The Fifth Commandment

Sermon for Midweek of Trinity 10

Small Catechism Review: The Fifth Commandment

The Fourth Commandment commands us to have the right heart and to do the right things with regard to our father and mother and those in authority over us, all out a genuine fear, love, and trust in God. The Fifth Commandment commands us to have the right heart and to do the right things with regard to human life, both our neighbor’s and our own.

You shall not murder. What does this mean? We should fear and love God, that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body; but help and support him in every bodily need.

Let’s start with the obvious prohibition. Murdering. The KJV had Thou shalt not kill. But there are several words for “killing” in Hebrew, and the context of Scripture makes it clear that not every instance of killing is forbidden by God, so “murder” seems better here, that is, unlawful killing.

When is killing not unlawful? When is killing not “murder”? When God, the Author and Creator of life, authorizes it. Using Holy Scripture as our guide, we can identify those circumstances pretty easily. In the Old Testament, God authorized the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites in order to punish the wicked inhabitants of Canaan and to fulfill His covenant with Abraham. He also authorized the kings and armies of Israel to kill people of enemy nations that were physically threatening Israel. Those were specific commands to Old Testament Israel, as the nation God chose as the breeding ground for His Son, and they don’t necessarily apply to all people. But in both the Old and New Testaments, God authorizes the government to take the life of murderers and other evildoers. Already in Genesis 9, after the Flood was over, God said to Noah, Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed. And the secular authority does not bear the sword in vain, Paul writes, for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Finally, God authorized private citizens in the Old Testament to take a life in defense of themselves or their property, as in Exodus 22, If a thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. Apart from those instances, no one has the right to take a human life. God’s commandment forbids it.

But it isn’t just unlawful killing that God forbids. The Old Testament Law makes it clear that injuring your neighbor was also a grave sin. That’s why the law was “an eye for an eye.” If you injured your neighbor’s eye, you forfeit your own eye. As Luther explains, We should fear and love God, that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body. Bodily hurt or harm falls into God’s category of murder.

More than that, Jesus reveals in the Sermon on the Mount that hurtful words fall into His category of murder. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. More than that, both Jesus and the Apostle John reveal that even apart from any emotional or physical harm we may do to our neighbor, the hatred and unrighteous anger we harbor toward our neighbor in our hearts also fall into His category of murder. Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment…Whoever hates his brother is a murderer.

What are we to do instead? Luther explains, we are to help and support our neighbor in every bodily need.

Someone will ask, All right, I’m not to hurt my neighbor in any way, but help him in every bodily need. What about myself? What about my bodily life? Do I have the right to take my own life or do harm to my own body? Notice, it doesn’t say, “You shall not murder your neighbor.” It simply says, You shall not murder. How we treat our own bodies also falls under this commandment. Because “our own bodies” are only “our own bodies” in a certain sense, in that my body does not belong to you or to anyone else, nor yours to me or anyone else. But God, as the Creator of all things, remains the owner of all things, including your life and my life. More than that, God, as the Redeemer of all men who purchased us with His blood, is twice the owner of our bodies. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, You are not your own. For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

So in the Fifth Commandment, God is protecting the bodily life He has given us. Our lives are sacred gifts of God which are to be treated with respect and used for His honor and glory. He protects my neighbor’s life from me doing him harm, and He protects my life from my neighbor doing me harm. And He commands that even our inward thoughts and attitudes, and the words we speak, must be for the good of our neighbor’s life.

What are some common ways in which people break this commandment in their hearts? Well, seething in anger at someone. Wishing evil on someone. Wishing someone were dead. Holding onto bitterness. Holding a grudge. Hating your neighbor—but also hating yourself, hating the life God has given you.

What about our words? “You fool! I hate you! I wish you had never been born!” Snapping at people. The silent treatment! Threatening someone. These are ways of harming your neighbor’s life, even without lifting a finger.

What kinds of bodily harm are mentioned in Scripture? Killing (obviously), maiming someone, fighting/striking, gluttony (eating too much), excessive drinking of alcohol, rape, and other violent behavior. Suicide is clearly also a violation of this commandment, as is euthanasia—intentionally ending someone’s life to keep them from suffering—and abortion. We can easily add negligence to those things, failing to do your duty to keep your neighbor safe.

Now, that brings up a question that’s been raised quite a lot over the last year and a half. Is it sinful negligence if a Christian passes on a disease to someone, or harms his neighbor by spreading germs? Is it our Fifth-Commandment duty to take every conceivable precaution so that the air in our lungs doesn’t reach our neighbor, on the chance it may produce an infection in our neighbor, or to inject a vaccine into our bodies? Many people have claimed that, in the Fifth Commandment, God is commanding you to stay home or “social distance” or get a vaccine or wear a mask, even if you have no signs of sickness, so that you are as certain as you can be that you won’t share contaminated air with your neighbor. That, they say, is what Christian kindness and love requires.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: That is a false use of the Fifth Commandment. It has no basis in Scripture. It’s a manmade law and an idolization of science. No one in Scripture is ever accused of negligence for breathing or for passing on a disease; that’s not how the Bible ever talks about disease, or breathing. Breathing is not a form of violence, in God’s estimation. We are never cautioned about sharing air with one another. On the contrary, God made us breathing creatures, and He created us actually to share the air we breathe. Some would say that the Christian thing to do is to harm your own body, if necessary, in order to lessen the potential for harm to your neighbor’s body. But, first of all, there is a great difference between doing something that will benefit your neighbor and doing something that just might possibly benefit your neighbor. Secondly, the Law doesn’t say, “Love your neighbor more than yourself.” It says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It says, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” In love for yourself, do you want other seemingly healthy people to keep their distance from you, to cover their face in front of you, to inject themselves with medicine they aren’t sure about in order to keep you safe at the expense of their own safety or happiness? I hope not! So, if you would love your neighbor as yourself, you’ll treat your neighbor as you want to be treated.

As we’ve seen, your bodily life is also a precious gift from God and is protected by God and honored by God. You should not despise your life, to view yourself as a constant threat to your neighbor. Your life should not be mistreated lightly. It is God-pleasing for people to honor their own bodies, too, and not to mistreat them. What’s more, we’ve also seen that it isn’t just the mechanism of the body that God protects in this commandment, but the life of the body, which includes more than just keeping the viruses out. It includes the soul, actually, and how the soul is affected by either hurtful words or by helpful words, by hurtful practices or by helpful ones. It includes joy, happiness, closeness, all of which are undoubtedly hampered and diminished if we’re interacting with one another with covered faces. Our lives, which God protects in this commandment, are more than our bodies. Much more. And the purpose of our life is much bigger than preventing the spread of this or that airborne illness.

So what are some practical ways of helping and supporting your neighbor in every bodily need? Well, if you know that you’re sick and contagious with something, it would be a loving thing to try not to expose a vulnerable person to it. Then there’s the obvious, giving help to the poor and needy, whether in the form of money or clothing or food, tending to the sick or to those who are otherwise in distress, as the Good Samaritan did. A kind word to your neighbor instead of a hurtful one. A parent changing a child’s diaper, providing food, clothing and shelter for their children, and all the many ways in which parents care for their children’s bodily needs. Taking care of an elderly parent or relative, which we also talked about under the Fourth Commandment. And, of course, a heart of love on the inside that truly wants what’s best for our neighbor and prays for God’s blessing on our neighbor’s life.

Where have you failed to do that? Where have you failed to help and support your neighbor in his bodily need? Where have you hated or despised yourself or someone else or been indifferent to your neighbor, as the rich man was to poor Lazarus? Where have you done harm, with words or with deeds?  The Fifth Commandment, like the rest, shows us our sin and condemns us in the courtroom of God’s justice.

Which is another reason why only a fool would plead his case before God on the basis of how well he has kept the Fifth Commandment. Our only plea must be, God, have mercy on me, a sinner, for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who did no harm to anyone, but cared for all human lives in my place, and who suffered and died for my harm and my lack of help! Then, clothed in Christ’s righteousness and having God’s forgiveness, let the Fifth Commandment guide you each day into the new obedience of God’s beloved children, to the glory of God and to the benefit of your neighbor’s bodily life. Amen.