He states, "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1John 3:15, NKJV). The apostle John elaborates on this by writing that to hate someone is the same as murdering them.
In Matthew 5:21 - 26 Jesus amplified the meaning of the sixth commandment "thou shall not kill." He revealed that to commit murder is more than killing someone, it means having an angry and unforgiving attitude towards them (Matthew 5:21 - 26). While on earth, Jesus spoke out against murder (Matthew 5:21 - 26, Mark 10:17 - 19). Even before the codification of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, the murder of other human beings was wrong (Genesis 4:8 - 12, 4:23 - 24, 9:4 - 6, Exodus 1:16 - 17). The primary reason God hates murder is that out of all creation, only human are made in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:26 - 27, 9:4 - 6). He also recognized that humans might accidentally kill each other, and he made provisions for this (Numbers 35:9 - 34, Deuteronomy 19:1 - 13).
God also allowed the Israelites to engage in warfare and even gave them instructions about waging war (Deuteronomy 20:1 - 20). Ancient Israelites, under the Old Covenant, were allowed to kill other humans under very special circumstances such as punishment for certain sins, for example, murder (Exodus 21:12 - 14, Leviticus 24:17, 21) and adultery (Leviticus 20:10, Deuteronomy 22:22 - 24).
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