This article is about whether or not God forgives murderers and lets them into the Kingdom of Heaven. From a human point of view, this is an absolute no-go; but those who think this way should take a look at their own noses and understand the Good News of Jesus Christ.
God forgives murderers if they confess to God with a full heart and repent from all their bad deeds! If this is done with an honest heart, God forgives this person all his sins and lets him into the Kingdom of God!
I think that the Good News of Jesus Christ cannot be made clearer than with the example of a murderer. The above sentences are true, but more complicated than it looks at first.
Table of Contents
Can and will God forgive murderers?
That God forgives murderers is up to God alone. He himself decides whether a person is forgiven or not. The most important thing, however, is that God has promised to forgive anyone who honestly acknowledges his mistakes and asks God for forgiveness.
This applies to all offenses against God (this is called “sin”). We as human beings, and that includes murderers, cannot help but sin. Murderers are no exception.
We may not understand why God also gives His grace to murderers of all people – but at this point we put our own will, above the will of God. We ourselves become a judge at this point, judging another human being.
In the Bible we read that certain sins are punished more than others – but already one sin brings a person to hell. But God loves us and does not want us to end up in hell.
Those who already don’t understand this (which I do) should consider what a murderer is in the eyes of God….
What does the bible say about forgiving murderers?
At first glance, the matter seems quite trivial: When is one actually a murderer in God’s eyes? Most may have claimed never to want to hurt someone else with killing intent – no matter whether with knife or pistol. Probably most people have never even seen a dead body-
But with large probability you, dear reader, are also considered in the eye of God as a murderer!
Let’s have a look in the Bible at the Sermon on the Mount, which is the most important sermon that Jesus himself gave.
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; but whoever says to his brother, “Raka!” will be liable to the high council; but whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire.
Matthew 5:22
Jesus brings up different insults here and describes them with their consequences. It doesn’t matter what the meaning of the individual words is – the important thing to understand here is that anger alone can bring you to hell. Jesus said this in the context of the commandment “Thou shalt not kill”, so you can easily make the connection here that anger = murder.
Or in other words, if you have been angry even once in your life, you already count as a murderer in the eye of God. Since we probably don’t find the fine line between insult and anger (see quote) so easily today, we should assume in the dumbest case that virtually everyone counts as a murderer before God.
Funnily enough, people seem to realize “by themselves” that a murderer is to be punished. That was already with Luther’s times so.
Unfortunately, very few people know that they themselves are murderers before God.
How can a murderer ask for forgiveness before God?
In the introduction, I wrote that murderers can “simply” ask for forgiveness and they will be forgiven. Probably you, dear reader, have just realized yourself that you may not be in as good a position before God as you thought. The Bible even goes so far as to state in Romans 3:23 that all men have sinned.
And sin means hell.
So how do we or the murderer get out of this mess? God himself gave us the way! He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place and thus take all our guilt. This provides the basis for anyone to bear the guilt.
To put it simply, it is not possible for God to forget a sin or guilt and leave the matter. Someone has to pay for it. And Jesus Christ paid for us. But he does not take your guilt on himself without condition!
- a) The individual must have recognized that he has made a mistake.
- b) He must ask for forgiveness with an honest heart.
- c) He must accept Jesus Christ as his Savior.
- d) The person (also the murderer!) must from now on try to avoid the sin (“repent” is the technical word)
If you yourself are a murderer before God or have realized that you need Jesus, your first step would be a sinners prayer.
Murderers do not deserve mercy from God, but…
The headline is surprising, isn’t it? And yet everything I wrote above is true. No murderer or human being deserves the grace of God. We can’t. We deserve, if everything would go “according to right things”, hell – Whether you are a murderer or liar before God or have practiced blasphemy.
No man can earn his place in the kingdom of heaven or even work for it with good deeds. That is simply not possible, since already a “mistake” means the eternal damnation. Therefore, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is not earned; it is a gift to all mankind.
Murderers (and other people) do not deserve the grace of God. They are given it by God out of sheer love. This love is the only way to paradise. It is the grace of God to man.
For every human being. Even murderers.
