01 July 2022
We've looked at this before.
Jesus said during the Sermon on the Mount that (05) no murder meant a whole lot more than what the words alone suggest. He included unjustified hatred and contempt as part of this sin. It's one thing to dislike certain people; that's how we are wired. No one is called to reach everyone in the world. It's another thing entirely to seethe with spite for people when they are just being human. The proper attitude is pity and sadness that some people are walking in a kill zone.
Whether or not you have an obligation to reach out to them is a matter of calling, conviction and context. No one of us can reach the whole world. It's the same when it's your mission to kill whatever or whomever is in your kill zone. It's not a sin to have a kill zone; it's a sin to mark one without first consulting the Word and your convictions, and discerning the context. By no means does God say we cannot kill people -- He says it must be justified under the code. A major element in the Code of Noah directly stated in Scripture is that some people must exercise authority to take the lives of those who murder. It's on a much lower scale than westerners usually imagine.
This requires organizing under the Covenant and, as much as possible, exercising the justice God has revealed. Cain was exiled for murdering his brother, but by the time we get to Noah, it's escalated to execution. Granted, there may be intervening human authorities, and for this reason, the New Testament emphasizes ostracism (exile) as the fallback replacement for execution. However, that some sins are such a serious threat to shalom that people must be removed from the community has not changed since we left the Garden of Eden.
The issue is first having strong moral leadership that discerns when a threat is deadly. You must have a strong sense of moral purity. Second is that the individual who confronts the sins of others must know their calling, their convictions, and the context. What is your interest in the matter? What role has the Lord vested you with, and how should you react for His glory? You should always carry around in your heart an awareness that fallen people do sin, and you'll need to take some action appropriate to your role in the community.
If you never go down that path in the first place, you have no business raising your hand in violence to anyone. You'll never have a proper sense of divine justice, and you will surely react from the flesh. The biblical concept of "murder" is not just killing, but any violence of hand, mouth or even mind that falls short of God's standard.
We'll be connecting this to the last commandment of the seven.
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