Lord’s Day 40
Q106. Does this commandment refer only to killing?
By forbidding murder God teaches us that he hates the root of murder: envy, hatred, anger, and vindictiveness. In God's eyes all such are murder.
Scripture Proofs — King James Version
Proverbs 14:30
“A sound heart the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.”
Romans 1:29
“Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,”
Romans 12:19
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
Galatians 5:19–21
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are ; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
1 John 2:9–11
“He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.”
1 John 3:15
“Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
Modernized Commentary — Zacharias Ursinus (1616)
The laws of the second table of the Decalogue come next. Obedience to these laws relates to God just as much as obedience to the commandments of the first table does. However, the works required here are performed directly toward other people. Our neighbor is the immediate object of the second table, while God is the more distant one.
Christ captures the essence of the obedience required by the second table in these words: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." He also gives us this rule for better understanding the precepts of this table: "Whatever you want others to do for you, do the same for them, for this is the law and the prophets" (Matt 7:12). Christ also says, with reference to the entire second table, "The second commandment is like the first" (Matt 22:39).
This statement should be understood in three ways: