The Sixth Commandment

Old Testament:
Exodus 20:13 - Thou shalt not kill (KJV)

New Testament:
Matthew 5:21-22 - Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgement: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. (KJV)
*It is sidenoted in my Bible that "kill" in v. 21 means murder and in v. 22, Raca literally means "empty head".

It is easy for most of us to not kill someone, and as long as we do not kill anyone then we are following this commandment...but according to the New Testament, that is not the case. Jesus expanded on this commandment. We must now in addition to not literally killing anyone, we have to control our anger towards our brothers and sisters. If we get angry with a brother or a sister for no reason, then we have broken the sixth commandment.

Keeping our anger under control is more difficult for more of us than simply not killing someone. How do we control our anger? The most important part to this is prayer. Before we rush to anger, we should stop, take a deep breath and whisper a prayer for the ability to stop the anger brewing inside of us dead in its tracks. For some people this will be the end of it for that episode, but for others they will need to continue to keep praying for the strength and ability to let their anger go.

What if our anger is "justified" as we see it? Like we have a reason to be angry (maybe someone caused us harm in one way or another). Well, we need to forgive that person and when we forgive then we will be able to be released from the grasp of anger.

Blessings in Christ,