Have you ever murdered anyone? Of course not, you say? Then perhaps you need to reconsider your definition of what a murderer is.

We Are All Murderers⤒🔗

1 John 3:15 instructs us: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. It’s that simple.

And we are not just talking about our siblings who happen to have the same biological parents. Hatred of anyone who is a brother or sister in the Lord would turn us into murderers.

Plus, we are not just talking about in­tense loathing. Many other negative emotional states can be included in the category of hatred.

You despise your brother who has more money than you do, who has a better job than you do, you wish that you could have what he has? You are murdering him. You hold a grudge against a fellow Christian who has wronged you in the recent or distant past? You are murdering him. You belittle your sister because she doesn’t quite meet up to your standards, be­cause she doesn’t have the right cul­tural background or social status, be­cause she isn’t as intelligent as you are? You are murdering her.

To make matters worse, the injunction against hatred does not just apply to those who happen to be fellow mem­bers in the church community. It ap­plies to everyone, believer and unbe­liever alike. As Jesus says in Matthew 5:43-45, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

Of course we hate sin, and we count God’s enemies as ours. And yet, we are called to love these enemies. When we don’t, we are murdering them.

So I ask you again: have you ever murdered anyone? I would dare say that every one of us, using the stan­dards of the Bible, would have to say, to one degree or another, “I am a mur­derer.”

Is Hatred As Much a Crime As Actual Murder?←⤒🔗

But when it comes to hating our neighbour, being angry with our brother, being envious of him, vindic­tive toward him, isn’t there a huge dif­ference between all this and actually taking a gun and shooting him dead? Jesus says in Matthew 5:21, 22:

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and who­ever murders will be liable to judg­ment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

It is not enough that we do not shoot our brother. We must not have hatred or anger toward him. When we do, we are walking a path that leads straight to hell.

Mind you, even though in God’s eyes, envy, hatred, anger and vindictiveness make us murderers, this does not mean that hatred, envy and vindictive­ness should be illegal in the eyes of the state in the same way as actual murder.

The government has the authority and the obligation to punish the one who commits an actual crime, but not the person who simply has bad feelings in his heart.

You cannot arrest someone for merely holding a grudge. You can only charge him with criminal activity when he tries to actually hurt the object of his hate.

However, even though the government must distinguish between hatred and actual murder in terms of what consti­tutes a crime, with God, it’s another matter. In God’s eyes, whether you hate someone, or whether you kill someone, in both instances you are guilty. Actual murder may be worse, but both are sin.

The government is not able to look inside the heart of its citizens. But God can and does see what lies at the core of our souls. While we may be able to fool the government, we cannot fool God. He knows our hearts. He knows us far, far better than we know ourselves. He can see the envy, the anger, the hatred, the vin­dictiveness in our souls. And in his sight, all such sinful attitudes are murder.

Murder Is a Sin against God←⤒🔗

But isn’t this a bit extreme, saying that those who hate their neighbours are murderers? After all, what harm is there in harbouring a bit of hatred toward someone if I don’t go out and act upon that hatred?

The thing is, when your heart is filled with anger, envy and hatred, even if you aren’t physically hurting anyone, you are still sinning against God. And that’s where the real problem is. Murder is not primarily about the harm that we do to our neighbour, as bad as it is to inflict such harm. First and foremost, murder is about our relationship with God.

Consider the words Genesis 9:6 — “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” Notice the reason given for why we are not allowed to arbitrarily kill other people: ‘for God made man in his own image.’ It doesn’t say: we should not kill because it hurts other people.

Of course, it’s not good to hurt other people. But what is the basic reason as to why it is wrong to do so? Be­cause those other people were made in God’s image. God is the One who created our neighbour. He gives every one life. And we must never presume to take it upon our­selves to remove the life of our neighbour in instances where we have not been given that right. We are not to harm them, because they belong to God.

Is It Always Wrong to Kill?←⤒🔗

What about war and capital punish­ment? Are they then also wrong? Aren’t the enemies we kill in war and the criminals executed by capital punishment also made in God’s im­age?

Romans 13 tells us that government has been given the sword. Part of what this means is that the govern­ment has the authority given to it by God to call its people to arms, should it be necessary. Plus, the gov­ernment being given the sword means that it has been given the authority by God to exercise justice.

Genesis 9:6 quoted above can be read to support the death penalty.

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.” God authorizes the use of the death penalty in certain cases.

Contrary to what many believe, the death penalty is not murder. Nor is it simply a matter of exacting revenge. Rather, the death penalty is about the government exercising its God-given responsibility to execute temporal judgement on the murderer.

Of course, the government cannot in­voke the death penalty for hating someone, if that hate is not acted upon. But consider this: God says that anyone who hates his brother is a murderer. If murder itself deserves death, think about how serious envy, hatred, anger and vindictiveness are. We must see those attitudes that lie at the root of murder as being very hei­nous sins. Don’t try to downplay envy, don’t try to excuse hatred, don’t try to belittle the serious of insulting people and feeling vindictive toward them. These are all horrible sins that make you worthy of death.

What about Righteous Hatred?←⤒🔗

Some people try to excuse their hatred by saying that what they feel is a right­eous hatred. After all, Psalm 97:10 commands us: “O you who love the Lord, hate evil!” And as Psalm 139:21, 22 says, “Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.”

How do we understand this? Well, God does call us to hate evil. God himself hates evil. And in a very real way, we are to consider the enemies of God as our enemies. And yet, as we quoted earlier, Matthew 5:44 says: “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Is the Bible contradicting itself? Not at all. We have to remember that when we hate the enemies of God, this must be based on our love for God, our love for His Word, our love for His truth. There is a place for such hatred. But can we say that the anger that so often fills our hearts always has this motiva­tion supporting it?

Remember this: given the fact that our hearts are naturally sinful, so full of pride, so often self-seeking, because our hearts are so depraved, we are almost always inclined towards an unrighteous hatred, rather than righteous hatred.

Please, do not think to excuse any unrighteous hatred you might be feel­ing by labeling it righteous. So often, what we excuse away as righteous hatred is more a matter of not liking others for our own personal reasons. Really, it’s audacious to think that in our selfish, sinful pride we have the right to hold grudges, to think that we can go on insulting others, that we can continue feeling vindictive toward our neighbour. Remember this: we are commanded to a life of love. We are commanded in the Bible to love God above all else, and our neighbour as ourselves.

While we must hate evil, we must also follow the command of God to act in love, even toward our ene­mies, praying for them. We must show them the love that God so richly demonstrated for us, even when we were still his enemies. Do not forget: everyone by nature deserves to be God’s enemy. God could very well have acted in hate toward every one of us. He had every right to do so. But God loved His people. He loved them so much that He even sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross for them. What amazing love!

If we are one of the people for whom He has died, then we too are called to demonstrate that love. The Bible demands that we demonstrate that love.

My friends, do you demonstrate un­godly hatred and anger in your life? Do you try to excuse it? There is no excuse. Each of us has a natural inclination to hate God and our neighbour. We must repent of this guilt. We must repent of the wicked­ness of our pride-filled hearts. And we must turn to God and His Word, seeking to pattern our lives accord­ing to the love that He has so freely granted to us.