Every once in a while, I’ll have a well-meaning person ask me if it’s okay to join the military. When I ask the reason why, it’s because they’re uncomfortable with the idea of possibly killing another human being.
I get the hesitation, and honestly, I respect it. No person should ever be “okay” with killing another human being—if you are, then there needs to be some serious soul searching.
Without getting into the justification for war itself, I always tell the person there’s a difference between killing someone in the middle of a firefight and killing someone in cold blood. One is done with anger and malice and predetermination, whereas the other is done in self-defense and (hopefully) justice.
In Exodus 20:13, God very carefully uses the word “murder.” It’s positioned right after the commandment to love and honor your parents (Exodus 20:12), possibly to highlight the lack of love and honor that is required to actually kill another human. This same Hebrew word is later used for assassinations (2 Kings 6:32) and revenge killing (Numbers 35:27-30).
The primary reason that murder is considered wrong (as if we needed one) is that it’s a destruction of God Himself. Mankind is made in the image of the Almighty (Genesis 1:26; 9:6), so an attack on the one part of creation that is made to replicate Him is an offense of the highest order.
This is one reason I am vehemently against abortion. A lot of the arguments center around when the fetus becomes a person, but in God’s view, a person becomes a person when it’s made in the image of God. That occurs at conception. It’s given life, it grows, and it continues to grow until the day that person dies, in or out of the womb.
Not all killing is murder, though. Murder is usually described as someone who “lies in wait” or “hates their brother.” As a matter of fact, when dealing with the cities of refuge, a very clear line is drawn between accidental killings and murder itself. The difference is intent (Numbers 35).
A hateful attitude is what Jesus condemns in Matthew 5:21-26 when He talks about people who hate their brother. Just like someone who lusts for a woman has “already committed adultery in their heart,” someone who hates their brother has already committed murder (in a sense), even if the act itself hasn’t taken place.
The same applies for how we treat our brethren. In 1 John 3:15, John says that “anyone who hates their brother is a murderer,” and then defines that murder by “closing your heart” to him.
You or I may never actually kill another human (hopefully not), but if we’re lying in wait and hoping our brother suffers, or refusing to help in times of need, it’s the same base principle. Guard your heart, and every other part of your body will follow suit.
