Thou Shalt Not Murder… Anyone

Lenten Devotional Series Day 20. Today’s meditation is on the sixth commandment, “You shall not murder,” found in Exodus 20:13.

The sixth commandment is rooted in the imago Dei (image of God). Because humans are made in God’s image, we owe special love and respect to one another, over and beyond the respect we owe to other creatures.

The Hebrew word translated “murder” from the sixth commandment refers to all killing–both accidental and intentional–outside of the parameters laid down by God. It includes murder, manslaughter, and suicide. Implicit within the commandment is the prohibition of all other forms of physical and verbal abuse. But the commandment goes even deeper, as Jesus taught in his Sermon on the Mount. The sixth commandment prohibits all those things that lead to the external act of murder, such as envy, anger, and bitterness.

In the modern West, one obvious way this commandment is broken is abortion. Roe v. Wade acknowledges that there is no clear point in a fetus’s life where you can draw a line between not-human and human, yet abortion is permitted, and is almost always chosen for reasons of personal convenience. Outside of conservative Christian, Jewish, or Muslim faith communities it is rare to find anyone opposed to the practice. In the words of theologian Robert Jenson, “The result of American polling is uniform: most Americans believe both that abortion for other than exceptional reasons is the unjust taking of a human life and that women would have the right to procure abortion for any reason that compels them.  That is, the American people have in this matter abdicated moral coherence.” (Systematic Theology, vol. 2, 87).

A similar tolerance of abortion was found in the Greco-Roman world, where abortion and infanticide were relatively common. The value of the lives of unborn children was assessed against the “good” of the state, and found wanting. Plato suggested that all pregnant women over 40 should be required to have abortions (Republic V.9). Aristotle approved of compulsory abortion to avoid overpopulation (Politics 7.14.10). The first century poet Eubius even wrote abortion formulas as verse so they could be more easily remembered.

In contrast, the early Christians repeatedly spoke out against the practice of abortion. And not only did they speak, they acted, often in costly ways. When pagans took their newborn daughters to local garbage dumps, Christians would go there during the night to collect the children and raise them as their own.

In our own day, the Catholic Church has repeatedly–and rightly–spoken up for the rights of unborn children, and for their place in the moral community.  May God give us grace to do the same.

Today in Prayer: Begin with the Collect of the Day (below). Ask God to reveal to you those things in your heart which lead to murder, and then ask for his forgiveness. Take time to pray for an end to abortion and for God’s blessing on pregnancy centers and adoption agencies in their ministries of life, especially those serving your community. Give thanks for the children in your congregation. Ask God that together you would be faithful as a church in loving them and bringing them up in the fear and instruction of the Lord. Finish with the Lord’s Prayer.

Collect of the Day. Almighty God, look upon the sincere desires of your humble servants, and stretch out the right hand of your majesty to be our defense against every enemy, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Leave a Comment