Christian Faith: The Basics, Part 16

In discussing the basics of Christian faith, we've started by looking at the Ten Commandments. We're up to the Seventh Commandment:

You shall not steal.

With this commandment, says the sixteenth century Christian reformer Martin Luther, we arrive at another level of relating to our neighbor:

Next to our own person and our spouse [the objects protected in The Fourth and Fifth Commandments], our temporal property is dearest to us. This, too, God wants protected.

This commandment then, refutes the idea that God doesn't care about this world or our "stuff." On the contrary, the Bible sees money and other material goods as gifts from God over which we're to exercise good "stewardship," wise and respectful management. We're to control our money and not allow it to control us, seeing it as something we can use not only to provide for our families and ourselves, but to gain friends in heaven, helping others to know and experience Christ. In fact, how we manage our possessions is so important that when God came to earth in the Person of Jesus, He talked more about money and its management than He did about heaven and hell combined. (For more on the Biblical view of money, see here.)

I must confess that I have often been faithless as a manager of my possessions. Whether in thought, word, or action, I've violated this commandment, just as I have found ways to violate the other nine. I can only thank God that He is forgiving!

This commandment tells us that just like the dishonoring of parents, murder, and adultery, the subjects of the three preceding commands, stealing from others is an impudent human effort to override God's judgment, taking for ourselves blessings that God has granted to others.

There are all sorts of ways that this command is violated, going way beyond the obvious. Examples would include:

• Being irresponsible at work, allowing our employer's property to be damaged
• Not doing our jobs, wasting the money our employers or contactors spend to pay us
• Overcharging others for goods and services we sell to them
• Defrauding others by selling them merchandise, goods, or services we know to be deficient in some way
• Swindling anybody in whatever way
• Manipulating markets or the legal system to swipe money and property from others [the preceding six items are based on a list compiled by Luther and presented in The Large Catechism]
• Luring people to buy products or services they don't need
• Enticing people to engage in gambling or to fall for "get rich quick" schemes
  

But, as is true of all the commandments, this one is more than a proscription against violating God's will. It also commends positive behavior. Luther says that to obey this commandment:

We should fear and love God that we may not take our neighbor's money or property, nor get them by false ware or dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and business [that his means are preserved and his condition is improved].

This past week, I co-presided over the wedding of a wonderful bride and her equally wonderful groom, a young man I've known since he was in the seventh grade. In the wedding liturgy of my faith tradition, a section of the service is given over to allowing the entire gathering of witnesses to prayerfully commit themselves to helping the newlyweds keep their wedding vows by praying for them and encouraging them.

Similarly, in this commandment, God calls us to prayerfully find ways to help others keep their property, supporting them in being wise and grateful stewards of their material blessings. Luther writes:

...One one hand, we are forbidden to do our neighbor any injury or wrong in any way imaginable, whether by damaging, withholding, or interfering with his possessions and property. We are not even to consent to or permit such a thing, but are rather to avert and prevent it. On the other hand, we are commanded to promote and further our neighbor's interests, and when he suffers we are to help, share, and lend to both friends and foes.

Obedience to this command will also lead, Luther asserts, to being charitable to the poor. He cites the words of Proverbs 19:17:

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full.

This commandment in all its implications should indicate what God's primary object for us is: That we live in a community of love and mutuality rooted in Him. Love, in God's eyes, is very practical business and it includes safeguarding the material stuff that's been entrusted to us.