Stealing from one another is the topic of the eighth commandment. The fifth commandment is about honoring the people that God created, and finding their precious value. The sixth commandment is about allowing them to have their life that God gave them. The seventh commandment is about allowing them to have their pleasures and their union with God that God created for them. And the eighth is about letting them have the things God gave to them. We have our own things, and they have theirs. We have no right to take their things from them.
Furthermore, as we found that with the sixth commandment, the Holy Spirit indicates that not only are we not to do things that harm people’s lives, that diminish their lives, that ministers death to them, but rather we are to be life givers to them. We don’t take life, we give life. We are to do things that enhance and further their lives, and fill them with the life of God. Similarly, according to the light the Holy Spirit gives us concerning the seventh commandment, not only are we not to use people for the pleasure they give us, or seek to give them unwholesome pleasure (such as beefing up the ego of a popular preacher), but rather we are to do that which enhances their union with God and giving Him and Him only pleasure. In the same way, in light of the eighth commandment, not only are we not to steal from one another, but we are to give. Jesus said, in line with God’s heart on the matter, “Give, and it shall be given unto you” (Luke 6:38).
This is why, in the old testament, when someone stole from another, God’s punishment and correction was to have that person give double back to the victim. They stole, but under God’s correction they ended up giving that amount instead of taking it! What a revelation this is for us. It is as though God is saying, “I do not want you to steal from another, but rather to give what you desire for yourself to them.” Give what you would have wanted to have for yourself! “All that you would wish that people would do for you, these do for them; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12).
Paul said, in harmony with these words, that “The one loving another has fulfilled the law…. Love does no harm to a neighbor; love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:8,10). Love is the fulfillment of the law. Love will consider the kinds of things that meet our needs, that satisfy our longings, that encourage us, then will seek to GIVE these to those about us! Because these things are so important to us, the new life of Christ within us will anoint us to be diligent to give those kinds of things to those around us. This is not generally natural for people. But, in the anointed life that we receive, our whole viewpoint about life changes. When we encounter other people, we immediately start seeking, in the Holy Spirit, by our spirit flowing in the Holy Spirit, how to bless and give to these people the kinds of things that we know humans need. We seek to be sources of blessing, sources of giving.
Here is one example. In my kind of engineering work, the following kind of situation is common. I am listening to another engineer present some work in which they developed equations, and ran simulations to prove out the new method they have developed, and it worked very well. It turns out that I have also done some similar work, with very similar results. Instead of stealing some of their thunder, and stealing the honor that is due them for their good work (by, saying, yes, I have gotten similar results), I need to die to that tendency and just let them know what a good piece of work they have done. I need to give them the honor they deserve, instead of stealing that honor for myself.
When we were without Christ, it was almost impossible not to try to at least steal some of the honor for ourselves. But the liberty from such evil is what the Holy Spirit gives to us. We are free from stealing. We are free from taking the honor, or the credit, that belong to another. Instead, we live a life seeking to see the needs of those about us, and to see in what way our God, who is our life, would have us give to them.
Similarly, we are free from stealing the affection, and the healthful attention and interactions people need with other people. My daughter, for example, may walk into the living room where I am reading, and sit on the couch across from me. I may be tempted to say a perfunctory, “hello,” then get back to my book without really considering her needs. But the love of God will not let me do that. I may indeed start with a simple “hello.” Then, while looking at my book, I seek in the life of God within as to what her needs may be at the moment. Sometimes, it seems like she is not at that time looking for a conversation, etc., so I may feel a peaceful and joyful spiritual sense to just keep on reading and enjoying my book. At other times, however, even though I feel a strong draw to ignore her and just read (for once I am involved with something, I am prone to want to just keep at it; I do not like to be interrupted, or to have to switch to something else), the power of the love of God within me will not let me do so. Instead, I pause, and consider in the Spirit whether she needs any time (“how are you doing today”), any affection (“I sure do love you”), any praise (“that is a pretty shirt”), or something else. Then I receive strength from my Life to do just that.
What a joy to lose our life, to be able to flow in what God is doing! What a joy to be set free from selfishly doing what we want to do, to consider what the love of God is doing on behalf of those around us. What a joy to be set free from stealing the honor, from stealing the time and affection, etc., that others need, and instead find ourselves being sources of giving these things to those we encounter in life. This is what the eighth commandment is a prophecy about.
Now let us turn to the Ninth Commandment, in which this freedom in Christ is extended to not judging other people, so that God’s judgments can be brought out.