Why does Paul not include murderers (or liars) in First Corinthians 6?

Question

1 Corinthians 6

King James Version (KJV)

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 No thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

I realize that the word unrighteous (NIV - "wrongdoers") would include murderers implicitly, but it seems like it would have been an easy and obvious thing to have included murderers in the list.

And what about liars? Why are liars not included? (This brings up an interesting side-note: why does the traditional Church teach that bearing false witness (ψευδομαρτυρέω - to utter falsehoods in giving testimony, to testify falsely, to bear false witness)) is the same as lying in general? Are there other scriptures that command mankind not to lie generally? And if so, does the original language reflect the same or different connotation as "bearing false witness"?) (As another aside, I think it is odd that the last of the Strong's definitions of "bearing false witness" is "to bear false witness"!)

Answer 1

In general, Christian teaching, as well as a scholarly understanding, attempts to read intended meaning, rather than the exclusively literal meaning. The author, Paul in this case, doesn't intend to discount the sinfulness of known-sinful actions by their omission from this particular list, which serves one or both of two main purposes:

1. For clarification and/or literary effect. It's a fairly normal construct to list examples in writing, whether to make the writing more tolerable or to ensure your readers understand your terms more fully. For instance, if I write to the general public about apples, I might list a few kinds.
   
   "All apples, Gala, Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, and so forth, are eligible for my apple contest."
   
   But I'm certainly not going to try my reader's patience or risk omitting an important apple by attempting to list all kinds of apples. I just want to quickly make the point that all kinds of apples are eligible apples in context X, even though I may leave Red Delicious, Fuji, and Macintosh off the list.

2. To note sins that may have found some degree of acceptance or normalcy in the community. Paul wants to remind them that these actions, albiet normal in the community, are sinful and damning. But, it doesn't imply that things not on the list aren't sinful. Bestiality, for instance, is also not on the list, but is a sexual sin like others on the list. And as you pointed out, murder is omitted -- and no major Christian denomination will dispute the sinfulness of murder.

Answer 2

Capital Punishment was likely the penalty for murderers under Roman law. Unlike today, people probably did not spend years and years on "Death Row", but received the punishment in a short amount of time.

It should be noted that Barabbas was crucified (sentenced to death) for taking part in a rebellion, which would be considered treason. Paul does not mention treason either.

Essentially, you would not mention an offense whose punishment was death, because dead people cannot repent or feel conviction.

Svidgen's second point is quite noteworthy as well.