The Sixth Commandment

"You shall not kill." Exodus 20:13 

This Commandment is about much more than murder or killing – It is about the killing of relationships through anger and lack of emotional control.

 

This commandment speaks about more than just the act of taking of life in general, but is concerned with the heart attitude of malice, which can start with frustration, then resentment, then even vengeance or letting hatred or some other hurtful intention harm another person. Jesus enlarged on this commandment in the sermon on the mount.

Matthew 5:21-24 It has been written in the commandment, "You shall not kill." 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…'Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, 24. 'Leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.   

 

The transformational aspect of this Commandment is in forgiveness and reconciliation. And it also talks about bringing your gift to the altar, so it also looks like it involves an attitude towards God as well.

 

There is always the redemptive process of God on the positive side to transform us like all the commandments. This is in the context of people getting offended and angry – and that kills relationships and the remedy for that is this process of forgiveness and reconciliation.

 

The attitudes of relationship in Commandment five were about trust and care and that ties in with this Commandment. It is this the link between five and six.

 

In the last commandment (Number five) , which is about our relationship with authority, we saw that the problem with people, was the inability to trust another person to influence or direct their life – it started with parents and children This was because of self-determination, so that they could have their own way. And now we see that the person who has a mistrust of authority, will act out this mistrust with other people generally, and, still determined to have their own way, will behave in a way that is destructive of all relationships – so they get angry.

 

What are some of our defence mechanisms and how effective are they?

And what about our self -made relational or emotional defence mechanisms?

 

The most subtle and dangerous of our defense mechanisms are those negative relational ones that we use as weapons or as shields against other people – and there are three interesting ones like withdrawal, resistance, and aggression.

 

Click here to see a chart showing the progression of the Commandments