VII. The Seventh Commandment
In what now follows something shall be said about the seventh commandment, which is, "Thou shalt not kill." In all the commandments of the Decalogue, as in all things of the Word, two internal senses are involved (besides the highest which is a third), one that is next to the letter and is called the spiritual moral sense, another that is more remote and is called the spiritual celestial sense.
The nearest sense of this commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," which is the spiritual moral sense, is that one must not hate his brother or neighbor, and thus not defame or slander him; for thus he would injure or kill his reputation and honor, which is the source of his life among his brethren, which is called his civil life, and afterward he would live in society as one dead, for he would be numbered among the vile and wicked, with whom no one would associate. When this is done from enmity, from hatred, or from revenge, it is murder.
Morever, by many in the world this life is counted and esteemed in equal measure with the life of the body. And before the angels in the heavens he that destroys this life is held to be as guilty as if he had destroyed the bodily life of his brother. For enmity, hatred, and revenge breathe murder and will it; but they are restrained and curbed by fear of the law, of resistance and of loss of reputation. And yet these three are endeavors toward murder; and every endeavor is an act, for it goes forth into act when fear is removed. This is what the Lord teaches in Matthew:
"Ye have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to the judgment; whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be liable to the hell of fire." (v. 21-26)
But the more remote sense of this commandment, Thou shalt not kill, which is called the celestial spiritual sense, is that one shall not take away from man the faith and love of God, and thus his spiritual life. This is murder itself, because from this life man is a man, the life of the body serving this life as the instrumental cause serves its principal cause. Moreover, from this spiritual murder moral murder is derived; consequently he who is in the one is also in the other; for he who wills to take away a man's spiritual life is in hatred against him if he cannot take it away, for he hates the faith and love in him, and thus the man himself. These three, namely, spiritual murder, which pertains to faith and love, moral murder, which pertains to reputation and honor, and natural murder, which pertains to the body, follow in a series one from the other, like cause and effect. (A.E., n. 1012.)
As all who are in hell are in hatred against the Lord, and thus in hatred against heaven, for they are against goods and truths, so hell is the essential murderer or the source of essential murder. It is the source of essential murder because man is man from the Lord through the reception of good and truth; consequently destruction of good and truth is destruction of the human itself, thus the killing of man.
That those who are in hell are such has not yet been known in the world, because in those who belong to hell and therefore after death come into hell no hatred against good and truth, or against heaven, or still less against the Lord, is evident. For everyone while he lives in the world is in externals; and these externals are taught and trained from infancy to counterfeit such things as are honest and decorous, right and equitable, and good and true. Nevertheless, hatred lies concealed in their spirit, and this in equal degree with the evil of their life. And as hatred is in the spirit it breaks forth when the externals are laid aside, as is the case after death.
This infernal hatred against all who are in good is deadly hatred because it is hatred against the Lord. This can be seen particularly in their delight in doing evil, which is such as to exceed in degree every other delight, for it is a fire that burns with a lust for destroying souls. Moreover, it has been ascertained that this delight is not from hatred against those whom they attempt to destroy, but from hatred against the Lord Himself. And since man is a man from the Lord, and the human which is from the Lord is good and truth, and since those who are in hell are, from hatred against the Lord, eager to kill the human, which is good and truth, it follows that hell is the source of murder itself. (A.E., n. 1013.)
From what has been said above it can be seen that all who are in evils in respect to life, and in the falsities therefrom, are murderers; for they are enemies and haters of good and truth, since evil hates good and falsity hates truth. The evil man does not know he is in such hatred until he becomes a spirit; then hatred is the very delight of his life. Consequently from hell, where all the evil are, there constantly breathes forth a delight in doing evil from hatred; while from heaven, where all the good are, there constantly breathes forth a delight in doing good from love. Therefore two opposite spheres meet each other in the middle region between heaven and hell, and engage in reciprocal combat. While man lives in the world he is in this middle region. If he is then in evil and in falsities therefrom he passes over to the side of hell, and thus comes into a delight in doing evil from hatred. But if he is in good and in truths therefrom, he passes over to the side of heaven, and thus comes into a delight in doing good from love.