Thou Shalt Not Steal

What does the Bible call stealing and what does it look like today?

Theft is taking what doesn’t belong to you.

Unlawful taking of people. (Chattel Slavery). - Ex. 21:16

Inaccurate Measurements - Lev. 19:35-26

Excessive Interest - Ex. 22:25

Cheating Employees of their wages - James 5:4

So, some ways that we see these kind of things going on in our society today is:

Sex trafficking

Inaccurate measurements today could look like selling people an item that you know is defective, or taking advantage of their ignorance for your own benefit.

Excessive interest looks like predatory loan sharks looking for people who have fallen on hard times and capitalizing on their hardship by giving them loans with insane rates of interest. The Bible doesn’t forbid any sort of loaning with interest, but it does command us to help the poor and to do so without interest.

Cheating employees looks like a company cutting several positions and “restructuring” new employee tasks which often results in the remaining employees now having to do more work for the same amount of pay.

A few other examples that we might see in our daily lives more frequently are:

Plagiarism or taking credit for someone else’s work.

Lying on your time card at work or not working diligently while you’re on the clock.

Cheating on a test.

Buying things on credit and never intending to pay it back.+

Finally, this commandment forbids us from having an attitude that says, “Someone else will take care of this themselves” (DeYoung). We see this forbidden in passages like Ephesians 4:28 says

Ephesians 4:28 NKJV

28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

Does God take this sin seriously?

In Joshua 7, the children of Israel are going about their conquest of the promised land. However, as they come against Ai, they fight against them and lose the fight with 36 of their men being killed. This defeat crushes Joshua who falls on the ground and begins weeping and crying out to God. In response to this, God tells him that the reason for their defeat is because one of his men sinned and stole some of the spoils from their last victory and that this wickedness must be dealt with.

So, the next day, Joshua launches an investigation and finds Achan who confesses to his sin and here is what happens next. Joshua 7:25-26

“And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.”

Now, this passage really troubles some people and has caused some debate around why Achan’s family and animals were also killed, but to keep us from getting caught up in that, I think Proverbs speaks to this directly. Proverbs 15:27 says, “He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house…”

So, to answer the question about whether or not God really cares about this issue is pretty clearly answered and the answer is yes and that He takes it quite seriously. 1 Cor. 6:9-10 says,

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

The reason that such sin is so serious is because it communicates two things about us according to Philip Ryken. First, It reveals that we don’t trust in God’s provision for us and second, that we don’t care about what God provides for others. So, is there an answer for people like us, for a world like us? Can we be forgiven and fixed? And, as you might guess, there is in Christ.

Christ and His crucifixion between two thieves.

In 1 Cor. 6, Paul ends that text I just read with,

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

In short, we are forgiven and freed from this sin through the work of God in Christ alone. As a matter of fact, as you think of the life of Jesus, you see Him surrounded by thieves quite often. The money changers in the Temple were scam artists, the tax collectors often raised percentages to pad their own pockets, Judas Iscariot was stealing money from the disciples, and most beautifully of all, Jesus was crucified between two thieves and do you know what He said to the one who called upon Him? “Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise.”

Christ makes His presence known among thieves, but He doesn’t leave them be. He takes robbers of men who also try to rob God of His glory and He saves them and makes them stewards of grace. If you are convicted today, Christ is more than ready to receive you regardless of what you’ve done.

And for those of us who He has saved, He lovingly calls us to commit ourselves to Christian stewardship.

Christ calls us to Christian stewardship.

This looks like:

Considering God as the source and master of our resources. - Matt 6:24

Matthew 6:24 NKJV

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Cultivating a generous heart. - Eph. 4:28

Ephesians 4:28 NKJV

28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

Contributing to the work of the Gospel. - 2 Cor. 8:1-5

2 Corinthians 8:1–5 NKJV

1 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. 3 For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, 4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5 And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.