Devotional Message

"6^th Commandment"

"You shall not murder" Exodus 20:13

The 6^th Commandment is one of the shortest verses in the Bible but do you really understand it? Here is that verse, broken into its sentence parts.

So, what is this commandment about? Is it about the object of the object of the sentence, the "anyone" part? Is it about what has been done to the person and their family and friends? Is it about the loss and hurt those people will experience?

Or, is this commandment about the verb? Is it about the act of killing someone? The hatred and anger on one side, the fear on the other side?

Or, is it about the subject, the "you"? Is it about what is in the person that would allow this to happen?

Paul says something that sounds crazy, "For we know that the Law is spiritual […]" (Romans 7:14). The 10 Commandments are part of the law, so what Paul says here must apply. Yet, how can something like a prohibition against murder, a physical act, be spiritual?

Paul is correct of course and so we see the 6^th Commandment is about the "you". The law, all of it, speaks to the inner-man. It says what should be there and what should not be there.

But the law needs to get into the inner-man. If it only gets into the intellect, the man may reason "I shouldn't do it because it will end a person's existence and hurt his family and friends." Or he may think "I shouldn't do it because I might get caught and they will kill me."

If the law gets into the inner-man it changes him and then he says, "I will not do it because that isn't me."

This change grows within him and becomes about much more than murder. That's what Jesus was talking about when he said this.

You have heard that it was said to the ancients, "Do not murder, and whoever murders is condemned to judgment." ²² But I am saying to you, that everyone who will be angry against his brother without cause is condemned before the judge, and everyone who will say to his brother, "I spit on you", is condemned before the assembly, and whoever will say "You fool" is condemned to the Gehenna of fire. (Matthew 5:21-22)

The 6^th Commandment was never only about murder. It was always about what was in the "you" that you would devalue or diminish a person to that degree. Of course you haven't diminished the person himself. He may be unaware of what is going on inside of you. Instead you have diminished him, within you.

The 6^th Commandment provides a worst case example but it is much deeper.

In the Old Covenant, the law was written on paper. It needed to go from there to the intellect and from there to the inner-man. Very often it didn't make the whole trip. As a result it was only about murder.

Our advantage in the New Covenant is that the Holy Spirit is that law. He can change us and poke us, if we will be lead, into doing what is right, even when we might not understand why it is right.