Even though Scripture forbids stealing, any heart in love with the world will still be inclined to it. Sinners love forbidden fruit. The woman of folly rightly says to those she seduces, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (Proverbs 9:17). Water in this context likely refers to sexual intimacy (Proverbs 5:15). Touching the adulteress and watching the porn star may seem sweeter than celebrating sexual intimacy in its proper context, but Scripture reveals that the sweet water is deadly. “Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel” (Proverbs 20:17).

Have you read a social media post and later found it was another’s used without permission or credit given? Or worse, have you ever listened to a sermon and later found out that it was stolen from online? I have, sadly, several times. How can one commend insights by infringement? How can one plagiarize to publicize righteousness?

Sadly, even professing Christians steal and find ways to justify stealing, especially in less obvious forms.

Breaking the Eighth Commandment

Question 142 and its answer in the Westminster Catechism captures well the many and subtle ways we break the eighth commandment today:

Q. What are the sins forbidden in the eighth commandment?

A. The sins forbidden in the eighth commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are, theft, robbery, manstealing, and receiving anything that is stolen; fraudulent dealing, false weights and measures, removing landmarks, injustice and unfaithfulness in contracts between man and man, or in matters of trust; oppression, extortion, usury, bribery, vexatious lawsuits, unjust enclosures and depopulations; engrossing commodities to enhance the price; unlawful callings, and all other unjust or sinful ways of taking or withholding from our neighbor what belongs to him, or of enriching ourselves; covetousness; inordinate prizing and affecting worldly goods; distrustful and distracting cares and studies in getting, keeping, and using them; envying at the prosperity of others; as likewise idleness, prodigality, wasteful gaming; and all other ways whereby we do unduly prejudice our own outward estate, and defrauding ourselves of the due use and comfort of that estate which God hath given us.

“You shall not steal,” the eighth command to God’s first-covenant people, holds true for God’s new-covenant people, in a sense, even more seriously than it did those of the first. God loathes and prohibits looting among his covenant people in every age. Although people at times may justify stealing under mitigating circumstances (Proverbs 6:30; 30:9), stealing is always condemned in Scripture.

You shall not steal. (Exodus 20:15; Leviticus 19:11; Deuteronomy 5:19)

Let the thief no longer steal. (Ephesians 4:28)

The apostle Paul warned the church that if robbers do not repent, God will rob them of the pleasure of robbery by withholding the kingdom from them forever (1 Corinthians 6:9–10). Looters will soon greet looming eternal destruction — unless they repent.

Robbery robs us of real and eternal joy (Jeremiah 2:26). Even though Scripture forbids stealing, any heart in love with the world will still be inclined to it. Sinners love forbidden fruit. The woman of folly rightly says to those she seduces, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant” (Proverbs 9:17). Water in this context likely refers to sexual intimacy (Proverbs 5:15). Touching the adulteress and watching the porn star may seem sweeter than celebrating sexual intimacy in its proper context, but Scripture reveals that the sweet water is deadly. “Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel” (Proverbs 20:17).

Why God Cares About Stealing

We must ask the question, why does stealing kill and damn us?

Stealing conflicts with the character of God, whose image we bear. Our God is infinitely rich, and not because he stole from another to enrich himself. “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it” (Deuteronomy 10:14). He owns the heavens of heavens because he made them.

God’s image-bearers must work hard, doing honest work, and then further reflect their Creator by being generous with what they earn. God creates, owns, and shares. He cares about stealing because he cares about his glory. When laziness and selfishness drive us to steal, we forfeit the opportunity to share in God’s righteous character and reflect him to the world.

Paul says, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28). Labor can kill looting. Hard work can kill hacking into what belongs to others. Honest hard work hinders dishonest gain. We kill the temptation to steal the spouse of another by doing the hard work of maintaining romance in our marriages (or, for singles, doing the hard and rewarding work of maintaining purity for the glory of God). We defeat plagiarism by “cutting off the hand” that wants to copy and paste, by doing the hard work of careful thought and articulation, while giving credit where it is due. We fight dishonesty with faithful exertion, as we meditate on the wondrous works of God.

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