Killing

According to most Christians, killing another person is a sin. The two sides of this argument are typically: 'killing is always sinful no matter what'; and, 'killing in self-defense or in times of war is not a sin.' In reality, these aren't the only views to the event of killing. The Bible deals with all of them, though, and we Christians need to have an answer to any question we are presented with.

The first issue needed to bring to everyone's attention is that the Bible is completely infallible. Everyone knows this, or has at least heard it, so extreme detail is not needed here. For now let's assume that God doesn't lie to us, and that His word is 100% true. Take a look at the most obvious verse on killing, it is spoken many times throughout both the Old and New Testaments:

Exodus 20:13 - "Thou shalt not kill."

Well, obviously this says that killing is wrong, at least according to the King James Version of the Bible. However, the King James version is misleading in this passage. Going back to the original text (Greek only because I don't know Hebrew), let's take a look at the meaning of the word used here.

This verse is quoted 7 times in the bible. Twice in the Old Testament and 5 times in the New. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, originally, and the New Testament was written in Greek. Only the Greek is presented below, however. The table below shows the verse in scripture where Exodus 20:13 is quoted, the original Greek verb about killing used, and the English translation for the word:

Verse
Greek Verb English Verb

Matthew 5:22 ου' φονεύσεις Do not Murder

Mark 10:19 μή φονεύσης Do not Murder

Luke 18:20 μή φονεύσης Do not Murder

Romans 13:9 ου' φονεύσεις Do not Murder

James 2:11 μή φονεύσης Do not Murder

Every verb here is a command. God is directly stating not to murder. According to the dictionary, murder is defined as:

The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice.

God doesn't say that killing in general is a sin. And, to take this point even further, God commands Saul to kill others in 1 Samuel.

First of all, God is holy and righteous. God cannot sin, nor can He be around sin. God would never command a human to do something sinful, for that would go against everything that God is. Now, listen to what God is saying through Samuel to Saul.

1 Samuel 15:1-3 - "Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."

There is no doubt that God is commanding Saul to take the life of another person, so apparently killing isn't wrong in every situation. According to this verse, God condones killing in a military-type situation. Saul, being king, was told to make war with and destroy Amalek.

Hopefully, this short study of scripture will clear up any doubts you have about whether killing is sinful or not. It seems pretty clear cut to me, and there are many interpretations of scripture, but only one Truth.