Nightline's series on the Ten Commandments moves to the 8th Commandment: "Thou shalt not steal."The commandment, or more properly prohibition, is general enough in Exodus 20:15 to include both kidnapping and swiping what belongs to others. According to the experts, the 8th Commandment included the notion of stealth.
Clearly, there is a sense of the integrity and security of personal property in the 8th Commandment. But property is not enough: property involves the person. Not to steal is not only to respect ownership and to live within the rights of ownership, but it is to respect the person who owns something.
Jesus, I would argue, ups the ante here. In Matthew 19:18-19 ("19:18 "Which ones?" he asked. Jesus replied, "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19:19 honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.") Jesus shows that the second half of the Ten Commandments are connected to loving your neighbor as yourself.
Which means, not stealing for Jesus is a reflection that you are to love your neighbor. I would say we can up this ante more: loving your neighbor is to do more than just "not steal." Loving your neighbor is to pray for and work that your neighbor and your neighbor's possessions will flourish according to God's designs. It is take joy in who the neighbor is and to take joy in what God has given that neighbor. It is to be grieved when your neighbor does bad and to be grieved when your neighbor doesn't respect his or her own property and possessions.
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I like what you do with this, Scot. In particular, I like the line regarding taking joy in who that neighbor is and in what God has given that neighbor. Quite different than the jealous, competitive perspective that many of us have toward our neighbors.
Amen. Respecting the person that own something and respecting the God to whom all things belong.
I remember that I thought one of Billy Graham's most powerful messages was when he would be speaking about the Ten Commandments. We still do need the conviction that the Law brings to show us our need for Christ.
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Scot, I like how you have taken the implications of this commandment even further by encouraging us not just to avoid taking from our neighbor, but working for his well-being as well. Coincidently, I've been preaching a series on the Ten Commandments that wraps up this week. So I've been thinking a lot about these lately. Here's some of my thoughts about this commandment from a couple of weeks ago, which I think relate to what you are saying:
It may seem obvious, but the things we take which aren’t rightfully ours, rightfully belong to someone else. So when we steal, we are creating injustice in the world and the Bible has a lot to say about injustice.
At its heart, God’s reign is one of justice and fairness. When we rationalize our robberies, we are saying that our money is more important than our ethics, and that material possessions are more important than justice. When we steal, in any form, we are, in essence, taking away from God’s kingdom. We are undermining and rebelling against God’s reign of justice in the world.
It’s not just our neighbors from whom we’re stealing. We’re stealing from the dream of God.
Why dont the Feds get this one? "Wealth Redistribution" is just stealing from one person(or persons) to give to another person(or persons) that dont deserve it. Dont they get what "In God We Trust" means?
I am curious to see what everyone thinks about the implications of this commandment and the prevalence of downloading music/movies on the Internet. Even as Christians we use a lot of worldly reasons to validate our activity in this. I honestly cannot believe some of the folks I know that do this and talk about it with a wry grin on their face. If the community around you shouts - we do it because the prices are too high and the industry is unfair - does that make it any less wrong? Just a thought...
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