(Q581c. Are there still more subtle forms of murder?)
Beyond the shedding of blood and the destruction of the body, the commandment reaches still more subtle forms of murder. To this sin are referable, more or less, all acts and words contrary to love: cruelty, mockery, and contempt, which wound the soul as blows wound the body, for “there is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts” (Prv 12:18), and the Lord judged even the scornful word liable to the judgment of murder (Mat 5:22; see Q437, Q486); all that unjustly disturbs the peace and security of our neighbor, threats, intimidation, slander that destroys a good name (which is a kind of life; Prv 22:1; Sir 28:17–18, “the blow of a whip raises a welt, but the blow of a tongue crushes bones… many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not so many as have fallen because of the tongue”); and, lastly, all inward malice against him, even if never shown openly, hatred nursed in the heart, envy that grieves at his good, resentment that wishes him ill and rejoices at his harm. For the commandment, as the Lord expounds it, reaches to the root: the outward act of murder is only hatred come to ripeness, and before the tribunal of God the hatred itself is already the deed in seed, “whoever hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not remain in a murderer” (1Jo 3:15; cf. Mat 15:19; see Q467, Q486). He, therefore, who would keep this commandment whole must not merely restrain his hand but cleanse his heart, rooting out anger and envy before they bear their fruit (Gen 4:5–7; see Q577), and replacing them with the love which “does no wrong to a neighbor” and is therefore “the fulfilling of the law” (Rom 13:10; see Q065, Q607).
