemingly ordered them, assuring victory for His side. Additionally, we feel the pull to protect the empirical self, of patriotism, of the potential loss of life and limb of loved ones and property. When the things we love are threatened, we feel we must rise to their defense! Yet war between men and nations is totally unnecessary! God shows that no individual or nation need resort to it. It comes down to relationships and responsibilities: first, the individual's relationship to God and country, and second, the individual's responsibility to God and country. War involves sin, and thus it is totally illegal! As I John 3:4 says, "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." War also involves free-moral agency. God has not given man the right to determine righteousness; He has only given him a choice to follow it or not. God has already established what is righteous. If any man—even Moses or David—or any nation makes the wrong choice, it does not make his choice righteous or God unrighteous. Finally, war involves God's purpose. He will carry out His will and plan regardless of man's actions, including his determination to make war.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Sixth Commandment (Part 2): War! (1997)
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Exodus 21:22-23 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Without doubt, death is "lasting harm." These verses illustrate the accidental miscarriage of the unborn. If the miscarried baby dies, although no harm was intended against it, the judgment is manslaughter, and the accused can become a victim of the avenger of blood (Genesis 9:6; Numbers 35:9-34; Deuteronomy 19:4-13; Joshua 20). How much more valid is the judgment of murder if the unborn is the intended victim? The Bible shows that the unborn "unviable tissue mass" is human. God's viewpoint is clear: Willful killing of the unborn—abortion—is murder.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Abortion: The Land Is Full of Bloody Crimes
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Exodus 21:22-24 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
To whom does the "lasting harm" refer, the mother, the fetus, or both? If it refers to the fetus or both, then the Word of God recognizes the personhood of the fetus. Regardless of its age, if the fetus dies as a result of the fight, its death becomes a capital crime, just as punishable as if the mother had been killed.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Murder?
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Matthew 5:21-22 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
It is essential to understand that Jesus did not do away with laws, but brought to completion the laws that already existed. Likewise, He did not do away with the Old Testament death penalty principles, which act as guides to civil governments. Jesus was a pioneer, not a revolutionary. A revolutionary seeks to destroy the existing order and places himself above conventional standards. A pioneer accepts the restraints laid upon him and moves forward. Men's governments deal with the end of the act, Christ deals with the beginning. Jesus changed the law's restraint from the act to the motive. For the Christian, merely abstaining from the act is not sufficient. Jesus imposes the positive obligation of the spirit of the law on him. He seeks to prevent crimes of violence by rooting out the attitudes and drives in a person's character that make him kill. The New Covenant law searches the heart without doing away with the Old Covenant letter. People can sometimes get infantile, sentimental feelings about Christ and fail to understand the practical realities of what He taught. A cursory reading of Matthew 5:21-22 shows that He is speaking not so much about murder but of the steps that lead to it. He traces the roots of murder and war to three major sources: 1) anger, 2) hatred, and 3) the spirit of competition and aggression—in short, the self-centeredness of passionate carnality. "Angry without a cause" indicates someone vainly or uselessly incensed. It describes a person so proud, sensitive, or insecure that he gets angry about trifling things. He wears his feelings on his sleeve and is easily offended. He then broods on the offense and nurses it into a grudge. What may make Jesus' comments even more startling is that many commentators feel that the best Greek manuscripts do not include "without a cause." If this is so, Jesus is saying that even getting angry—with or without a "justifiable" cause—puts one in danger of breaking this commandment! The Bible permits anger against sin (righteous indignation) but not anger against another person. Raca literally means "vain fellow," someone who is deemed shallow, empty-headed, brainless, stupid. People said raca in a tone of voice that conveyed scorn, contempt, or bitterness born of pride, snobbery, and prejudice. "You fool" implies a moral fool. One using it was casting aspersions upon another's character to destroy his reputation. It is an expression of condemnation, of character assassination. We should not take the increasing severity of punishment in the examples Jesus gave literally. He is teaching about the sin of murder, and the punishment is the same in each example—death. He gives the gradations to teach the degree of wickedness and viciousness of each sin. William Barclay, in his commentary on these verses, writes: What Jesus is saying here is this: "In the old days men condemned murder; and truly murder is forever wrong. But I tell you that not only are a man's outward actions under judgment; his inmost thoughts are also under the scrutiny and the judgment of God. Long-lasting anger is bad; contemptuous speaking is worse, and the careless or malicious talk which destroys a man's good name is worst of all." The man who is the slave of anger, the man who speaks in the accent of contempt, the man who destroys another's good name, may never have committed a murder in action, but he is a murderer at heart. Brooding anger, contempt, and character assassination are all the spirit of murder. Christ here traces murder to several of its major sources. To continue in any of these states breaks the sixth commandment. Death is the penalty. Christians have to keep the spirit of the law.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Sixth Commandment (Part One) (1997)
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Matthew 5:21-24 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The source of murder comes from the heart (mind, the core of an individual's character) where hate and anger are festered by Satan. If we have these evil traits in our hearts, we are fostering the spirit of murder. Thought precedes action and hatred precedes murder. If we hate someone, we break the sixth commandment.
Martin G. Collins
The Sixth Commandment
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Matthew 15:17-20 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Because action follows thought, Jesus is against hatred, malice, and envy, all of which are included within "evil thoughts." Each is a form of the spirit of murder. His concern is not only with how we act but also why we act—not only in what we actually do but also in what we desire to do in our heart of hearts. To eat with unwashed hands does not defile the heart, but gluttony does. To eat with publicans and sinners does not defile, but self-righteousness does. What a person does against us does not defile us, but hatred, anger, and malice toward him does.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Sixth Commandment (Part One) (1997)
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1 John 3:15 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
This verse succinctly states why it is so important not to hold the spirit of murder within us. Anger or resentment may flash into our minds, and we have not yet sinned. But if we hold it and allow it to burn, it could very well destroy us! Hatred also is the spirit of murder. But beware! Human nature can lead us into thinking that hatred has no serious, immediate consequences because the Lake of Fire seems so far off. The spirit of murder must be nipped in the bud before it leads to murder or the Lake of Fire. Notice Matthew 5:23-24, the verses immediately after Jesus' statement on the spirit of murder: Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Do not attempt to make any offering to God while in the spirit of enmity! Jesus' words clearly imply that God will not accept our worship while we hate another person! Can we honestly say we are worshipping God in spirit and truth when we hate a brother? How can a heart burdened by grudges offer God complete adoration? Within God's court there are no unsolved crimes, nor does He lack the power to see our inner motives.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Sixth Commandment (Part One) (1997)
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