The Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther

The Ten Commandments

The Fifth Commandment

You shall not murder.

What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbour in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.

Lord of life, You have commanded us not to murder. Grant that we may fear and love You so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Second Sermon-1534

Matthew 5:20-26

In the fifth commandment God commands us to have one another’s welfare at heart. Therefore, whoever has sinned against this must not cover up his sin, but without delay turn to God and say, Dear Lord God, I, a poor sinner, have sinned against the fifth commandment. I have conducted myself unkindly toward my neighbor in thoughts and behavior, and that grieves me. Forgive my sins, dear God, and help me to become a different person. Such a confession pleases God. For he does not want us to cover up our sins, or gloss over our unrighteousness and say, I have brought so many offerings, given alms, and so on; therefore, I am pious and holy; but he wants us freely to confess our sins and pray for mercy and forgiveness.

Then God also wants us seriously to take hold of ourselves and quickly bridle anger; but if we cannot instantly rid the heart of it, then at least grapple with it so that the animosity still harbored in the heart may not manifest on the face and the tongue, much less with the fist. Whoever wants to be a true Christian should say to God, Dear God, in this commandment you have poured out your heart and will, as to how I should conduct myself toward my neighbor; that is your Word and truth. Well then, dear God, I want to treat my neighbor kindly and help him; grant me your grace, power, and Spirit so that I may bring it to pass. If our attitude is composed in this way, we then have a gracious God and Father, and he then finds us to be grateful and obedient children. He has throne us all together so that we might help and not harm one another, neither with fist, demeanor, nor tongue.

Therefore, father and mother have special instruction relative to children and servants, that when children and servants do something wrong, they are to treat it not as a laughing matter or with indulgence, but become angry, reprimand, and, without hesitation, punish. This God commands them. And if they do not do it, they are disobedient and are acting contrary to their position and command.

We must keep the place of secular authority properly distinguished in its relationship to the fifth commandment. In the kingdom of Christ there is to be no anger, only kindness and love; the heart is not to be bitter against anyone, and neither mouth nor hand are to cause anyone grief. But in the kingdom of the world, in secular and domestic headship, there mouth, tongue, and hand, in accord with each person’s rank and function, should act, reprimand, and punish all who do what is wrong and refuse to perform what they are commanded. If they refuse, then punishment is in order, not indulgence and mercy. Moreover, whoever hesitates to punish gives occasion for the highest judge, God himself, to come and administer punishment. There, one has little choice. For when God comes, it is indeed with force and power.

So perfectly, of course, things don’t go in this life. Therefore, if we trip, stumble and fall, the next step, then, is that we acknowledge our sin and pray for mercy. May God keep us from the sin which still seeks to vindicate itself, as the Pharisees did. For Pharisees, monks, and priests are indeed pious; however, in God’s sight they are murderers. May God guard us against this and grant us grace that we become truly holy. Amen.

The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther: The House Postils
Volume 6; pages 323 thru 326
Sermons on Gospel Texts for Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost, Trinity, and the Fourteen Sundays after Trinity
Edited by John Nicholas Lenker
Translated by John Nicholas Lenker and Others

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Text. Mat. 5:20-26. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: 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. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the
judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

THE EXPLANATION OF THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

THE SUMMARY OF THIS GOSPEL: 1. The righteousness of God is through faith and that is the righteousness of the heart. The outward righteousness, however holy and beautiful it may appear, is hypocritical, deceptive righteousness.
2. The Lord wants a good tree, without which the fruit can not be good.
3. It is a hypocritical, deceptive righteousness, if one does not commit murder with the hand, and yet at the same time cherishes anger in his heart; but the Christian righteousness requires that we be not angry. To do this we must constantly obtain from God grace and forgiveness, and confess ourselves to be sinners, which belongs to Christian righteousness.
4. It is not pleasing to God, if we be not reconciled to our brother. Here we all can learn, what the good works are that God esteems as great.

As though he would say, You might find persons that do not kill with their hands; but to be without hatred, not to be angry, be of smiling countenance, not to snub persons-of such a nature none is to be found. Now, experience teaches this.

For take a godly man or a godly woman; as long as everybody keeps his distance, peace and harmony prevail, but if one comes along that speaks harshly and possibly intrudes, even to the extent of the smallest word, he cannot keep from becoming angry; and follows this up by irritating and enraging the offender. Our reason can never come to the conclusion that we are to be considerate to the wicked…we cannot refrain from becoming angry, if not against our friends, then against our enemies. Now God is not satisfied with this, nor can my flesh and blood evade the question, for mark the wording closely when he says, “Thou shalt not kill.” Who is “thou”? Your hand? No. your tongue? No; but thou, thou and all that is in thee and with thee; thine hand, heart, and thoughts shall not kill.

So the commandments of God are but a mirror, wherein we behold our filth and wickedness; for they conclude us all under sin, we being unable to work our way out by our own efforts and free will; unless something else comes to our assistance.

For if I am told to be friendly to the person I hate, they can tell it on me that my heart is not in it. For you cannot confine the heart; it will out, and show its presence by signs or words. It does not hide itself, and it cannot be hidden. Hence we conclude that we are found guilty of saying Raca, that is, of not being kind to both friend and foe.

It clearly follows that we all are guilty of the commandment: ‘Thou shalt not kill,” and whoever is not born again of God cannot abstain from murder.

Hence much is contained in the words: ‘Thou shalt not kill,” as much as to say: You must be born again and become a new creature.

So the Gospel always reverts to this question, What shall a man do that he may become pious? For, pray as long as you will; fast as long as you will; give alms as long as you will; pay for masses and build churches as many as you will; you are, nevertheless, still a murderer, for you hate your brother; you cannot give him a kind look nor a kind word. It follows that your righteousness is naught; it is of and pertains to perdition.

Here you see the exalted works that no one can attain, neither by work righteousness nor by the law. For works, if alone, will make hypocrites and dissemblers; the law, if alone, brings forth despair.
But what am I to do? Do I hear correctly: am I to be damned? Do as follows: Flee to Christ when thus conscious of iniquity, saying: Oh, my God, thy law is now a mirror to me, whence I see how perverted and lost a being I am! Oh God, now save me for thine only begotten Son’s sake. Thus, by faith God gives you the Spirit, who changes your heart, so that you will be very kind to your neighbor and will argue thus: Behold, if God has acted thus toward me, forgiving me more than I can ever hope to forgive, why should I not be willing to forgive my neighbor a little?

Christ is here a spiritual teacher, solely guiding the consciences, showing them how to get rid of it. That is his office in which he is engaged; with the worldly sword he has nothing to do, he lets those see to it whose duty it is.

This may suffice on this Gospel. Let us pray God for grace.

The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther: The Church Postils
Volume 2.2; pages 167 thru 178
Sermons on Gospel Texts for the 1st-12th Sundays after Trinity
Edited by John Nicholas Lenker
Translated by John Nicholas Lenker and Others

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Second Sermon. Mat. 5:20-26.

CONTENTS: THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

Jesus is not a lawgiver, but a Saviour, who never takes aught from anyone, but always gives. So he also in this instance proves his kindness in explaining the law and gentle instructing; where there is need and want, he does not sternly insist, as did Moses, who without much ado wished that people were either pious or dead. For this reason Christ’s action on this occasion is to be considered one of great benefit to us, in that he teaches us where we fail and come short. Here he particularly treats of the failings due to wrath, which causes so much havoc among men, as is seen on every side, yea, nearly the whole world is under its sway.

Now let us examine the command, “Thou shalt not kill,” in the sense the Jews took it, and how we should take it. The Jews considered those only murderers who committed the act of murder with their hands; while those who abstained from the outward act were considered by them as pious. In like manner they treated Christ. Having delivered him to Pontius Pilate for trial, they remained without, thus faneying to be innocent of his blood, and to have perfectly kept the law, John 18:28. Again, Saul acted the same way toward David; he believed himself to be godly so long as he only interpreted the law, failing to see that its roots run into the heart. In view of this Christ here says to his Christians:
“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

How have we interpreted this commandment? A little better, that is to say, doubly worse is our interpretation. On this wise: it is indeed a matter of the heart that we are to be free from hatred. But a man, according to our conception, may conduct himself friendly and thus banish hatred from his heart. So we have made it a question of free will, going from bad to worse. The Jews have made it a matter of deceptive appearance; we placed the issue with free will. Thus the hypocrisy of the Jews rests in their works; ours in our thoughts. For we argue thus: Well, I will forgive him, will be good to him, and thus lay hold of the doing in the strength of our free will, then it shall be accomplished.

Well, how then are we to do? We are to take the following position: There is not a man on earth, unless he be born again, who does not become angry, and give forth evil words and evil deeds; nature cannot do otherwise. For there stands the law and says: Thou shalt be a fine, sweet-tempered man in heart, in words and in works; and no evil fiber shall be found in thee. Well, where am I to find such a man? My mother does not give him to me; he must come down from heaven. For there is not a man on earth, so far as he is flesh and blood, that can help becoming angry and giving forth evil words and actions. But if I abstain, it certainly is because I fear the sword or I seek a selfish end. If I do not curse, if I do not calumniate, either the sword or hell deters me, the fear of death or of the devil; these I have in my mind and abstain, otherwise, I could not abstain. Not alone this, but I would actually murder and massacre, wherever and whenever I could. By nature I cannot produce a single kind word or action. If I do, it certainly is hypocrisy, since the heart at least always remains full of poison. This you now hear from Christ, who so explains the law as to cause you to feel ashamed in your inner heart. He would say: Thou art not sweet in heart, thine heart is full of hatred, full of murder and blood, and so thy hands and eyes would also gladly be full of the same; nor canst prevent the fire from burning, for it is its nature to burn.

A person might here say, What then am I to do? I feel all that within me, but I cannot change conditions. I reply, Flee to the Lord, thy God, lay thy complaint before him and say: Behold, Lord, my neighbor has injured me a little, has spoken a few words touching my honor, has caused some damage to my property, this I cannot suffer, therefore, I would cheerfully see him killed. Oh my God, how gladly would I be amiable to him, but, alas, I cannot! See how wholly cold, yea, dead I am! O Lord, I cannot help myself, I must stand back. Make thou me different, then I will be godly; if not, I will remain like I have been. Here you must seek your help and at no other place; if you seek it in yourself, you will never find it. Your heart perpetually bubbles and boils with anger, you cannot prevent it.

Now, this is the sum of the law: You are to be kind, amiable and benignant in heart, word and deed; and even though they take your life, still you are to suffer all in love, and render thanks to your Lord. Behold, thus a great deal is included in the short sentence, “Thou shalt not kill.” Christ lived up to this; do the same, and you are a good Christian. When nailed to the cross, his name, which was above every name, and his honor were profaned by the Jews, while they reviled him by words of the following and similar import: Well, what a nice God he has! If he be God’s son, let him come down! Let his God come now, in whom he banked and boasted so much, and help him! Such words pierced his very heart, hurting him more than all his other sufferings; still, he suffered all this with patience; he wept over his enemies, because they would have no part in the great benefit to be derived from his death; yea, he prayed for their sin. And in the face of this we are ready to snarl and growl over the least trifle, when asked to yield even a little to our neighbor.

What then must we do? You must do as follows: You must acknowledge that you are condemned by the law, and the devil’s own property and that you are unable to rescue yourself by any power of your own. Therefore you must flee to God, pray him to change you, or all is lost and ruined.

In view of this lay hold of his word and promise, that he will change you; this only will help you. Pray thus: Oh my God, thou hast placed Christ, thine only beloved Son, before me as an example, so that I might lead a like life; but I am not able to do this. O my God, change me, grant me thy grace! God then comes and says: Behold, since you know yourself and seek grace from me, I will change you and do as you desire. And though you are not so perfect as Christ, as indeed you should be, I shall nevertheless have my Son’s life and perfection cover your imperfections. So you see we must always have something to keep us in the right humility and fear.

This is true comfort that does not rest on our ability, but on the fact that we have a gracious God, who forgives our sins; on the fact that we believe in Christ and not in our own worthiness, he cleansing us from day to day; on the fact that whenever we fall short, we should always place our hope and trust in Christ.


The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther: The Church Postils
Volume 2.2; pages 179 thru 184
Sermons on Gospel Texts for the 1st-12th Sundays after Trinity
Edited by John Nicholas Lenker
Translated by John Nicholas Lenker and Others