June 14, 2026 - The Sixth Commandment (Exodus 20:13)

The Sixth Commandment (Exodus 20:13)

Rev. Myung-Sin Choi

You shall not murder.

Introduction

In January of 2007, in the Washington D.C. subway station, there was a young man who started playing his violin with jeans on and a baseball cap. Since it was in the subway station, everyone just passed by him and no one was interested in him even though he was playing for 45 minutes. There were approximately 1,000 people who passed by him and only seven people stayed to watch him perform for a few minutes, and ended up leaving. That day, the violinist made $32.17 in tips at that subway station. But one day the people of Washington D.C. got so surprised after they saw the newspaper. The person who was playing the violin in the subway station was a world renowned violinist named Joshua Bell. With that expensive violin that was worth $3.5 million, he was playing for 45 minutes but what was more astounding was that so many people passed by him without paying any attention to him.  It was actually The Washington Post who performed this experiment and they wrote an article about this, and they stated, “People are so busy living their lives that they missed a precious joy.” I think there is great meaning behind this. Our mission and God’s commandment is so important. Many people look at the 10 commandments and they just think it is just legalism. Until now, we have been listening to the 10 commandants but we should not listen to them lightly. God gave us the message today regarding the sixth commandment and this commandment has such an important content behind it. The sixth commandment is very simple and it tells us to not murder. 

1. Do Not Murder

(1) Definition of the Sixth Commandment

Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.” - In other words, if you kill people then you will pay with your blood. The reason is because that person you killed was created in God’s image. What is murder? We need to understand what the definition of murder is. Right now, the US is at war with Iran and many people have died because of this war. Then, does that mean that those soldiers are all murderers? There have been many wars in this world so does that mean that all of those soldiers are considered murderers? We should not look at the word, “murder” lightly. In Korea, there was a person who murdered the prime minister of Japan. Many Koreans saw this Korean man as a hero but in Japan, they saw this Korean man as a murderer. So, will this person go to heaven or hell? We should not come to a conclusion lightly. Let’s say a robber came into your home and you ended up shooting and killing the invader, does that make you a murderer? There is a bigger issue. Right now, in hospitals, there are people who have lost their lives after they fell into a coma. When the person falls into a coma, many doctors make the final call to stop life support in this patient so does that make the doctor or health care provider a murderer who stopped the life support? Or, there is someone who did something bad so they get the death penalty. Does that judge or person who performs the death penalty a murderer? We need to understand what murder is very carefully. There is a bigger problem here. Let’s say that there is a pregnant person and a complication occurred where both lives are in danger so who do you save? The mother or baby? The father of the baby has to make a decision on who to save so does that make the father a murderer? If you accidentally get into a car accident with someone and that person dies so does that make you into a murderer? There is an important point here. 

Let’s look at Genesis 9:6 again. Through this message, this means that if you commit murder then you will pay with your own blood. Then, who is the judge who makes this decision and judgment? In the Bible, it says that the ultimate judge is God. In other words, the one who is in control of life is God. We must hold onto this. 

Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.” - The Bible tells us that the Lord God is the one who is in control of life. Then, God controls all things and makes the ultimate judgment. If that is so, then why did God give us the sixth commandment? God commands us not to murder then we must look at the Bible again. There are many conflicting messages in the Bible and we might get confused. 

(2) Reason for the Sixth Commandment

Deuteronomy 7:2 “And when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.” - This means that God has told us not to murder but God tells us to conquer and destroy people here. And, God also tells the Israelites not to have any mercy on them either. What does this mean? There is an important message here that says that we should not make a covenant with them. God tells the Israelites to destroy and conquer them, and not to make a covenant with them. The ultimate decision to destroy them or not is found within His covenant. The people who God tells the Israelites to destroy were people who did not have God’s covenant. 

Psalm 137:8-9 “O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, Happy the one who repays you as you have served us! 9 Happy the one who takes and dashes Your little ones against the rock!” - God tells the Israelites to destroy people. We can see that God made this commandment when He was very furious and angry. God calls Babylon a nation that will be destroyed. Who was Babylon? Babylon destroyed and tormented the nation of Israel. Without any mercy and pity, the Babylonians ruthlessly killed the children and women of Israel. God was so furious when He saw this. Because His people of the covenant were being killed by people who did not have God’s covenant. Egypt and Babylon were nations who tormented the Israelites, and they were nations without the covenant of God. 

Those who don’t have God’s covenant, who is their master? John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” - Their master is the devil. That is why people who don’t have God’s covenant, they have no choice but to torment the people of God’s covenant. The Israelites were people of God’s covenant. The masters that the Babylonians and Israelites served were different. Their master was different and their protector was different as well. 

2. Law for the Protection of Life

(1) Protection of the community

God gave us the sixth commandment not to murder. God gave this commandment to His people, His people of the covenant. This means that people of the covenant we should not murder. This was God’s commandment for His people and this was the life protection law for His people. We can see who the sixth commandment was for. This was the law for the protection of life, what does this mean? 

This verse explains the law for the protection of life in Matthew 5:21-22 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” - Jesus commanded us not to murder and people didn’t understand it. Jesus explains it in this verse. People of God’s covenant should not murder and you should not murder those who are within God’s covenant. Murder in Hebrew means “Raca” and there are two meanings behind it. The first meaning is murder, killing someone and the other meaning is “crushing.” Murder is killing someone with a weapon and crushing is killing someone’s soul. Many people and Jews didn’t classify crushing, killing one soul as murder. But Jesus and God saw crushing and killing one soul as murder. 

That is why Jesus explained again in Matthew 5:22 - We can see the true meaning and definition of what it means to not to murder. This means that we should not murder our brothers and sisters in Christ. We should not murder our brothers and sisters who are believers. Getting angry, judging, and criticizing our brothers and sisters in Christ is also classified as murder to God. Having hate towards your brothers and sisters in Christ is also murder to God. Breaking down their soul and bringing them down is also considered murder to God. 

1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” - Our body does not belong to us. Our body is God’s temple. People of God, our brothers and sisters of Christ are part of God’s body. When you are bringing down and breaking the soul of your brothers and sisters in Christ, you are murdering the body of Jesus Christ. The sixth commandment of God has this meaning. Your brother and sister of Christ are part of the body of Christ and we all share the same body of Christ. You should not hate yourself and love yourself means to not hate your brother and sister of Christ. This is considered murder to God if you hate on your brother and sister of Christ. 

(2) Healing of the community

God is telling us to heal our thinking because we are trying to become the master of our own lives. Just like Genesis 3, 6, and 11, we try to become the master of our own lives. What we must hold onto is that we are the master over our lives but God is the master over our lives. If you try to become the master over your life then you are destroying your life. There are believers who commit suicide and the problem with this is that they become seized by their own thoughts. You think your life is yours to take so you commit suicide. God is the one who gave you life but you try to take away your life. You need to change your thinking. Your life does not belong to you. This is what it means not to murder because life does not belong to you. God is the master over your life which means that God is the one who guides and leads your life like a pillar of wind and fire. God as your master over your life will continue to guide your life so we must give our lives to God. 

Hold onto Genesis 4:6 “So the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?’ ” - This was before Cain killed Abel. Cain was so jealous that he became so angry and was completely seized by darkness. When he was seized by darkness, God thought that it was not good to leave Cain alone so God came to Cain. God was warning to tell Cain to come back to his senses and not be seized by darkness. If Cain thought about what God was warning him then he would’ve not committed murder. In order not to commit murder, we must control our anger. 

Matthew 5:22, 11:28 “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” - We need to control our anger. We need to control our dangerous emotions. We must heal our minds and hearts. God tells us to control and tame them, and heal them so that we can give proper worship. Then, we can receive true healing. No matter what problems come to us if we just entrust them to God, then God will give us rest. God will heal us and lead us towards the greatest answers. 

3. The Reason the Nations are Moving Forward

(1) Christ the Incarnate

Genesis 6:18 “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.” - Noah and his family were saved when they entered the ark. This means that if you enter into God’s covenant then you will live. No matter how big the flood may appear to be in your life, God will protect you. 

(2) Restoration of the church

1 Corinthians 3:16 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” - What we must hold onto from the sixth commandment means that we should love our brothers and sisters in Christ, the body of God. 

(3) The absolute Plan

Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” - There are so many people of God who are suffering, we need to help and save them. 

Conclusion

1 Timothy 2:4 “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” - We must set out towards the life saving movement and evangelism. Then, God will give you great blessings within your paths.