A Culture of Death and the 6th Commandment
In this series, I take our law homily from our church gathering each week (The law homily is where we read from the law of God and let His law examine our hearts so that we can be a tender-hearted and repenting people), and I post them here for your edification. Here is this week’s law homily on the prohibition against mental idolatry.
"You shall not murder."
These four simple words in English carry immense moral weightiness. They form the bedrock and cornerstone for a society's ethical and moral foundation and extend far beyond the prohibition against the taking of life. As such, the sixth commandment is not only a call for mankind to stop murdering one another but also a reminder that we are to be about the business of life at every stage and in every way.
THE CLARITY AND AMPLIFICATION OF THE COMMAND
The prohibition against murder is unambiguous – we are forbidden from unlawfully taking the life of another. And by unlawfully, I do not mean that murder is permissible, so long as the society you are living in has legalized it. By the law, I am referring to the law of God, who says that all murder violates this command except in the case of self-defense (Exodus 22:2), capital punishment for certain serious offenses (Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:12-14), killing in the context of divinely sanctioned wars (Deuteronomy 20:1-20; 1 Samuel 15:2-3), actions taken under governmental authority (Romans 13:1-4), and specific divine commands (Joshua 6:20-21; 1 Samuel 15:1-3). Apart from these very basic exceptions, all life-taking is illegal in the eyes of God.
Like the other commands of God, this command extends beyond the physical act of killing. To say that differently, it is most definitely a sin to commit a pre-meditated and cold-blooded murder. But it is also a sin not to treasure and value life. In the first case, we have sinned by commission. In the latter, we have sinned by omission. Understanding both aspects, the sins forbidden and the holy duties required by the law, are necessary if we are to live lawfully unto God. But there is more.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus takes this command (both the prohibition and prescription) and expands its scope so that everyone on earth can be accounted as a murderer in the eyes of God. He did not allow anyone to claim, "I have never murdered anyone," since everyone has harbored anger or hatred in their heart (Matthew 5:21-22). In this way, Jesus magnifies the law to show that everyone has broken it. He intensifies it to mean we cannot do anything that diminishes, harms or impedes upon life and if we do so it is sin. In the same way, He also amplifies the duties that we are required to do, making our entire lives about the enterprise of extending, buttressing, supporting, and multiplying life. Thus, you and I sin when we harm life in any way and also when we do not work to multiply and make life flourish in every way.
To press this a bit further, let us look at some of the ways we violate the commandment "Do not murder" and
THE SINS FORBIDDEN IN THE SIXTH COMMAND
In a society that is addicted to death, it isn't very difficult to identify actions that violate the sixth command. For instance, Abortion, euthanasia, gang violence, murder, vehicular homicide, suicide, drug overdoses, negligence leading to death, domestic violence, terrorism, war crimes, human trafficking, assisted suicide, unjust capital punishment, hate crimes, child abuse, infanticide, genocide, medical experimentation, pharmaceutical malpractice, are all ways that murder, in the Biblical sense, can occur. Murder can also occur, as Jesus instructed when we are harboring anger, malice, bitterness, or hatred against another. Murder happens when unforgiveness lies festering in our hearts, when envy poisons emotions, when character assassination, gossip, slander, wishing harm on others, holding grudges, refusing reconciliation, contempt, judgmental attitudes, jealousy, resentment, cruelty, disdain, despising others, or having an indifference to suffering abounds in our sick and twisted hearts.
THE DUTIES REQUIRED IN THE SIXTH COMMAND
In addition to avoiding those sinful actions, we must also prevent slothfulness or ignorance that causes us to omit righteous behavior. We must remember that failing to do what is right is just as much a sin as perpetrating what is evil.
These actions, however, may have different degrees of consequences in both society and with God. God calls some sins abominations, identifying a hamartiological stratification of evil that separates them by degree. This means, in the eyes of God, all sin will equally damn you but sins also have varying degrees of evil. A white lie will damn you, but it does not cause the kind of devastation that transgenderism does. We all know this as a matter of common sense. Yet, my argument is not to engage on the topic of degrees of sin, nor to create a taxonomy of sins, but to simply remind us that a failure in righteous living is also a sin that ought to be repented. We should repent of our murdering, whether that is a habit of hatefulness towards our spouse, a secret abortion in college, or gunning someone down in the street. But, we should also repent of not promoting the multiplication of life wherever there is death. Our antipathy, apathy, and lethargy for what is good is just as much a sin as our propensity toward evil.
The Westminster Larger Catechism identifies this in question 135, where it says:
"The duties required in the sixth commandment are, all careful studies, and lawful endeavours, to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting all thoughts and purposes, subduing all passions, and avoiding all occasions, temptations, and practices, which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any..."
This means we must not only repent from our anger and malice, but we must act in ways that bring life to the ones around us. Failing to do so would be a sin. We must not only strive to end all malice and bitterness, but we must strive for peace, reconciliation, charity, and love. As Christians, we are not just forbidden from murdering, but we are also admonished to provide for the poor and needy, visiting the sick, participating in adoptions, and support those crippled by mental health. It involves advocating for justice and protection of the innocent, speaking out against violence and abuse, and working to end the horrible institutions that infect our land, like prostitution, abortion, and human trafficking.
It isn't enough for Christians to simply not have abortions. We also have to oppose it and work to eliminate it. Failing in this area is a failure to be the church, a failure to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and to incur the guilt of the sixth commandment by passively allowing the culture of death to continue. While thinking about how evil all of these things are, we fail to do the kinds of things that would abolish them from human society, and our apathy and laziness are also sins.
Instead of allowing a culture of death to continue, we are called to build a culture of life that multiplies human flourishing all over the earth, reversing the curse of death wherever it is found. This will require Christians to have large families, love their children, and disciple them. This will require us to build schools that educate children, youth, and adults in the things of God. This will require Christians becoming doctors, pharmacologists, scientists, lab technicians, politicians, and a host of other vocations so that we can infiltrate the institutions that champion death and turn them back around again for life. It will require us to overturn sinful laws like Roe and Obergefell. All of this and more is under the purview of that sixth and glorious commandment.
THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE
As we stand before the beauty of God's law, we must acknowledge our shortcomings and sins. We are not only called to repent for the ways we have brought more death upon the world, we should also repent for our failure to bring more life. And as we repent, we need not look inside ourselves for any merit, ability, power, or righteousness that we may be justified. We need the grace of Christ. We need the power of the Holy Spirit. We must confess our sins and our limitations and beg the Spirit of God to make His perfect power come alive in us, the most imperfect people. We should pray that the Lord would help us obey Him, help us rebuild the world with God’s love and life at the center. And we should also repent that our prayers are often too cold, too small, and too distracted. Lord, please breathe life into your lifeless church and help us to repent. In Christ’s holy name! Amen.
