There are some sins which seem so horrendous, that we can’t really understand how the person who committed them could or even should be forgiven. Murder tops this list, with mass murder being even worse, if that is possible. The idea that someone could intentionally plan to kill another person… and then carry that out, is beyond most of our comprehension. Oh, we might say we “want to kill someone,” but that’s more of an expression of our anger of frustration with them, than an actual desire to commit murder. When it comes down to it, we wouldn’t do it if we could.
But there are people who can, even people who can spend a year or more contemplating how they will commit murder, planning out all the details in advance, so that they can commit the “perfect crime.” These people are beyond the pale to most of us, yet God may not see it the way that we do.
We humans are both genetically predisposed to killing one another and horrified by the idea of killing another human being. Those who kill, even in war, usually carry a heavy mental and emotional burden for having done so. This goes so far as to include people who didn’t kill intentionally or who killed because they were forced to as self-defense. Yet at the same time, world history is rife with examples of one group of people going to war to kill another, either to gain what they have or just because they are different.
In all this, God has made it clear that we are not to kill. The Fifth Commandment reads, “Thou shalt not kill” in the King James version of the Bible, but “You shall not commit murder” in the New King James version. This distinction is important, because of the many times that God sent the people of Israel off to war. Had God said not to kill at all, under any circumstances, then He would have been telling His chosen people to sin, when He sent them off to war. That’s not possible, as it would mean that God sinned. While the translators of some versions of the Bible have chosen to use the word “kill” in that commandment, the more correct translation is “murder,” as murder is premeditated killing, to be differentiated from killing in war, killing in self-defense, and killing of animals.
Please note that this provides an excellent example of why we should use several different translations of the Bible in our personal studies. The doctrinal point that “The Bible is error” is more correctly stated as “The Bible is without error in its original form.” We are not reading from the original form, because that was written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. What we have are translations and those translations can vary slightly in what they say.
It is helpful for the serious student of scripture to have study aids, such as concordances and dictionaries, so that they can check the meaning of the original words used in the Bible. While the various translators of the Bible have done an excellent job, overall, there are always places where things don’t translate perfectly from one language to another. Being able to look at verses on a word-by-word basis can provide additional insight into the meaning of those verses.
What Makes Murder Sin?
Something is sin not because we say it is, but because God says it is. The Old Testament Law, written in the first five books of the Bible (the Torah or Pentateuch), contains a total of 613 separate commandments, not just the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai, after the people of Israel escaped from slavery in Egypt. These 613 commandments define both what God expects us to do and what God prohibits us from doing by calling it sin.
We who have grown up in a Judeo-Christian society may have trouble separating sin from crime in our minds, in some cases. That’s because western law, as we know it, was derived from biblical Law from the beginning. While there have been many things added to that through the years, the foundation of our laws is still the Ten Commandments.
But why does God consider some things sin?
Our God is a holy God, as it says in many verses in the Bible. That’s one of those words we all think we know the meaning of, while not really being able to define it. Merriam-Webster defines it as “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.” That’s a pretty good working definition and one that shows just why God has such an issue with sin. If he is “perfect in goodness and righteousness,” then he cannot and will not abide by anything that goes contrary to that goodness and righteousness.
There are those in the world who try to define morality based on their own idea of what morality should look like. The difference is, they aren’t holy; and while some of them have some fairly good definitions of what is moral, their definitions all fall short of God’s; that’s because they all fall short of God.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. – Romans 3:23
God is able to define what is holy, just, upright and moral, because He is the source of all that is righteous, just and holy. Sin is quite literally anything that falls short of that. God knows that we are unable to live up to His holiness, so He has made provision for us, through the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for us on the cross.
Murder is just one of the many things that God has defined as falling short of His glory, making it sin. Granted, it is a much more serious sin… at least in our eyes; but what makes it sin is the same as what makes any other thing sin, it falls short of God’s expectations for our lives.
But is murder a worse sin?
That depends on the ruler one is using to measure the sin. From a human viewpoint, murder is about as bad as sin can get. That’s probably something that God programmed into our conscience. But from God’s viewpoint, murder is just another sin; something that separates us from Him.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. – Isaiah 59:2
While the word “iniquity” is often used as a synonym for “sin,” there is a slight difference in shading. All sin is iniquity is sin, as iniquity can refer to a fault within us. It doesn’t turn into sin, until we let it out through our actions. Put in the context of our main question, thinking about killing someone is an iniquity within us, but it has not yet manifested as sin. It is when we commit the act of killing them that it is sin.
That is not to say that God finds it acceptable to think about killing other people. Our iniquities can separate us from Him, just like our sins can. The real difference in the Bible is that the Law did not require sacrifices to be made in atonement for iniquities, while it did for sins.
But the key point here isn’t whether something is sin or iniquity, it is the result of our sin. That is, our sin separates us from God. It doesn’t matter what the sin is or whether we consider it to be a “big sin” or a “little sin,” it has the same effect. Breaking anything that God has written into His Law, is the same as breaking all of His Law. Murder, like any other sin, separates us from God.
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. – James 2:10-11
Is Murder a More Serious Sin?
The Roman Catholic church has defined some sins as being mortal sins and others as being venial sins. Mortal sins are those where one has completely turned away from God, choosing something else to take His place. As such, there is no possibility of redemption. For a sin to qualify as a mortal sin, it must be a grave matter (such as murder or rape), the person must do it with full knowledge that what they are doing is sin, and they must deliberately decide to commit the sin anyway. If only two of those elements are present, but one is absent, it is considered a venial sin.
It is important to note that these two terms do not exist in the Bible, nor is there any Biblical foundation for them. The concept is one of the conscious, which the Catholics hold in high esteem. Yet the conscious is not a good judge of our actions, as the conscious can be seared.
As we saw above, there really is no sin that is more serious than any other, as breaking one law is the same as breaking them all. With that being the case, they all have the same effect on our lives, separating us from God. We need a means of coming back to Him.
God’s Answer for Murder
God knows that we are not capable of living up to His Law. The sacrificial system, delineated in the Old Testament Law, provided instruction to the Jews, for what they should do if they broke the Law and sinned. We tend to see that as them being saved by obedience to the Law; but that isn’t true. Nobody has ever been saved by the Law, as Paul said:
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. – Galatians 2:15-16
Many believers today talk about how we are no longer under the Law, as if the Law no longer existed. That’s a mistaken understanding, as Jesus Himself said that the Law would never be done away with, as long as this world existed. The Law has a purpose in our lives, showing us that we are sinners. But just as the Jews were not saved by the Law, neither are we.
It doesn’t really matter whether we believe in the law or not, as those who believe in the Law will be judged by the Law and those who do not believe in the Law will still be judged, even without the Law. Either way, we will be shown to be sinners, in need of a Savior, and that’s what matters.
For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified) – Romans 2:12-13
The issue really isn’t whether we are sinners or not, as we all are. The issue is what we do about it. Based on what the apostle Paul has written, it appears that just making the sacrifices prescribed in the Law isn’t enough. Besides, if any of us tried to buy the necessary animals to make those sacrifices, taking into account every little sin we commit, we would find that we couldn’t afford to do so. The purpose of the Law, more than anything else, is to prove to us that we can’t do it on our own.
That’s where Jesus comes in. He became the final sacrifice for us all; every sinner that has ever lived, lives now or even will live. There is no need for any other sacrifice to take care of sin, because He has become that sacrifice for all.
Who (Jesus) does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. – Hebrews 7:27
This includes murderers. Jesus didn’t die for all sins, with the exception of murder; He died for all, including murder. When a murderer confesses their sin, repents of that sin, and accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are washed from their sin, just as anyone else is. From God’s viewpoint, it is as if they had never sinned at all.
Yes, murder is a horrible sin; but it is still sin. That’s why God treats it the same as any other sin. He knows we have a sin nature and that our sin nature will cause us to sin. For some, that might mean lying, for others stealing, for others fornication and adultery, for others still, there is murder. But it is all sin. The same sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for all those other types of sin, is the same sacrifice that cleanses the murderer from their sin.
Once we are forgiven for our sin, it is as if it never existed, from God’s point of view. He has thrown that sin “as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). If you think about it, you can go east forever, and never reach a point that is all the way to the east. Likewise, you can go west forever, without reaching the westernmost point. So, the distance that He casts our sin from us is an infinite distance. No wonder He doesn’t see our sin, once He has forgiven us, He has removed it as far from us as it can possibly be moved.
What that means is that there is no limit to God’s forgiveness. If we commit sin, even murder, and repent, He removes that sin as far from us “as the east is from the west.” Then, if we commit that sin again and turn to God in repentance, it will be as if it were the first time. When we say, “I sinned again” to God, He will respond, “Again?” For to Him, that sin which had been forgiven, doesn’t even exist. In God’s eyes, every time He forgives, it is as if it were the first time.
This might be difficult to accept from our point of view; but it is apparently not difficult for God to accept. Since He equates all sin as sin and has made provision for all sin, murderers can be forgiven for their sin, just as anyone else can.
There really is only one sin mentioned in the Bible, for which there is no forgiveness. That’s the sin of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which is mentioned in three of the four Gospels (Matthew 12:31-32; Mark 3:28-29; and Luke 12:10), as well as in Hebrews and the first epistle of John. It is apparently important, to be repeated so many times, as well as appearing to be a serious problem in the Early Church. Regardless of the reason, it is the only sin for which God will not forgive us.
Sin Does Have Consequence
Forgiveness from murder or from any other sin doesn’t mean that there is no consequence for that sin. While God may have forgiven us, that doesn’t mean the law has. If someone has committed murder, they are going to have to go to court and spend time in prison for their crime. They may also have to deal with the family of their victim and any civil suit that family brings against them.
All of that is nothing compared to the punishment their own mind will inflict upon them. The mind has cruel ways of punishing itself and it is very good at doing so. While they might be at peace with God and even at peace with the law, it is possible that they will never be at peace with themselves.
There is a solution for this as well; that’s to receive God’s peace that surpasses all understanding that is talked about in Philippians 4:7. How can they do that, verse six tells us:
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. – Philippians 4:6
Breaking that down, we see that first it is necessary to take everything to God in prayer, giving Him thanks for what He has done for us. Once we do that, we are to “be anxious for nothing.” How can we do that? By having the confidence that what we have taken to God will be taken care of by God. We rest in Him, in faith, trusting that He has the situation under control. That includes the guilt that we might feel. Leaving it in His hands and not being anxious or worried about it, is the key to having that peace.
Dealing with those Consequences
If we’ve committed sin and feel remorse or guilt for our sin, we must forgive ourselves, just as God forgives us. The big difference for us, is that we don’t forget it, once we’ve forgiven. Rather, we are likely to be tortured with memories of that sin, over and over again.
It doesn’t do any good to ask God to take those memories away. But what does good is to forgive ourselves. That doesn’t just mean to forgive ourselves once and think that it’s over. Rather, every time we find ourselves remorseful or feeling guilty, we need to forgive ourselves again. The constant act of washing ourselves with that forgiveness will cleanse our hearts and minds.
But what if we’re a friend or family member of the victim? The same answer applies. It is necessary to forgive the murderer, not for their benefit, but for your own. This doesn’t need to be done to their face, although there can be some healing in doing so. But rather, it is something between you and God and should be dealt with in that matter. Forgive them in private, before God.
Many people say that they feel like they can’t forgive. But forgiveness isn’t an emotional decision, it’s an act of the will. Don’t allow your feelings to control you. Choose to forgive. Once you do, it will have a positive impact on your emotions.
That positive impact will likely not be permanent, at least not the first time. We can forgive, but then our mind has a tendency to replay the tape, getting us offended all over again. When that happens, we need to forgive again. In fact, we need to continue forgiving that murderer every time we find ourselves upset or with negative thoughts towards them and what they had done. Forgiveness is a progressive act, so it may take many singular acts of forgiveness, before we have fully forgiven them.
How do you know when you’ve fully forgiven that person? It is when you can think of them and what they have done, without it having any negative emotional impact on you. That’s the end of forgiveness. As you forgive, you will suffer less and less for what they did, until the point where you don’t suffer at all.