Rev. Dan Calvo
Pittsburgh New Church; March 1, 2026
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In 1955, in Mississippi, a 14-year-old Black teenager named Emmett Till was brutally murdered by two grown men. Emmett was accused of whistling at a woman during a quick visit in a store, and in revenge, the woman's husband and his half-brother kidnapped Emmett in the middle of the night, beat him up, shot him in the head, and dumped his lifeless body in a river. A 14-year-old teenager, lynched, because he allegedly whistled when he saw a woman in a store. The initial accusation, which was used as an excuse to commit unspeakable violence against a child by men whose hearts were full of hatred, acted in a way as the murder of Emmet Till’s reputation, which ultimately led to the horrendous physical murder of his body.
Today we will be discussing the fifth of the ten commandments: “You shall not murder.” Many of us don’t tend to think too much about this commandment, both because it is so straightforward and because most of us have never been faced with the moral dilemma to either take or spare a human life. For the vast majority of people in this day and age, it is not exactly a struggle to follow the fifth commandment by not killing a human being, but once we dive into the different meanings of this commandment, we may find that we are struggling to follow it, even though we may not realize it just yet.
Each one of the Ten Commandments has three different meanings: a literal meaning, which is what we read in the book of the Word itself; a spiritual meaning, which relates to how we treat our neighbors; and a celestial meaning, which relates to our personal relationship with God. Today we will explore all three of the meanings of the commandment against murder, starting with the literal meaning of what we read in the book of the Word itself.
While the commandment as found in the Word is quite self-explanatory, the Heavenly Doctrines expand on the literal sense of this commandment in the book True Christian Religion, where it says that:
This commandment, 'You shall not murder', means in the natural sense that it is forbidden to kill a human being or inflict upon him any wound that might prove fatal; also to mutilate his body. It also means not doing any drastic injury to his name or reputation, since to many people their reputation is as precious as their life. In a wider natural sense murder includes feelings of enmity, hatred and revenge which are murderous in intent. For these have the idea of murder lurking in them. These are murders in intention, but not in deed. (True Christian Religion 309)
When we allow ourselves to hold resentment against other people, to the point in which we believe that they are worthless, and that the world would be a better place if they did not exist, that resentment can continue to grow and fester inside us, until it explodes into real physical violence. Even if it never manifests as a physical act of violence, if the only thing keeping us from hurting another person is a fear of consequences, such as jail or the loss of reputation, then we are still guilty of committing murder in our heart.
Even if we don't physically take a person’s life, there are countless examples in history, besides the case of Emmett Till, that show that the destruction of the reputation of a person or group can lead to the physical murder of human beings. The movie “Birth of a Nation” which depicted Black men as being violent criminals who targeted innocent women, directly inspired the creation of the second iteration of the KKK, which was responsible for hundreds of brutal murders of innocent people. The Nazi propaganda machine which depicted Jewish people as being responsible for all the problems that Germany was facing, led to a horrific genocide of the Jewish people during World War II. Destroying the reputation of someone, whether we are talking about an individual or a group of people, may lead to the loss of human life in a way that goes against the Lord’s will for us, which is for us to live in peace, respect, and love with one another.
Now many of us may feel that we are doing a really good job following the fifth commandment so far. If we don’t physically injure anybody or hold any murderous hatred against any other person, and if we don't destroy someone's reputation, then we may look at ourselves and say that we are doing an incredible job. And perhaps we are, but the Heavenly Doctrines are very clear that even if we are not actively doing something evil, we can still be guilty of those very evils, if we support them in others. Even if we are not killing another person, or destroying their reputation, if we see other people doing those things, and we support it or believe that it is acceptable, then we are also participating in murder and we are breaking the fifth commandment.
The book Divine Providence explains this further by saying this:
If we believe that particular evils are permissible, then they do become part of us even though we do not do them, since the permission we grant them in our thought comes from our intent, and there is an agreement. As a result, when we believe that some particular evil is permissible, we have relaxed the inner restraint against it and are kept from doing it only by outward restraints, which are fears. (Divine Providence 81)
We must always be vigilant that we do not condone violence done by other people, even against those that we think deserve it for whatever reason we may have. The Lord has taught us that we must take care of our neighbor’s well-being on multiple levels, not only on a natural and physical level, but also on a mental, emotional, and spiritual level as well. When violence is done to a person's reputation or body, and we don't react to that violence with reprehension, sadness, or disgust, but rather we decide to celebrate it or support it, even if we do so quietly, we are breaking the fifth commandment, even if we are not the ones committing the harm.
The spiritual meaning of the fifth commandment focuses on our relationship with our neighbors. Now the literal sense of the fifth commandment is already very focused on how we treat other people, since it tells us not to destroy a person's body or their reputation, but the spiritual meaning of the fifth commandment goes deeper than the physical level, and it tells us to not destroy our neighbor's connection with the Lord and the church.
According to this passage from the book True Christian Religion:
In the spiritual sense murders mean all manners of killing and destroying human souls. These are of many and varied kinds, for instance, turning them away from God, religion and the worship of God, making these things the subject of scandal, and persuading people of things which cause them to be hated and rejected. (True Christian Religion 310)
When we push people away from religion we are committing murder in the spiritual sense. If we go through life saying “the church is evil and it has nothing to offer, it’s just a bunch of lies, and all the church wants is to take your money, and it’s full of uppity hypocritical people who think they’re better than you,” if we go through life saying those things or pushing people away from engaging with religion, then we commit murder in the spiritual sense. Now, this doesn’t mean that we should never criticize a church when it is doing something evil, and it especially doesn’t mean that people who have been victimized by organized religion shouldn’t be allowed to speak about their experience. In fact, priests or church communities that commit evil are also murdering in a spiritual sense because they are pushing people away from God with their very actions. However, when we unjustly push people away from religion and God altogether, saying that it’s all worthless, we are closing the door on a lot of possibilities for support, community, love, and guidance for people who need it.
Sometimes this can even happen in church communities with people who have the best of intentions. For example, if we meet a newcomer who came to church on Sunday, who has some opinions that we don't like, or has some lifestyle choices that we disagree with, but they are coming to church with a genuine desire to connect with God and live a good life, if we were to push that person away and not welcome them into our church, we would be committing murder in the spiritual sense because we would be pushing that person away from possibly having a life-changing experience of connecting with God and finding support in a community of believers. This is why it is so important to foster an environment in church that is welcoming to others and that is open for people of all walks of life who are willing to listen to the Word of God and live by it, because when we don't have that kind of community, we run the risk of murdering someone’s spirit who is trying to approach God.
Finally, since we have talked about the literal meaning of the fifth commandment which is about the murder of someone's body or reputation, and the spiritual meaning of the fifth commandment which is about the murder of someone's spirit, we arrive at the celestial meaning of this commandment, which is about our personal relationship with God. If the spiritual meaning of murder is to push people away from God and religion, it follows that the celestial meaning of murder, is to want to destroy God Himself.
The book True Christian Religion says that:
In the celestial sense murdering means being unjustifiably angry with the Lord, hating Him and wanting to blot out His name. These are the people who are said to crucify Him; and they would actually do so if He came into the world as before. (TCR 311)
Holding a resentment against God Himself to the point where we think that God should not exist and that He is worthless, is murder in the celestial sense. This often comes from feelings of superiority and selfishness where we think that we should be the ones in charge, that we should be the ones who are in control of the universe, and everyone should be under our power. When we hate God to the point where we cannot even bear to hear His name mentioned, we are committing murder in the celestial sense.
Even though the very idea of killing God is nonsensical (because who could ever kill infinity itself?) when we resent the values and love of God, when we want to destroy love, wisdom, respect, and human dignity, we are committing a murder of the very idea of God in our own hearts. And as we mentioned earlier, even if we do not physically hurt someone, if we hold a resentment against a person to the point that we would actually hurt them if we could, we are still guilty of committing murder, and this is the case for those who want to murder God Himself.
The fifth commandment can be difficult to talk about, because of all the suffering that is related to it. When this commandment is broken families are destroyed, dreams are shattered, and the world becomes a worst place to live in. The Lord called on us to follow this commandment in its entirety, to never destroy a person's body, to never hold hatred in our heart, to not destroy a person's reputation, to not push people away from religion, and finally to not hate the Lord Himself whose only desire is for us to be happy and to feel His infinite love for us. Whenever we break the fifth commandment in any of its forms, we not only commit a murder that hurts others, we murder our own spirit, because we move further away from God, who is the source of life itself.
The fifth commandment is a reminder of the Lord’s great commandment for us when He said: “Love one another as I have loved you.” The Lord loves us with all our imperfections, even when we make it very difficult for Him to connect with us. He wants nothing but the best for us, and He is willing to walk alongside us as we go through life, and He wants us to have that same love and care for each other. When we follow the fifth commandment and reject the hatred that comes with murder in all its forms, we can live more fully with the Lord's presence in our hearts, so that we may be the kind of useful, wise, loving servants that the Lord called us to be. Amen.