Blessed are those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness, for They Shall be Satisfied

(Part 4 of a series of 9 articles on the Beatitudes)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

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Hunger and Thirst

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (justice), for they shall be satisfied.”

Once again in this fourth Beatitude, Jesus blesses those who seem to be cursed in the world. No one enjoys hunger and thirst. We want to be satisfied, but that is the point. We hunger for those things which nourish and sustain our lives, but we only feel the hunger pangs for that which we lack. When our stomachs are empty we feel pain, but when they are filled, then the pain goes away. When we feel hungry, our bodies remind us that we need to feed on that which gives us energy to work and nourishment to grow and to heal injuries. Food is a good gift from God, and hunger reminds us that we need “daily bread” to sustain and grow and heal our bodies, so, in general, we hunger for the good gifts of God which benefit us.

We should remember that sin has corrupted our desires so that we sometimes hunger for “junk food” which may provide calories to burn, but little to strengthen and heal. There are other ways that sin can corrupt our innate hunger to cause desires for too much or too little nourishment, but for most people hunger is a good natural bodily function which helps us remain healthy.

There is also a spiritual counterpart to physical hunger. This spiritual hunger causes us to seek that which nourishes us spiritually. A healthy spiritual hunger leads us to take in what is beneficial for our spirit. We should be careful about this because sin has corrupted our spirit so that we do not know what is good for us. People often feel some exuberant emotion, and think that they are having a “spiritual” experience, but it is still only a physical experience. True spirituality only comes from God the Holy Spirit, who gives us life-giving gifts. It is the Holy Spirit who is the most good for our spirit because He brings Jesus Christ to us for our forgiveness and salvation. The Psalmist writes, “As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Psalm 42:1-2) Here the Psalmist makes a comparison between the body’s need of water, and the soul’s need for “the living God.” Physical thirst and spiritual thirst are not the same thing, but they are similar. The difference is that Spiritual thirst seeks after God, rather than physical satisfaction. Jesus also taught, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:27) This teaches us that there is something more valuable than food. Even the best food cannot sustain us forever. Because our bodies are corrupted by sin, no food can sustain us forever. This is why we hunger for the eternal blessings which only God can give us.

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6) “Righteousness” includes all things which are right, especially those things which God considers good, right, and proper. God is truly righteous and holy in all things, and the things which He desires are also good for us because He loves us as a loving Father loves His dear children. Yet, we are all rebellious sinners, having inherited the guilt of sin from our parents, going back all the way to Adam and Eve. Because we are sinners, we are not the righteous people which we ought to be. This separates us from God and makes us His enemy, and subject to God’s righteous anger and punishment. This is why we hunger for righteousness. We hunger for the good things which we lack. Scripture says, “God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 53:2-3) Since we are not righteous, we hunger for righteousness, and the good things which come along with righteousness and goodness.

Biblical Examples of Hunger for Righteousness

Jesus is the Living Water which springs up within His people to eternal life. (See John 4:7-14)

Once when Jesus was teaching (see Mark 10:17-27), a man came up to Him and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus then responded, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” Jesus was neither denying that He was good nor that He is God, but he was pointing out the fact that the man wasn’t intending to confess that Jesus was perfectly good and righteous, or that He was God. The man was just trying to flatter Him as people sometimes do. Being truly righteous, Jesus was neither flattered, nor did He think the man sincere, but he used this empty flattery as a way to begin teaching the young man about the proper distinction between Law and Gospel. At the end of this conversation Jesus told him to give away all his possessions which he had turned into idols. The man left sad because he realized that he was not as righteous as he had previously thought, and could not rely on his own righteousness to finally “inherit eternal life.” Jesus then teaches His disciples by giving the famous illustration, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples are astonished and asked, “Who, then, can be saved?” Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. All things are possible with God.” This shows that God is our righteousness and our savior. We can only be saved if God pays for our sins and makes us righteous. We sinners can no more make ourselves righteous than we can make ourselves inherit someone else’s wealth.

This story (which is also found in Matthew 19 and Luke 18) shows a young man who did hunger and thirst after righteousness, but initially believed that he had achieved this in his life, but, when confronted by Jesus, and God’s Law, realized that true righteousness can not be achieved by works of the law, but is only found in God. If we are to become righteous, we can only receive it as a gift from God, and not our own doing. All our works are tainted by sin. Saint Paul wrote in Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” Here we see that God’s Law shows us our sinful condition so that we cannot attain true righteousness by anything that we do, but must instead rely on Christ to forgive us and make us truly righteous in His own time (that day being Judgment Day, which is also known as the Day of Resurrection).

Saint Paul also has much to say about man’s unrighteousness and the grace of God in Romans 7, where after an honest self examination, he ends up by saying, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25) Read the whole letter to the Romans for more than I can explain here. Saint Paul’s conclusion is that true righteousness must come from God as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ, or else we sinners can never achieve it. We, then, can never be satisfied with our own attempts to attain righteousness because all our works are tainted by sin. Yet, Christ has overcome sin through His life and death, and He will make us righteous as we ought to be in the life to come in His Kingdom.

Job hungered for righteousness. Though his friends mistakenly thought God was punishing Him.

There are many good examples of saints in the Bible who hungered for righteousness. When Job first heard that tragedy had struck and all his flocks and possessions and children had been killed and destroyed, he mourned his loss (see my article on “Blessed are those who mourn”), but then he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21) Likewise, when Job was then afflicted with painful sores his wife told him, “Curse God and die.” (Job 2:9) Yet, Job replied, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” Again, Job trusted that God was not evil, even though all these bad things were happening to him. He would not curse God, but trusted in God to save him, even recognizing that God may have sent all the trouble that he was experiencing. In this way Job hungered and thirsted for righteousness because he would rather suffer now at the hands of God than turn away from God and reject God’s righteousness and promise of eternal salvation.

Likewise, there are several times David was also a good example of someone who demonstrated hunger and thirst for righteousness. When Goliath challenged Israel to send their best warrior to fight him in single combat (see 1 Samuel 17), Goliath cursed Israel’s God when all the warriors were too afraid to step up. When David heard the Philistine cursing God he became angry with a righteous anger. Since none of the Israelites (from King Saul to Jonathan to even some of David’s older brothers who were in the army) were going to step up and defend God’s honor, then David was going to do it and show the Philistines that their God is the true God. The proof would be that God would give a teenage boy the courage and strength to defeat and kill the blasphemous giant pagan warrior, Goliath. Now, David was not your ordinary Israelite. God had already sent the prophet Samuel to anoint David as the next king, though it would yet be many years before David was crowned king. Yet God was with David, and David trusted in God so much that He was not afraid to stand against Goliath, even when King Saul and all Israel’s soldiers were afraid to stand up to Goliath. David was also given the courage to fight in God’s name and for God’s honor and glory. David’s hunger and thirst for righteousness was go great that he did not even consider the likelihood of his own defeat and death, but was willing to put his life on the line to show the Philistines (and the Israelites) that God is the true God, and should not be despised, as Goliath despised Him. David’s hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness was satisfied when God gave him the victory over the giant Philistine warrior.

David hungered for God’s righteousness even when it endangered his own life to do so.

David also showed similar hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness when King Saul was trying to kill David out of envy for the victories that God had given him (even though those victories also benefited King Saul and all of Israel). There were two instances where Saul was in reach of David’s sword, and all he had to do was to reach out and kill him, (see 1 Samuel 24 and 26) but David refused to lift his hand against God’s anointed king. In the second incident after David again showed Saul that he could have killed him, but did not, David said, “The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed.” (1 Samuel 26:23) In the world’s eyes, David could have claimed “self-defense” for killing Saul, since the King was intent on killing David, even though David was not his enemy. Yet, for the sake of righteousness, David refused to strike down God’s chosen king, but trusted in God to deal with Saul as He saw fit. The reason David did not kill Saul was not for Saul’s sake alone, but for the sake of the promised Messiah (Christ). Saul was anointed by God and was a kind of a messiah (anointed one). Saul was anointed as King of Israel, but for the sake of God’s promised anointed savior (Jesus), David would not lift his hand against even an unfaithful King Saul (whom God had rejected because of his unfaithfulness) because he had been anointed by God to be king.

Jesus Hungered for Our Righteousness

Jesus did not hunger and thirst for righteousness in the same way that we do. Jesus was, and is, righteous in all things, so He didn’t hunger for righteousness as if He was lacking in any way. Yet, Jesus did hunger and thirst for our righteousness. Once, when Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, some Pharisees warned Him that Herod wanted to kill Him. Jesus already knew that it wasn’t just Herod, but many of the Pharisees also wanted Jesus dead, too. Jesus lamented this, saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34) Jesus still kept on His way toward Jerusalem, trusting that it was God’s will that He should suffer and die to pay for the sins of all people – including those who reject Him. Jesus wanted us all to be cleansed of our sin and made to be righteous as God intended from the start. This is how Jesus hungered and thirsted for our righteousness: He would rather endure suffering and death than to let us all perish in our sins and unrighteousness. Jesus knew that the only way we could be made righteous is if He paid the price (death) for our sins so that we could be washed clean and made righteous through His blood. This is in some ways very different from our experience, but in other ways it is similar. Jesus lived by faith, just as we do. He suffered just as sinners do, even though He remained sinless, yet, He also had to trust in God to save Him from death as we also trust in God to save us because of what Jesus did for all of us.

Misplaced Spiritual Hunger

We hunger for that which we lack. This is why we hunger and thirst for righteousness.

There are also the spiritual equivalent of eating disorders which cause people to hunger for what seems good, but which actually is detrimental to the Spirit. After all, no one ever seeks what they believe is evil. Even the most evil person in the world does what he does because he thinks it is good and profitable in some way. Such people may be tragically wrong, but they still seek what seems good to them. Evil sometimes starts out small and simple, but as a person’s conscience gets more comfortable with sin the wickedness grows. It is important to remember that love desires what is best for your neighbor, while wickedness desires what I feel is best for me. Unrighteous people hunger and thirst for wickedness. They hold parades and celebrate all kinds of wickedness. Prostitutes and whores desire to kill their unborn children, and don’t want to hear how wrong that is, or how their children are a wonderful gift from God instead of someone to be murdered. They celebrate all kinds of sexual perversions from adultery to homosexual relations to all kinds of perverse behavior. There is never any satisfaction for wickedness. There can never be satisfaction for wickedness because God didn’t make us that way. Wickedness and sin always leads to more, and it is never enough. Only true righteousness in Christ can satisfy.

We see this in Genesis 4, God confronts Cain regarding his jealous anger. “The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.’” (Genesis 4:6-7) Here God is encouraging Cain to seek righteousness, but Cain insists on hungering for envy, hatred, and eventually murder. God tells Cain that righteousness isn’t a “zero-sum game” as if Abel’s righteousness precludes Cain from also being righteous. If Cain was faithful, like Abel, then God would be pleased with them both. Cain had nothing to gain from killing his brother as if they were a rival for something that only one of them could possess (God’s favor) at the expense of the other. If they both were faithful to God, then God would be happy to favor them both. Cain, instead hungered for evil, and held on to his envy and sin, rather than repenting and hungering for righteousness. In the end, Cain found disfavor from both God and man, though God had mercy on him and protected him from those who might seek vengeance.

Jesus resisted the temptation in His hunger to turn stones into bread, so that He could be the bread of life for all who trust in Him.

The wise teacher says in Proverbs 4, “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.” (Proverbs 4:14-19) Because of the devil’s temptations to make sin seem desirable (see Genesis 3:1-7), there are some people who see great profit in wickedness, and they take such pleasure in violence and evil that it becomes almost sacred to them, or, if not sacred, then they idolize what is profane. In this teaching, the “bread and wine” remind us of the Lord’s Supper where Jesus gives us His body and blood with bread and wine to forgive our sins and strengthen our faith. Yet the teacher notes that the wicked people “eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.” This “unholy anti-sacrament” results in wickedness and violence. These people are like those who scream and yell and threaten (and commit) violence against those who seek to save the lives of unborn children. The pro-life people care more for the bastard children of the wicked than they do themselves, yet, the wicked get angry and violent when their licentiousness and murderous desires are exposed for what they truly are. This happens because the devil tempts us to sin by making sin seem desirable and profitable in some way. Godly people may be lured by temptation due to weakness, but when they realize what they have done they feel guilty and repent of the sin. When unrighteous people sin they neither admit guilt, nor repent, but take pleasure and “profit” in wickedness and try to curse anyone who would put an end to wickedness and violence.

None of this should surprise us because the Bible is very clear that sin corrupts us all. There is no one who is good, not even one. In Genesis 8, after the great flood, this is how God saw the world: “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.’” (Genesis 8:20-22) Now you might think that God sent the great flood to get rid of evil in the world, so that only the good people survived, but Noah and his family were also sinners, having inherited sin from their parents like everyone else. When Scripture says that “Noah was a righteous man” in Genesis 6:9, it doesn’t mean he was without sin, but that he loved God and trusted God and listened to God’s Word which promised rescue and salvation. God does not condone sin and evil, but He provides for rescue in Jesus Christ. Noah trusted in God and God counted Noah’s faith as righteousness just as He did several generations later with Abraham (see Genesis 15:6).

Christians Hunger for the Lord’s Supper

Christians hunger and thirst for the body and blood of Jesus given in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, so that we can share in the benefits of the sacrifice Jesus made for us all.

In the Old Testament times when the prophets spoke about hungering and thirsting for God’s righteousness they were often thinking about eating the roasted lamb of the Passover meal. The Passover was the salvation event of the Old Testament for God’s people Israel. Every year they were to remember it by preparing a male lamb for dinner with unleavened bread. This was to show the Israelites how the Messiah would come and offer His life as the sacrificial lamb to pay for the sins of the whole world. The annual Passover meal reminded the Israelites that God was their savior, and their eating of the sacrificial lamb made them participants in the blessings of the sacrifice. If Moses and the Israelites had refused to eat the lamb then they would have been subjected to the same treatment as the Egyptians. As the remembrance of this event became an annual celebration, the Israelites would have hungered for the meal as the time of celebration approached – hopefully hungering for the Salvation which God promised to provide for them just as He saved their ancestors.

Since, by the time of Jesus, the Israelites had been celebrating the Passover every year for over a thousand years (except for years of apostasy), they should have recognized its fulfillment when Jesus sacrificed His life for the sins of the world. Many did, and they spread the good news of Christ’s salvation throughout the world. Jesus also used the Passover meal as the basis for a new sacrament, since He fulfilled the Passover prophesy. Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper in which He gives His body and blood in the bread and wine of the sacrament in a miraculous way for the forgiveness of our sins, and the strengthening of our faith. In this way we participate in the sacrifice that was made for our sins (see 1 Corinthians 10:16) in the same way the Old Testament Israelites participated in the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. Christians now hunger for this blessed gift, which is a taste of the eternal life which Jesus promises to all who believe in Him to save them from sin and death.

Jesus says that the blessing which comes to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness is that “they will be filled (or satisfied).” Our hunger for righteousness will be filled when Christ comes back and makes us holy and righteous as he is. Until that happens we hunger and thirst for it because it is unfulfilled, but when Jesus comes we will be satisfied forever in Christ. Until then we live in the assurance of faith in God’s promises. In the Revelation which Jesus gave Saint John, he sees a vision of those redeemed by Jesus, and they are described in this way, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:16) Since the resurrection is a bodily resurrection, God knows our bodily need for food and drink, and will provide us with plenty for all eternity. John also sees this: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1-2) So we see that the new earth that God prepares for us to live forever has plenty of wonderful food and drink which will sustain us forever without death or decay. This is also something that we hunger for, since all we know is decay and death in this sinful life. Yet we are comforted in this life because God promises that we will receive this, so we trust in God’s promises as we await their fulfillment.

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Other articles in this series:

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Blessed are Those who Mourn, For They Will be Comforted 

Blessed are the Meek, for They Shall Inherit the Earth 

Blessed are the Merciful, for They Shall Receive Mercy 

Blessed are the Pure in Heart, for They Shall See God 

Coming soon:

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

You Shall Not Murder

(Part One in a Series)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

God first wrote the commandments in our hearts. But after the fall into sin God wrote them on stone tablets which He gave to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai.

The sin of murder is considered to be the worst sin that a person can commit against another. Though you have to wonder, since murder is so bad, then why is it so popular? And why is murder seemingly gaining in popularity (at least in America and several other places around the world)? As I was researching this topic I saw a news story which said that murders in the United States were up 30% in 2020 over the previous year. Though 2020 was a chaotic year with all kinds of government leaders at many levels all around the world acting like tyrannical dictators. That kind of high profile lawlessness always leads to lawlessness at every level, and murder is the epitome of lawlessness.

All sin is equally evil in God’s eyes. God is holy and sinless, and He first made people holy and sinless as He is. All mankind was condemned to live in sin because of what was essentially Eve’s sin of thievery which was combined with coveting and idolatry (the underlying sin which leads to all other sins). However, that theft was full rebellion and rejection of God, and the equivalent of murder since it has so far led to the death of everyone born before 1903 (and hundreds of millions of people since then), though one man has risen from the dead and still lives.

God gave us the Fifth Commandment (as Lutherans and most other Christians count the Commandments), “You shall not murder,” because God is the “Living God.” God is called the “Living God” not just because He is alive, but because He is the source of all life, and the only one who can give life to the dead. God gave us the Fifth Commandment because He doesn’t want anyone killing the people whom He loves (including you, your neighbors, and your enemies). So we see that this commandment is good, as all of God’s commandments are good. You don’t want your neighbor murdering you, and neither does God – so God commanded “You shall not murder.”

The sin of thievery seems to be of lesser degree than the irreversable sin of murder. But both sins need Jesus to forgive them, so we may be saved.

Although all sin is equally condemned in God’s eyes, there is something unique about the sin of murder. By contrast, we see in Luke 19 the tax collector, Zacchaeus, repented of his thievery (forbidden by the Seventh Commandment: “You shall not steal.”) and promised, “Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” (Luke 19:8) Zacchaeus was certainly a wicked sinner (though as I have written elsewhere simply being a tax collector was not one of his sins – see also Luke 3:12-13), but since his wickedness primarily consisted of thievery, he was able to pay back what he had stolen, with a little extra as penance to show the sincerity of his repentance, and compensate those he sinned against for their inconvenience. Such “penance” does not even begin to undo nor remove the guilt of the sin, but it shows the sincerity of the repentance, and it can help assuage the anger of the person you sinned against so that they may be less likely to murder you for your thievery. However, when one’s sin involves murder, then what is stolen cannot be returned for love, nor money. Once you take a person’s life, it is gone permanently, and can never be given back. This is somewhat unique in the second table of the Ten Commandments, and makes murder seem worse than other sins committed against other people.

You will sometimes hear people say, “… at least I am not a murderer.” You know that someone is trying too hard to justify their pet sins when they say this. Murder is a pretty low standard for anyone to measure up against. That person is actually saying, “I may be a dreadfully wicked person, but at least I am not the worst person (for now).” Of course, once you get to this point, the sin of murder (in one form or another) is likely to follow soon thereafter.

Despite the horrific nature of murder, there is no lack of examples of murder in the Bible. This shows the corrupting nature of sin. The first person born on the earth (after God created Adam and Eve) ended up murdering his younger brother. When I have taught the Ten Commandments I have noticed that sins against all the Commandments in the Second Table (and likely all of the Commandments in the First Table, also) can lead to murder. From this I have concluded that there are many different causes of the sin of murder, such as dishonoring parents and authorities, adultery, theft, lying, and covetousness. However, as I have studied the Holy Scripture further, I believe there is a single underlying foundational cause of murder which leads to all the other superficial immediate causes of this terrible sin.

Any sin against the Second Table of the Commandments can lead to murder because these sins are committed against our neighbor. Taken to the extreme, every sin can lead to murder because murder is the ultimate expression of the sins against your neighbor, including dishonoring parents and authorities, adultery, theft, lying, and covetousness. There are also the so-called “seven deadly sins” which are pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. Although not all of these are always sinful (there can be righteous anger, and possibly pride – though righteous pride is much more rare than you might like to believe), these all could be considered deadly because they can lead someone to murder, and they lead people to lose faith in Jesus or lead us to reject Christ’s forgiveness and salvation.

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan The Priest and the Levite did not hurt the injured man, but neither did they help him.

As we consider the Fifth Commandment we should recall Martin Luther’s teaching on the meaning of the Fifth Commandment. “We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.” Note that there are two parts: a negative and a positive part. We should first not hurt nor harm our neighbor in his body. This is the negative part. This is the wrong thing that we should not do. You should also note that what is forbidden is not only the extreme of murder, but God also forbids you from hurting or harming your neighbor in any way! However, as with all the commandments, there is also a positive good that we should do to keep this commandment. We should help and support our neighbor in every bodily need. It is not enough to avoid killing our neighbor with our own actions, but we must also help and protect our neighbor’s body and life. An example of this in Scripture is Christ’s Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The priest and the Levite did not lay a finger on the man laying on the road to Jericho to hurt him, but neither did they lift a finger to help him after the robbers left him for dead. So, in God’s eyes, they were just as guilty of murder as the robbers who beat the man and took his possessions. In another article I will show how Jesus kept the Fifth Commandment by not only abstaining from murder, but by helping and healing those who were sick, injured, and dead.

Murder may have many immediate causes such as coveting, lust, greed, envy, hatred, and others. Yet underlying all of these immediate causes there is a fundamental sin which leads all these different causes to end up with the same result of murder. That fundamental murderous sin is an idolatrous selfishness which leads people to take into their own hands the power over life and death, which rightly belongs only to God. When someone begins to justify his pet sins in his own mind he is likely to forget God’s commandments and it is sometimes a short step to think that one’s own sinful desires are good and right. Once that happens, even the lives of others become secondary to what the sinful person desires. This is what we call “hatred”. I have shown elsewhere that no racist person begins by hating others. It can begin with something as seemingly innocent (though still wickedly sinful) as wanting what is best for a group that I identify with – over and against one or more groups that I don’t identify with. Sinful desires can grow into the same murderous hatred even though they have one of several different starting points. This is why we must repent of our sins early and often. Martin Luther suggests that we use our Baptism correctly if we remember our sinfulness daily and “drown” the old sinful nature through contrition (sorrow over sin) and repentance, trusting in Jesus to forgive our sins and give us what we need, even if it is not what we necessarily desire. If we delay repenting then those sinful desires grow into actual sins of word and deed, and can lead to murder long before we realize it.

In the days of Noah, God saw that “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

Because God created us He knows full well how our hearts are set on evil, including murder. God didn’t create people to murder, but to appreciate His gift of life and also for husband and wife to create new life through their expression of love for one another. Though sin has corrupted all of this, life is still a gift from God for which we can rejoice and be thankful. Also, in history, God has used our murderous desires to accomplish our salvation. Because sinful people desire to be gods ourselves, we believe we have to get rid of the real God because to our eyes He “gets in the way”. In our sinful delusions, we think we are holy, but the ugly truth is immediately apparent when we are in the presence of true holiness. What God did was to become incarnate as a man, Jesus of Nazareth, and when the time was right He let sinful men do to Him what sinful men always wanted to do to God, which is: to murder Him. This accomplished our salvation because Jesus is truly an innocent man, but He allowed Himself to be killed as a substitute for us. Jesus took the guilt of our sin upon himself, and suffered death innocently in our place so that God’s wrath over our sin could be poured out upon Jesus, and we could be forgiven and (eventually) remade as the holy, eternal, people whom God intended for us to be in the first place. The poetic irony of using our murderous tendencies to accomplish our forgiveness and salvation and eternal life is amazing, and the love of God, which caused Him to live and die for us sinners, is so amazing and wonderful that we, who appreciate what He has done to save us, will literally love Him forever in return.

Despite the terrible finality of murder, God still forgives repentant murderers. Murder is a sin in God’s eyes, like any other sin. The number of murderers in hell is not an indication that God does not forgive murderers, but that the murderers feel so guilty that they despair and think their sin cannot be forgiven, and so they do not repent and seek God’s mercy and forgiveness. In this life we think we have to pay for our own mistakes, but the sin of murder is too big. This leads to despair, and an unrepentant attitude which leads to damnation. Murder is not unforgivable, but the guilty murderer must repent and trust in Jesus to forgive him or her.

Jesus is the Good Samaritan who saved us sinners from death at the great cost of His own suffering and death on the cross.

Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ (a curse) is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matthew 5:21-22) This shows us that the sin of murder is more than just the extreme action of taking someone’s life. God gave us all life, and cares for our well being in every aspect of our life. This is why Martin Luther explained the Fifth Commandment as he did (see above).

Jesus did not murder, in any way, but helped His neighbors by healing them from all kinds of sickness, disease, injury, and even death. Then Jesus allowed wicked men to conspire against Him to have Him murdered. Jesus allowed them to murder Him as a sacrificial lamb so that He could take our place and suffer the wrath of God the Father for the sins of the world. Jesus did this so that you could be redeemed and rescued from sin and death.

Murder is a dreadful sin, and a terrible evil, but it is not unforgivable. Jesus died to pay the price to redeem murderers, as well as all sinners. If you are guilty of murder, or hatred, or neglect, or any other sin which breaks God’s commandment against murder, then repent and trust in Jesus to forgive these, and all your sins. It is a great comfort to know that the almighty and Holy God forgives even the sins of the worst sinners, that God may be praised and glorified forever for His great love and mercy.

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Other Articles in this series:
The True God Cannot Murder 
The Opposite of Murder

 
Related Articles:
Why Does God Condemn Unbelievers to Hell?
A Biblical Argument for Self Defense
Anger
Why Christians Condemn Abortion but Support the Death Penalty
The Good Samaritan
Is it Easier to Heal, or to Forgive?
Christ Has Done All Things Well
The Promise of Christ in Water And Light
Modern Molechianism
“Let His Blood be on Us and on Our Children”
The Passion of Christ
The Slaughter of the Innocents
Friends and Murderers
The Promise of the Rainbow
The True Story of a Terrorist Turned Christian
The Morality of War
Rejecting the Survival Instinct
The Leading Cause of Death in America

 

Why Christians Condemn Abortion but Support the Death Penalty

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Christians are sometimes called “hypocrites” when they oppose the killing of babies while at the same time also support the death penalty for convicted murderers. The argument says that if Christians (and like-minded people of other beliefs) were consistent in their “pro-life” belief they would oppose all killing. Those who promote this argument think themselves quite clever that they have uncovered this supposed flaw in the logic and reasoning of people who are pro-life. They might be considered clever, except for overlooking one important thing: Justice.

The argument for the hypocrisy of people who are in favor of pro-life policies can be somewhat convincing to some people who don’t consider all the issues involved. The argument is so appealing that some pro-lifers actually do begin to oppose the death penalty for convicted murderers. This, however is not really what their opponents want. No one cares that murderers are spared the death penalty for a life imprisoned. What the critics of pro-lifers really want is for people to support abortion so that they may live an adulterous lifestyle without having to deal with the consequences.

The single reason why pro-life supporters are in favor of killing murderers, but not babies, is justice. This is not some cruel “social justice” which twists right and wrong to achieve a desired outcome, but real, true, justice where the innocent are spared and the guilty are punished. Unborn babies are innocent of any crime, and are deserving of life, while properly convicted murderers have, by their crimes, forfeited their right to life. It is that simple. This is the consistency of the Christian (and like-minded) arguments. We do not believe it is right to kill the innocent, but it is right to punish lawfully convicted murderers for taking the lives of innocent people.

Daniel was condemned to die in the lions’ den but God kept him from all harm.

The Biblical basis for the support of a lawful death penalty is found in many places in Holy Scripture. God sanctioned a proper administration of death penalty justice shortly after the great flood when He told Noah and his sons, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” This is further confirmation of the authority which God gave Adam before the fall into sin to rule over the administration of the earth. In the creation account in Genesis 1, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” As God rules over all creation, man (who was made in God’s image) is given authority to rule over the earth in God’s place. This is done in accord with God’s Law, of course, which is perfectly good and right. Even though the perfect image of God was corrupted in us by the fall into sin, God still gives mankind authority on earth to administer justice to curb man’s murderous sinful tendencies. Man is not given authority to make up his own rules which oppose God’s laws. That is, by definition, injustice, and not justice. “Social justice” is just another example of injustice, not justice, because it not only makes distinctions which God does not make (such as a multiplicity of “races” rather than the one created by God, and a multiplicity of “genders” rather than the two created by God), but because it also picks winners and losers based on arbitrary characteristics rather than on the merit and worthiness of the individual apart from any unrelated characteristic.

The Holy Bible also reinforces God’s allowance of a death penalty in the laws for the Israelites that God gave Moses after the Exodus from Egypt, and in the directions that God gave to Joshua 40 years after the Exodus to take the Promised Land and destroy the pagan peoples living there. Some allowances were made for mercy, however, as in the case of the Gibeonites (see my article on God’s Promises) and a select few others. The merciful nature of God is shown in the fact that God does not say that the authorities of all nations must execute murderers in every instance, but can determine how it is carried out according to their laws. God, Himself, spared the murderers Cain (though he was unrepentant) and King David (who was repentant after confronted by the prophet Nathan).

Here I would also point out the qualifications that I have noted above regarding the capital punishment of convicted murderers. It is important to note that God does not sanction vigilante justice. It is not given to individuals to determine who should die for their (supposed) crimes. The death penalty is only to be carried out by the proper authorities after a proper trial where evidence is given and justly considered. This is good in that the earthly authorities can carry out justice in support and recognition of the sanctity of life, but it is not good when wicked authorities sometimes misuse justice by killing the innocent or by letting the guilty get away with murder. In 1 Kings 21, King Ahab stole Naboth’s vineyard after wicked Queen Jezebel had a couple false witnesses tell lies about Naboth so that he was falsely accused and put to death. God later arranged that Jezebel died a just (and shameful) death, but Ahab was spared the indignity of his evil wife’s death because he humbled himself and repented before the Lord.

God blessed Adam and Eve with children, and told them to multiply and fill the earth. From them come all people on earth.

Likewise, God’s desire for the protection of babies both before and after birth is well attested in Holy Scripture. At the creation of man in Genesis 1 Scripture says, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’” It is a great blessing that God gives children to parents to care for and to raise. It is only man’s sin which complicates the conception of new life and new people on the earth. Sinful man despises God’s gift of marriage and so engages in illicit intimacy apart from marriage, and despises the miracle of life which results according to God’s blessing. Bastard children who are unwanted by their parents (though not unwanted by God, nor unwanted by childless families looking to adopt) are still a blessing from God and deserve care and protection and love.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14) When Jesus said this His disciples had thought that His time was too valuable to waste on children as if they were worth less than adults. Jesus, however, corrected them. God loves children no less than adults, and there is much about a childlike faith that adults would do well to emulate. In Luke 18:17 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” It is quite telling that while Jesus exalts children and a childlike faith, the world despises children and wishes to kill them in order to satisfy their selfish desires.

In Jeremiah 7:30-31 God tells the prophet, “The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire – something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.” Here God is very clear that He detests abortion and infanticide. His people’s idolatry has led them to kill their children, and God strongly rebukes them. Not only did God NOT command nor allow the killing of children, but such wickedness never even entered His mind. It is not that God lacked imagination, but that children are a blessing from God, not a curse. This wickedness of the people of Judah was one of the contributing reasons why God sent the Babylonians to conquer and destroy Judah and take the few remaining survivors into captivity. The only reason why God allowed some to survive was on account of His promise to David that one of his descendants would be the Messiah who would redeem the world from this gross wickedness. Since God does not change forever, may He have mercy on those societies which mercilessly practice abortion and infanticide. God does have mercy, but his patience has its limits, and those wicked societies will face God’s wrath and destruction if they continue in sin without repenting (and that includes the United States of America).
 

John the Baptist worshiped Jesus before either was born. Babies deserve protection from conception.

On the other hand, God shows the value of even the smallest people when He told the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) Here God not only states that He knew Jeremiah and had a purpose in life for him before he was born, but God states that He is the one who formed Jeremiah in the womb. Children are not “accidents” at any time, but they are formed according to the blessing that God gave Adam and Eve at the beginning. From the moment of conception, children are precious to God and it is not up to us to decide whether they should live or die based on the whims of their parents, or worse, just on the wicked desire of the mother or father apart from the wishes of the other.
 
Now, just because I noted above that babies are innocent of any crime and not deserving of death any more than any other innocent person, that does not mean that they are without sin. King David wrote in Psalm 51:5 “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Remember that although at the time he wrote this David had committed terrible sins worthy of temporal punishment, he was still the man who God chose to be the ancestor of the promised Messiah. Jesus was, and is still, known as the “Son of David”. If the great King David, whose descendant is the world’s savior, was sinful from the time of his conception, then we are no better. Babies in the womb need Christ’s salvation just as much as the most revered and respected adult. This is why when Jesus instituted Holy Baptism in Matthew 28 He told His disciples to baptize and teach “all nations” which includes everyone, even infants. This is why the Christian church has baptized infants as well as adult converts from the very beginning. This also carried on a similar practice to the Old Testament Israelite practice of circumcising the baby boys on the eighth day after birth. Even babies need the redeeming power of God to be saved. Christ’s practice of Baptism replaced the practice of circumcision and made it universal for boys and girls, and men and women. 
 

Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6)

Jesus once called a little child and had him stand among His disciples and He said, “Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6) We do children no favors by aborting them in the womb. Not all aborted children will go to heaven. Many aborted souls will be in hell to torment their murderers. Some aborted children may be in heaven. Just as the infant John rejoiced in the presence of Jesus in Luke 1:41, though both John and Jesus were still in their mothers’ wombs, so some unborn children may believe. The Holy Spirit calls all people to faith, and some may believe, even though they may not yet be fully formed. We also do them no favors in depriving them the joys (and the struggles) of life as believers in this sinful world. 
 
Christians are not hypocrites for trying to save the lives of innocent babies, while at the same time calling for the just punishment of convicted murderers. Christians are not opposed to giving some time for the guilty murderer to repent (such as the time to conduct a fair trial), because Jesus died to pay for the sin of murder as well as all sins. Because Jesus died for all people, there is no reason why the murderer should not be forgiven and receive eternal life, yet, in order to uphold the value of life in our societies, those who wrongly take life forfeit their own. The repentant murderer may die confident that his sins are forgiven by Christ, but for order and justice here on earth, it is sometimes necessary to put people to death for their crimes.