Devotional #110

Question 110. What does God forbid in the Eighth Commandment?

Answer: God forbids not only those thefts (a), and robberies (b), which are punishable by the magistrate; but He comprehends under the name of theft all wicked tricks and devices, whereby we design to appropriate to ourselves the goods which belong to our neighbour (c): whether it be by force, or under the appearance of right, as by unjust weights, measures, fraudulent merchandise (d), false coins, usury (e), or by any other way forbidden by God; as also all covetousness (f), all abuse and waste of his gifts (g).

(a) 1 Corinthians 6:10: Nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

(b) 1 Corinthians 5:10: Not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
Isaiah 33:1: Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.

(c) Luke 3:14: Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
1 Thessalonians 4:6: That no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

(d) Proverbs 11:1: A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.
Proverbs 16:11: A just balance and scales are the LORD’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.
Ezekiel 45:9-12: “Thus says the Lord GOD: Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and oppression, and execute justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people, declares the Lord GOD. “You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of the same measure, the bath containing one tenth of a homer, and the ephah one tenth of a homer; the homer shall be the standard measure. The shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.
Deuteronomy25:13-16: “You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small. A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God.

(e) Psalm 15:5: Who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.
Luke 6:35: But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

(f) 1 Corinthians 6:10: Nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

(g) Proverbs 23:20-21: Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.
Proverbs 21:20: Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.

For your personal reflection:
The human condition has not changed these last few thousand years, has it?  How is the sin of stealing disguised?  How is it disguised in your life?