When to Take a Life

Many people have memorized the sixth commandment in the King James translation, which says, “Thou shalt not kill” (Ex. 20:13). As we saw in our last study, however, the sixth commandment is more narrowly focused than the King James translation suggests. The sixth commandment does not outlaw all killing; rather, it speaks against the taking of innocent life. Its concern is with unlawful killing, hence the English Standard Version’s translation: “You shall not murder.”

Scripture actually gives us cases in which taking a human life is a just and appropriate action. Yes, God alone has the absolute right to take a life because He is the author of life itself (Deut. 32:39; Acts 3:15); nevertheless, He has granted to men and women the right to kill in select circumstances. Today’s passage, wherein we read of God’s instituting capital punishment, is one place where the right to kill is granted.

After the great flood in Noah’s day, God entered into a covenant with all creation, and in this covenant He calls His image bearers to shed the blood of human beings who have unlawfully killed others (Gen. 9:5–6). The reasoning for this is rooted in the fact that human beings are made in the image of God. Murder is, in many respects, the greatest display of hostility toward our Creator that any person can show. We cannot end the life of God, so the closest we can ever get to trying to kill Him is to murder one of His image bearers. To kill a divine image bearer unlawfully is really to show a willingness to kill God because of how He has imparted to us a special likeness to Himself. Such a brazen assault on our Creator cannot be tolerated, so those who commit what we would call first-degree murder must be executed if their guilt can be legitimately proved (Deut. 17:6).

We are also granted the right to kill another person in cases of self-defense, as passages such as Exodus 22:2–3 indicate. If a thief can be killed when he invades another person’s home to steal material goods, certainly someone can be killed if he is attempting to kill someone and thereby steal the victim’s life. Yet note that Exodus 22:2–3 does not grant an absolute right to kill someone, for the killing is lawful only if it happens at night, presumably because during the day it is easier to see and there might be other ways to stop the intruder without killing him that are harder to see at night. The idea is that killing in self-defense is legitimate when there is no other way to stop an enemy from doing harm.