The seventh commandment is stated in four words: “You shall not steal.” The meaning of this commandment does not require much exposition or explanation. It means what it says. You shall not steal. We all know what stealing is. To steal is to take or keep that which does not belong to you. The meaning of this commandment is obvious. Unfortunately, the magnitude of this commandment is overlooked. 

The Eighth Word is viewed as the simplest to understand and the easiest to obey. But the former does not assume the latter. The truth is that stealing is a hereditary sin that renders every person guilty of theft. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were free to eat of the true of every tree of the garden but one. Neglecting all she was permitted to have, she fixated on what she could not have. Genesis 3:6 says, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took to its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” 

The first sin was an act of theft. Stealing is in our system. All of us are thieves by nature, intent, and conduct. Martin Luther wrote: “If we look at mankind in all its conditions, it is nothing but a vast, wide stable full of great thieves.”

The October 3, 1935 cover of the Saturday Evening Post featured a painting by Leslie Thrasher. In the middle of the picture was a scale with a big piece of meat on it. On one side was a butcher. On the other side was a woman. Unbeknownst to the other, the butcher’s finger was pushing the scale down, and the woman’s finger was pushing the scale up. 

This simple portrait is profound theology. At our root, we are a culture of thieves who steal from one another in big and little ways. 

• We steal by force. 
• We steal by stealth. 
• We steal by deception. 

The commandment of God forbids all stealing; be it simple stealing, sophisticated stealing, or even spiritual stealing. The world asks, “What do you have?” People are judged by what they have and how much they have. This is not how the Lord judges people. God asks, “How did you get it?” This is the primary concern of the eighth commandment: How you get it is more always important than what you get. Why does how you get it matter?

The Right of Private Ownership

The Lord sent Moses to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let his people go free. After the Passover, hardhearted Pharaoh relented. In Exodus 12:35-36 says, “The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.”A few months after the Exodus, the Lord who instructed the Israelites to plunder the Egyptians as an act of judgment now commands his people not to steal from one another. This commandment is a lode-bearing pillar of society. People cannot live together peacefully when they steal from one another pervasively. We must have respect for our neighbor and reverence for God. 

Respect for Personal Property. 

• Exodus 20:13 commands us to respect our neighbor’s person: “You shall not murder.”
• Exodus 20:14 commands us to respect our neighbor’s purity: “You shall not commit adultery.”
• Exodus 20:15 commands us to respect our neighbor’s property: “You shall not steal.”

This Eighth Word can be translated narrowly and broadly. The most specific way to read this verse is as a prohibition against kidnapping. Exodus 21:16 says, “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.” As a black man, I wish the Bible had more to say directly against slavery. But that does not mean the Bible does not say anything against it. Exodus 20:15 says, “You shall not steal.” Before and beyond what this commandment says about respecting our neighbor’s property, it first tells us to respect our neighbor’s personhood. Don’t steal from people. Moreover, don’t steal people. 

Ultimately, this commandment is a general and comprehensive prohibition against stealing your neighbor’s property. Embedded in this prohibition is the affirmation of the right of private ownership. God does not mind you gaining and having possessions. Proof of this is that God does not mind you taking and keeping possessions that do not belong to you. The Lord did not prescribe the death penalty for stealing, as he did with murder and adultery, because people matter to God more than property. In rare cases, the thief was imprisoned. The punishment for stealing was restitution. 

Exodus 22:1 says, “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.” Restitution required that you return what you had stolen multiplied. The severe punishment was not just a deterrent to future stealing. It was a means of restoring the relationship between the thief and his victim. Remember the Lord is not talking to the nations. He is talking to the people who he brought out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Godly community necessitates respect for personal property. 

Reverence for Divine Sovereignty. The right of private ownership is important. But it is not absolute. “Financial independence” is oxymoronic. The wealthiest person is dependent on others in many ways. Moreover, the wealthiest person is dependent on God in every way. A person may have many possessions. But he or she does not truly own anything. Everything belongs to God. What we possess, God owns. God owns it all because God made it all. Psalm 24:1-2 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.”

 This is why stealing is so sinful. Stealing not only violates our neighbor’s right of private ownership; it also trespasses onto the exhaustive sovereignty of God. In Job 1:21, Job declares, “And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” What a person gains or is by sovereign providence. We have no right to play God by taking and keeping what God has given to someone else. God owns it all. We are only stewards of what God entrusts to us. 

R. Albert Mohler wrote: “As God’s new covenant people in Christ, we must view our wealth not so much as a sign of divine favor, but as a sign of incredible responsibility.” Each of us will give an account for what we do with what the Lord entrusts to us. May we receive the commendation of Matthew 25:21 at the final inspection: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

The Legitimate Means of Acquisition 

The eighth commandment teaches us that there is a wrong way to acquire possessions. The end does not justify the means. Nothing is worth having that unlawful or unethical means to get it. Proverbs 15:16 says, “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it.” How you get it matters. There are three legitimate means of acquisition.  

Honest Labor. Ephesians 4:28 says, “Let the thief steal no longer, but let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” There are two big exhortations in this verse. The first exhortation is for thieves to stop stealing. The contrasting exhortation is to get it the right way by doing honest work with your own hands. This is the biblical principle, process, and perspective on acquiring material possessions: Work for it! Contrary to popular belief, work is not a consequence of the Fall. God gave Adam a job before God gave Adam a wife. The difficulty of work is part of the curse of sin. But labor is a part of what it means to be created in the image of God. 

The Bible warns us against overwork. But the Bible warns against underwork more than overwork. Proverbs 6:9-11 says, “How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” The poverty that overtakes a person who refuses to work is worse than being robbed by an armed bandit. This is not just an Old Testament concept.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, Paul exhorts the church “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” In 2 Thessalonians 3:10, Paul writes, “For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” To gain possessions legitimately, should work hard doing labor honest work trusting God to bless the fruit of our labors. 

Fair Trade. The most fundamental way to acquire possessions legitimately is to do honest labor. But close to it is the practice of fair exchange. It is the process of bartering, in which goods and services are exchanged for goods and services, without using money. The Bible has little to say about fair exchange. It has a lot to say about unfair exchange. Proverbs 11:1 says, “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.” Proverb 20:23 says, “Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good.” False weights represent the subtle, strategic, and sophisticated ways to steal by taking advantage of others. You do not have to break in, pull a weapon, and rob someone by force. You can rob others while in your house, sitting in your class, or working at your job. 

• It is the neighbor that borrows something and never returns it. 
• It is the person who refuses to pay a debt you owe. 
• It is the student who plagiarizes another student’s work. 
• It is the cyber-criminal that assumes another person’s identity. 
• It is the businessperson who engages in dishonest business practices.
• It is the employee who pilfers, embezzles, and wastes time. 
• It is the employer who does not pay employees what they deserve.
• It is the person who writes checks knowing there is no money in the bank.
• It is the citizen that evades paying the taxes he or she should pay. 

 To these and every other deceitful way we seek gain by taking unfair advantage of others, the Lord says, “You shall not steal.” We must acquire possessions with honesty, integrity, and godliness. Proverbs 22:1 says, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.”

Believing Prayer. James 4:2 says, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.” Stealing, fighting, and murder are the result of greed. We foolishly think that others are the reason we do not have what we desire. The truth is that we do not have because we do not ask God for it. Believing prayer is the best way to get your needs met, your desires filled, and your goals reached. In Matthew 7:7, Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; see, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” 

God is willing to hear and able to answer prayer. Yet we hustle instead of praying. Instead of putting the matter in God’s hands, we take matters into our own hands. We thus rob others by stealing what does not belong to us. We also rob God of the opportunity to provide for us. 

Proverbs 30:7-9 is the prayer of Agur: “Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” Agur recognized the legal, moral, and ethical consequences of stealing. But he was most concerned about the spiritual consequences. Stealing claims God cannot be trusted to take care of you! Believers don’t steal. We pray! Prayer does not guarantee we will get what we want. To pray is to live contingently, trusting that yes and no are the answers of our good, wise, and sovereign Father in heaven! 

The Proper Attitude toward Possessions 

 The eighth commandment and the tenth commandment are closely connected to one another. Stealing is the fruit; coveting is the root. A.W. Pink wrote: “The root from which theft proceeds is discontent with the portion God has allotted, and there from a coveting of what he has withheld from us and bestowed upon others.” What you are willing to do to gain possessions reveals whether your attitude toward possessions is godly or worldly. In Luke 12:15, Jesus says, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions.” We have human beings, not human havers. You are more than what you possess. Do not define your life by what you have. Here are two ways to have possessions without possessions having you. 

Gratitude to God. Martin Henry was robbed while walking home. Later that night, Henry made the following entry in his diary: Let me be thankful – First, because I was never robbed before. Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life. Third, because although they took my all, it was not much. Fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.  

Thankfulness is a key way to loosen the grip of materialism that would tempt us to steal. Ephesians 5:20 says Christians should be “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 exhorts: “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” A lack of gratitude is rebellion against God. Romans 1:21 explains why the wrath of God is poured out from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” 

If you do not give thanks to God, you rob God of the honor that is due his glorious name. Things may not be the way you want. But the Lord has been good to you. To give thanks to God is to give credit where credit is due. Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” If you cannot thank God for it, you should not do it. Every word and deed should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus with thanksgiving to God. 

Generosity toward Others. There are three fundamental attitudes toward material possessions: 

• What’s yours is mine and I will take it. 
• What’s mine is mine and I will keep it.
• What’s mine is yours and I will share it. 

The Eighth Word forbids the materialism that would cause you to take what belongs to your neighbor. It also condemns the selfishness that would refuse to share what we have with others. It calls for a lifestyle of generosity that is willing to share. These three attitudes are on display in the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. Thieves rob a man on the Jericho road, beat him up, and leave him for dead. A priest and Levite pass by on the other side, refusing to help. But a Samaritan nursed his wounds, took him to the inn, and paid his expenses. The priest and the Levite robbed the man just as much as the thieves did. The true neighbor was the one who cared, helped, and gave. 

The opposite of stealing is not minding your own business. The opposite of theft is generosity. We steal from others by what we take. We also steal from others by what we withhold. Ephesians 4:28 says, “Let the thief steal no longer, but let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” God does not bless us to make us prosperous. God blesses us to make us generous. 

1 Timothy 6:17-19 says, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasures for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.” R. Kent Hughes wrote: “Every time I give, I declare that money does not control me. Perpetual generosity is a perpetual de-deification of money.” 

Stealing is a terrible sin. It is the original sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden. It was the sin of Achan that caused the children of Israel to suffer defeat at Ai. It was the sin of Ahab and Jezebel that brought judgment on them for stealing Naboth’s vineyard. Philip Graham Ryken wrote: “Every violation of the Ten Commandments involves some form of theft. Bowing down to idols steals God’s worship. Desecrating the Sabbath steals his holy day. Murder steals life; adultery steals purity; lying steals truth.” But though stealing is a terrible sin; it is not an unforgivable sin. On the cross, Jesus died between two convicted thieves. One turned to Jesus and said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.” In Luke 23:43, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day
And there may I, though vile as he, 
Wash all my sins away