Commt 6
[no slide]
‘By order of the traitors, you have been murdered. Signed the traitors.’
If you don’t know where that line comes from, then- where have you been?!
#1
Celebrity Traitors is already the biggest show of 2025 and it’s picking up more viewers with every episode.
It’s huge.
People love it.
They get into it.
It’s become a mainstay of popular culture. The online world is abuzz with opinions and gossip. Who’s going to get murdered next. Who we’d murder if we were one of the traitors.
Murdering people is part of the game. Just like its low-tech predecessors - wink murder or mafia or resistance. Or indeed like the role play games our children get up to – when we give them nerf guns and water pistols and laser blasters.
It’s a game. Pretending to murder people!
And it’s entertainment. It’s in the books we read, the movies we catch, the dramas we get into - everything: spy thrillers, crime fiction, film noir, cop shows, action movies, westerns. There’s always a murder. Usually a few. It’s part of the package.
This is the extraordinary reality of our culture. That murder is entertainment.
According to one study I saw, the most watched TV shows in the US featured an average of something like 7.5 acts of violence per hour.
Per hour!
You think how many that adds up to in terms of the content we’ve all consumed over the years.
And of course it’s not just acting. It’s not just simulated violence. A massive study of teenagers in England and Wales during 2024 – concluded that 70% of teenagers had been exposed to real-life violent content in the last year.
They didn’t go looking for it, most of them, but the platforms – especially TikTok – fed it to them anyway.
We have trained ourselves, and we continue to allow our children to be trained, to see violent assaults on human life as entertainment.
And yet here in the sixth commandment, in just 4 words, the people of God – as they’re prepared for living as God’s people in God’s land – are trained in God’s mind.
#2
Exodus 20:13 – ‘You shall not murder’.
Now of course, the power of a commandment like this comes in its brevity. If you have to expand on it, it’s like explaining the punchline of a joke.
You lose something, don’t you?!
Nevertheless, I think it would be helpful to break it down a little.
So as we attempt to read this verse as Christians, in the broader context of the whole Bible, let me suggest what we hear is actually four instructions.
The first is this: recognise the image that is in front of you.
#3
And by image, I of course mean: the image of God.
First murder in the Bible, anybody?
It was back in Genesis chapter 4, where Cain murdered his brother Abel.
It’s taken for granted there that murder is a bad thing. But the reason isn’t actually spelled out at that point.
It’s not until a few chapters later that we get to hear why it’s such a big deal.
Genesis chapter 9. It’s page 10 in our church Bibles.
Genesis 9 tells us of the new beginning God is making with humanity after the flood. As we pick up the trail, we find God talking to Noah, and explaining how it’s going to be in the new world.
There’s pointers on what they can eat. Verses 3 and 4.
You can eat animals, but you must honour life by removing the blood – the symbol of life.
And then this in verse verse 5.
5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.
#4
6 ‘Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for
[here it is!]
in the image of God
has God made mankind.
Now do you see the point here? It’s a recap of what we heard in chapter 1. Human beings are set apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. We may share vast amounts of genetic data with other animals. But in the Bible’s worldview, we stand apart from them in the dignity and the status that God has given us in his world.
And because of that, human life is a totally different thing to any other life.
So it’s OK to do what needs to be done to a cow so you can enjoy your hamburger. But it’s not ok to kill a person. In the Bible’s worldview, if you take someone’s life, it’s such a serious matter that your own life is to be taken as punishment.
Human life is an emblem of the divine life, so it is to be honoured and protected. Because we are image-bearers.
Now that’s a teaching that’s shaped Western Society historically. But you listen to someone like recently retired Professor Peter Singer, one of the world’s most well-known public intellectuals of the last few decades – and you quickly realise that there’s a very different view out there, and it’s one more and more people are subscribing to.
Someone like him would see the idea of the sanctity of human life as simply outdated.
#5
‘The notion that human life is sacred just because it is human life,’ says Singer, ‘is medieval.’
There is absolutely no difference between human life and animal life, he says.
#6
“To give preference to the life of a being simply because that being is a member of our species would put us in the same position as racists who give preference to those who are members of their race.”
In fact he calls the Bible’s view ‘speciesism’.
Or to put it another way around, he says,
#7
‘Membership of the species Homo sapiens is not enough to confer a right to life.”
And he sees the argument through to its conclusion.
Your level of cognitive function or social contribution, he says, is more important than the species you happen to be a member of when it comes to deciding whether you deserve to live.
#8
So for example,
• Infanticide is ok: if a baby is born disabled, it’s ok to kill him or her within maybe the first month of its life
• People with serious dementia? Their lives aren’t really worth protecting: it’d be fine to kill them because – well they barely qualify as human persons anyway
• Older people? They just cost too much to keep alive, and the rest of us pay the price: so they don’t need to be protected either
Dolphins or great apes or other creatures with a high cognitive ability all have lives with a higher value than those types of humans.
Now I know that sounds radical. But the thing is: that way of thinking is already beginning to shape the way academics think and the way governments legislate. So we do need to be prepared for more of this.
#9
The Bible’s clear. When you look into the face of a human being, what you’re seeing is one who bears the image of God. And whose life is therefore sacred.
It’s like that classic moment in the thriller you’re watching. Where the police partners both enter a building in pursuit of the baddy. They go in different entrances, and work their way through the building. Then one comes across the other, and raises the gun thinking they’ve found the baddy, but just in time, they recognise the person as their partner, their colleague. They too wear bear the badge of the police department. So they lower their gun.
And it’s the same for us. All of us human beings. Whoever we are, we see in each other those who bear the same badge – the image of God. And we make sure that person’s life is protected.
So there’s the first piece of the jigsaw that is the sixth commandment: Recognise the image that is in front of you.
Time for the second, which is: check the motive that is within you.
#10
Now it’s possible you’re more familiar with the King James version of this commandment:
‘Thou shalt not kill.’
Does that wording resonate with you?
The problem with that wording is that it’s pretty general, isn’t it? So it’s potentially a bit misleading.
I mean apart from anything else, it doesn’t actually specify who or what mustn’t be killed. So some groups, like the Seventh Adventists run with that and say you shouldn’t kill anything, even to provide food:
#11
the sixth commandment requires vegetarianism.
But the other issue is that, even if you do recognise it as applying to human beings, it doesn’t really distinguish between different motives for ending human life.
So pacifists might take it to say:
#12
you shouldn’t kill a person, even if it is your duty in the context of defending your country in a time of war. There must be no killing at all. Every Christian should be a pacifist.
What do you think?
Then there are those who might campaign against the death penalty.
#13
They could follow a similar tack. If the commandment says ‘thou shalt not kill’, that presumably goes even for the state that wants to sentence a convicted murderer. So this commandment basically bans capital punishment.
Yes? No?
In fact, I guess in theory take the command as addressing even accidental death.
#14
There’s nothing in the word ‘kill’ about intentionality, is there? Maybe you didn’t mean to, you still did it. You’ve broken the sixth commandment.
Now I actually don’t think any of those approaches really stack up.
Why not? Well because these modern translations do get it right.
The original word is much closer to our word ‘murder’ than it is to our word ‘kill’. It’s not exactly the same, because it includes killing as a result of gross negligence, which we would distinguish from murder. But it’s close enough.
It’s basically murder that’s on view on this commandment.
And what that means is:
Well, obviously it’s got to be a person, not an animal. You don’t have to be a vegetarian to be a Christian. At least, not on the basis of this commandment. You might choose to be for other reasons, and those might be deeply held reasons, but I don’t think you could lay it on other people’s consciences.
In fact, if you remember that passage in Genesis 9, that was the whole point. It was ok to kill animals for food; it just wasn’t ok to kill humans.
But more that, motive does matter.
When it came to killing in war, there’s a totally different word in the Old Testament to the one that’s used here. And a totally different attitude too: just a couple of chapters back, the Israelites have been fighting. Exodus 17:13 - they ‘overcame the Amalekite army with the sword’. They killed, and in that instance, it’s said that they were doing God’s work!
Again, there good arguments to be made in favour of pacifism – but I don’t think the sixth commandment is one of them.
And capital punishment? Well, that also is different. This becomes clear just from reading on in Exodus. If you’re there in Exodus 20, you can just look across the page and there it is: the death penalty is clearly applied. Chapter 21 verse 14, v15, v16, v17. So once again, there are good arguments to be made in favour of banning the death penalty. But the sixth commadment isn’t one of them.
And unintentional, accidental death is not included here, either. That doesn’t come under the category of murder. Unless – as I mentioned earlier – gross negligence is involved – more on that in a moment.
So you get the point.
#15
Motives matter.
Check your motive. And if your motive for killing is any kind of personal gain – as opposed to acting as a legitimate representative of the state – then you must not take that life.
And then third, reject the pattern of behaviour that is all around you.
#16
Do you remember the apostle Paul? ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world’ he said (Rom 12:2). In other words, make sure there is clear daylight between the way you live your life and the way those around you, those who don’t know Jesus – live.
What might that look like in the context of this commandment?
Well, for a start,
• Very simply, don’t take a life
#17
We’re not to take away the life of a fellow-image bearer of God.
It might sound strange to say that. You look around the room here, and we’re all such nice, decent looking people that it’s hard to imagine any of us need to be told not to murder other people.
But I’m not going to assume that’s the case. Why not? Because Jesus doesn’t.
The human heart is capable of anything, says Jesus.
Do you remember that reading, from Matthew 15?
#18
…out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
All these terrible sins are right here (…) - at least the seed of them is – right here, in the heart of each one of us.
Do you not believe you’re capable of murder? Look around! Given the right motive, the means and opportunity and courage, anybody is.
And yet God says: no. Absolutely not. Whatever the situation, it’s not the right answer.
Don’t take life.
And what’s more,
• Don’t risk a life.
#19
I mentioned earlier that this commandment does turn out to cover what we’d call gross negligence.
Yous see that in the case law that follows. So if you’re an ancient Israelite and your bull gores someone to death – this is 21:28 – generally all that happens is that the bull has to be put down.
If, however, [v.29]
#20
the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death.
Do you see? This is gross negligence. You knew this could be on the cards. You knew it was a risk. So you’re culpable.
The principle is broadened out a bit later.
Leviticus 19:16:
#21
Do not do anything that endangers your neighbour’s life.
Now there are some fairly obvious health and safety applications here. But for one example that might impact many of us, take driving.
When our children each sat in the driving seat of our car for the first time, I’ve said to each of them: you are now in charge of a 2-tonne, high velocity, killing machine. Never forget that.
I know: a bit heavy. But it’s true.
Every driver needs to remember that every day.
• We’ve got a heavy right foot? A tendency to push the speed limits?
What are we doing? We are setting ourselves up to break the 6th commandment. The only missing factor is the unseen child who leaps out in front of us; and that can happen any time.
• We’ve got separation anxiety from our phone and the tendency to read incoming messages as we’re driving and so on.
What are we doing? It just takes a second’s distraction to take a life.
• We’re driving when we know we’re too tired, or we’ve had a drink or two? I mean, come on. Everyone else does it.
Again, what are we doing? This isn’t a game! It’s life and death.
Well, we can all think of risky behaviour in other departments I’m sure. But there’s the principle. Don’t risk life.
And then it has to be said: don’t end your life.
#22
There are around 7,000 suicides in the UK each year. It’s all around us. We’ve had a number of people in and around the Christ Church family over the years who’ve struggled with suicidal thoughts. And the last thing generally they need to hear at that point is that if they do take their life, they’re going to be breaking a rule.
No, when you get to the point of suicide, it’s because your mind cannot see any alternative. Keeping going is almost too horrific to contemplate.
A suicidal person is not in the place to hear about commandment-breaking.
But we are. We need to hear it when we’re not – most of us – at that point. Because it needs to become a deep-rooted part of our thinking now.
You see, if I listen to the world around me, I’ll think that my life is my own to do with what I will. And if I don’t think my life is worth living, I’m within my rights to end it. My freedom and autonomy is the highest value.
But not if I listen to God’s word. No. I listen to him, and I realise it’s not my life at all. My life – if I can call it that – is a sacred trust from God himself to be used for furthering his glory for as many days as he gives me. Even if I can’t see the point of it.
Don’t end your life
And that applies equally to having someone help us to do that.
Last time I preached on this text was about decade ago, and at that point, the prospect of assisted suicide being legalised seemed a way off. Well, no longer! It now looks like it could be right around the corner. And in the meantime, there’s always the Dignitas option. Quick one-way trip to Switzerland and it’s done.
Again, the argument is simple: “It’s my life and I will end it in a manner and a timing of choosing, depending on my quality of life. And my quality of life is so poor that I choose: now. That is my right. Or at least it should be”.
Now it’s hard, this. Any of us with an ounce of compassion will want to weep that somebody has got to that point. This has to be a pastoral issue before it’s a campaign issue. And we do need to acknowledge: the issues are complex. It’s impossible to deal with the issue properly here.
But again, as Christian people who see it as God’s prerogative alone to give and take life, we have to say this: we just can’t go there. However bleak things are, the gift of life will always outweigh the quality of life.
Don’t end your life.
And one more. Don’t harm the life of your unborn baby
#23
This one will be perhaps even harder for some of us to swallow. And it’s certainly hard to hear from a male voice like mine.
There will be some here who’ve had a pregnancy terminated, and there may have been all sorts of different things going on at that time. Different pressures. Different circumstances. Different relationships.
And even now, there’ll be different emotional responses - from guilt to gladness.
For others, that choice may yet confront us at some point in the future. And again there could be all sorts of factors in play.
So, as with assisted suicide, this is such a huge and emotive area. We can’t properly address it in any meaningful sense here.
And of course you can you feel the strength of the assertions: ‘It’s my body: surely I can do with it what I will? It’s my life: surely I can live it as I determine.’
We apply that argument to other areas: career choice, relationship choice, and so on. Why can’t someone have a choice about whether to continue a pregnancy? Surely it’s no different, is it?
I know there are a number here who are still exploring the Christian faith; still working through some of the implications; not yet convinced. If that’s you, then there’s no two ways about it: you will find this teaching of the Bible hard to stomach. Because it’s a worldview issue.
But the worldview contained in the Bible is clear on this.
‘You knit me together in my mother’s womb’ – says the Psalmist in Psalm 139. Human life doesn’t begin at birth or at viability. It goes way back to the start.
That unborn life is God’s life.
It’s not a potential human; it is a human. Already a bearer of the divine image.
So don’t harm him or her, for the sake of your convenience or quality of life or your retaining choices.
I won’t say any more on that. But please – if there is history here that you’re living with, if there’s baggage you’re carrying in this area – please do talk about it with someone. Maybe to one of the elders wives or female staff members who’ll be here at the end and can go and find a quiet place with you. Allow them to minister Christ to you. Encourage you, support you, come alongside you.
But there is the call: reject the pattern of behaviour that is all around.
And one final piece:
Snuff out the spark from the start
#24
You remember the word of Jesus, don’t you? In Matthew 5.
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment
Now what’s Jesus doing he? Is he just giving a kind of general moral steer. ‘Anger is a kind of figurative equivalent to murder’.
I don’t think so. No, anger is part of murder. It’s the first link of the chain. It’s the spark – which if it’s not snuffed out – can very well lead to murder.
So we do need to check our hearts.
You know, often I think we associate anger with loud voices. But in my experience, the angriest people are very often the ones with the quietest voices. Out loud at least. But in their hearts, they’re speaking all the time, and there is rage there. And it’s dangerous.
Is that you?
The anger merchants online are longing to get us riled up about this or that. And we really don’t need much encouragement do we? So let’s hear Jesus on this.
Watch out for that spark – and snuff it out at the first opportunity.
Well, we’re a long way from the fun and games of Celebrity Traitors and Hollywood assassins, aren’t we?
But one thing hasn’t changed. We still live under the shadow of the grace of Jesus. He’s the one they did kill, so that murderers like you and me – even if we’re just murderers in our hearts – might escape that death. And enjoy life forever with our great God.