Commandment 6 is often misquoted as ‘thou shall not kill’. Yet throughout the OT God commands his people to kill certain humans; whether it be God’s enemies (e.g. the Canaanites), or carrying out capital punishment. The Commandment forbids murder. As such, we cannot declare that killing enemy combatants in wartime, or killing in self-defence, or capital punishment (when carried out by a legitimate government authority) are breaking Commandment Number 6 (though there are better ways to deal with criminals today than the death penalty).
Commandment Number 6 is the one commandment most people like to claim they haven’t committed. That is, until they learn how Jesus interprets this command. In Matthew 5:22 Jesus declares that malicious anger (as opposed to ‘righteous anger’, which is acceptable) against another leaves one in danger of ‘the fire of hell’. So how can the God fearing Christian work to rid his heart of malicious anger against those who have wronged them.
The first step is always to ask for the Spirit’s help to soften your heart towards these people. Then, start following Jesus’ command later in that same chapter; ‘love your enemies’ (Matt 5:44). This does not mean ‘fall in love’ with them; but go out of your way to be loving towards them. This can start with simply praying for God’s blessing upon them. Down the track you may be able to do something nice for them. The beauty of this process is it begins to turn your heart away from hatred. If followed long enough, this path may even lead to actually feeling warm towards the person (i.e. love them from your heart). Anyone can claim they haven’t murdered. But only a Spirit filled Christian can claim they actually love their enemies.
Brendan McLaughlin
