God forbids murder (Exodus 20:13), protecting a person's most precious physical possession, his life, from being cut short by another human being. The principle behind it is that God created all mankind in His image, so no one has the authority to end a human life unless He specifically commands it. Murder was sin from the beginning, as Cain's curse shows, and God reaffirmed the sacredness of life to Noah (Genesis 9:5-6). The law distinguished intentional killing from accidental killing, though even manslaughter was grave and required flight to a city of refuge. Murder defiles the land and brings curses such as famine and drought. God, the giver of life, alone holds the right to end it, so euthanasia and suicide are not permitted, since the life given to us is not ours to take. The unborn are living human beings known and cared for by God, so abortion is murder. Vengeance belongs to God, and Christians are to treat even enemies with kindness, gentleness, and love rather than violence. The commandment reaches into the heart: hatred and causeless anger foster the spirit of murder, since thought precedes action, and whoever hates another breaks the sixth commandment. This attitude originates with Satan, the first murderer, and a murderer, as his child, will not enter God's Kingdom.

No commandment reveals the immediate effect of sin as starkly as the breaking of the sixth. When this commandment is violated, the loss of life and the severing of relationships make the consequences of this sin painfully clear. Murder, as a direct violation of the sixth commandment, allows for the compilation of statistics that highlight the vast number of such sins committed. In the United States alone, between 2003 and 2006, there were 66,460 murders, with 16,692 occurring in 2005. Globally, the scale of this problem is immeasurable, but it remains a profound issue for mankind. Abortion, another form of murder, takes the lives of the most innocent and helpless—unborn children. According to available data, approximately 1.37 million babies are aborted each year in the United States, and worldwide, about 126,000 abortions occur daily, equating to 46 million lives lost annually. Suicide, or self-murder, also falls under this commandment's scope, with 32,637 successful cases in the United States in 2005, surpassing the number of murders by others in the same year. Additionally, 815,925 attempted suicides were reported, underscoring the depth of this tragic issue. War represents the most devastating means of violating the sixth commandment, with historical records estimating 500 million deaths across the twenty most destructive conflicts. Modern holy wars, marked by bombings and random acts of violence, further exemplify this sin, as do ongoing conflicts driven by religious or ideological justifications. Despite any rationale, the sixth commandment offers no permission for deliberate killing, not even under the guise of national loyalty or love of country. Our Savior, in addressing the root of this sin, teaches that hostility and hatred in the mind are akin to murder in the eyes of God. If such thoughts are never harbored, no act of murder would occur. He advises against retaliation, urging instead the removal of bitterness from the heart by doing good, as a means to prevent murderous intent. Jesus Himself exemplified this by refusing to retaliate, even in the face of severe personal harm, committing His safety and judgment to His Father. His followers are called to emulate this example, living by faith and refraining from vengeance, as God retains the responsibility to judge.

There is no commandment that shows the effect of sin more immediately than the breaking of the Sixth Commandment. Breaking this commandment leads to separation through loss of life, making a division and producing the evident fruit of sin. Death, the ultimate separation, follows as the wages of sin, though the penalty is not always exacted immediately after the act. The Hebrew of this Sixth Commandment is terse, consisting of two words equivalent to "no killing" or, more specifically, "no murder." Scriptures clarify that it prohibits violent and premeditated killing of one perceived as an enemy, distinguishing premeditated murder from accidental killing. Under certain circumstances, a constituted biblical authority is permitted by God to use the death penalty, as the commandment more literally states "no murder," allowing for justified killing in specific cases. No amount of money or property settlement can atone for the destruction of the image of God in a murdered person. If the death was accidental, the person responsible still had to flee to a city of refuge, with no sanctuary, not even the altar of God, available for a murderer under any circumstance. Legal safeguards throughout the law are designed to protect life, and even though the death penalty existed, it was not easily obtained, with carefulness being the order of the day in court.

God thunders, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13), yet violence permeates our society, both literally and spiritually. The staggering statistics reveal a murder every 22 minutes in America, totaling 23,760 annually, while suicide claims around 28,000 lives each year. Since 1973, the legalization of abortion has resulted in the deaths of more unborn babies than the combined populations of major cities. God knows the depth of our violence, recording His indictment through Ezekiel, warning of a singular disaster for this end-time generation due to the violent abominations in our midst, with pride budding into violence. God has delegated authority to human governments to regulate relationships and punish murder, including through capital punishment, as seen in His instruction to Noah in Genesis 9:5, demanding a reckoning for lifeblood. This responsibility to protect life includes the serious duty of executing judgment on those guilty of murder, as murder defiles and corrupts the land, producing nothing good. Under the New Covenant, this principle remains unchanged, as Jesus Christ did not abolish the Old Testament death penalty guidelines for civil governments but shifted focus to the motive behind the act, seeking to prevent violence by addressing the attitudes that lead to murder. Jesus traces the roots of murder to anger, hatred, and the spirit of competition and aggression, rooted in self-centered carnality. He warns that even anger, with or without cause, endangers one of breaking this commandment. Expressions of scorn, contempt, or character assassination through words like "raca" or "fool" carry the same deadly weight as the act itself, teaching the degree of wickedness in each sin. Hatred is sin, separating us from God, and He will not accept worship from a heart burdened by grudges. We must make peace quickly, for unresolved wrath and enmity hinder our relationship with Him. Christ's teachings in Matthew 5:21-22 emphasize combating ill-feelings with love, blessing those who persecute us, doing good to enemies, and praying for their welfare to foster mutual love. This unconquerable goodwill, motivated by concern for others' good, overcomes offense and retaliation, reflecting God's image. Our battle is spiritual, fought in the mind against attitudes that form the foundation of literal murder. Hatred destroys fellowship with God and man, and no one with the spirit of murder within can enter His Kingdom. God's love, shed in our hearts, is the solution to this problem, enabling us to progress in His way and overcome the spirit of murder.

The central fact remains that God has declared we must not kill. This principle, rooted in the Sixth Commandment, stands as a clear directive for our conduct. We face a choice to either obey this command or disregard it, and our decision hinges on the strength of our faith in the Bible's explicit teachings and examples. If we adhere to God's commandments and trust in His promises, He will step in to fight our battles on our behalf. Thus, we are never compelled to resort to killing, as our allegiance to God's heavenly Kingdom supersedes involvement in the conflicts of earthly nations.

An abortionist will not call it murder to terminate an embryo or fetus' development, but God does. In Exodus 21:22-23, He declares that if men fight and hurt a woman with child, causing her to give birth prematurely, and no lasting harm follows, the offender shall be punished as the woman's husband imposes and as the judges determine. But if lasting harm follows, then it shall be life for life. Without doubt, death is lasting harm. These verses address the accidental miscarriage of the unborn, and if the miscarried baby dies, even without intent to harm, the judgment is manslaughter. How much more valid is the judgment of murder if the unborn is the intended victim? God's viewpoint is clear: willful killing of the unborn through abortion is murder.

The sixth commandment states that one shall not murder. Yet God commands Israel to annihilate the inhabitants of Canaan. This apparent contradiction is resolved by recognizing that the same God who prohibits personal murder directs Israel to enforce His law within the borders of the Promised Land by going to war. Jesus Christ teaches that murder originates in the heart while also indicating that His servants would fight on His behalf if His Kingdom were of this world. God intends for His people to cooperate in removing wickedness from the land He gives them. Upon His return, Jesus Christ will similarly execute wrath on the unrepentant peoples of the earth.

The sixth commandment is clear: "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). God recognizes only two kinds of killing, accidental and intentional, and self-defense is not even listed (Numbers 35:9-28). Killing is accidental when there is no intent to harm and no awareness that an action will cause death, as when an ax head slips from its handle (Deuteronomy 19:5). When there is intent to kill or injure, God's law calls it murder regardless of what the other person was threatening or doing (Exodus 21:12). The category of self-defense comes from the law of the land, not the law of God. Exodus 22:2-3 does not contradict this. It distinguishes accidental from intentional killing, since in the dark a homeowner cannot easily judge what force is needed, whereas in daylight the act is deliberate and guilty. If self-defense could suspend the sixth commandment, any other commandment could likewise be broken under threat, which God does not allow. Intentionally taking a life also makes a person judge, jury, and executioner, presuming an authority God has not granted, and it ranks one sinner's life above another's. Jesus teaches that murder begins in the heart and turns on intention (Matthew 5:21-22). Keeping this commandment even under threat shows trust in God's protection and submission to His governance rather than reliance on self.

The material makes no mention of the Sixth Commandment. The material discusses the principle that killing on a national scale is just as ungodly as killing on a personal one. The material states that whoever hates his brother is a murderer and that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. The material indicates that Christians do not fight with physical arms but with spiritual powers. The material notes that those who fight and war are adulterers and adulteresses who make themselves enemies of God.

Engaging in war falls under the sixth commandment, which forbids Christians to kill even in self-defense. Nevertheless, God allowed ancient Israel to wage war, and when Christ returns to establish His government, His first act will be to wage war against the nations. In both instances, war served and will serve as the means to bring peace and advance God's purpose. The wars of ancient Israel, especially those in the wilderness and the Promised Land under Moses and Joshua, were wars of conquest intended to secure the land God had given to Abraham's descendants. Although God had promised to drive out the Canaanites gradually through hornets and confusion, Israel soon chose war after Amalek's attack from the rear, and from that point the nation was regularly engaged in conflict, sometimes with divine sanction and sometimes without. The Old Testament records this pattern of warfare in considerable detail. A future time is coming when the armies of heaven, led by Christ, will make war on the nations, an essential step to establish peace, righteousness, and prosperity on earth because no other workable solution exists for the world's evil. Applying the biblical pattern to the present Middle East conflict indicates that total war may be the best answer, as it was for Israel entering the Promised Land. Among carnal human beings, this approach alone can produce peace, since the alternative is a continuing cycle of irritations, tense truces, terror, uprisings, and open wars. Though it runs counter to conventional sensibilities, among godless humanity might at times does make right and can enforce a measure of peace and security that most people can accept.