The Gospel Coalition
By Wayne Grudem
Wayne Grudem is research professor of theology and biblical studies at Phoenix Seminary in Phoenix, Arizona.
Volume 1, Issue 1, Accessed on July, 2023
6. The Immense Challenge of the Eighth Commandment
Now I close with one broader application: obeying the Eighth Commandment rightly is immensely challenging. Only someone made in the image of God can obey it, and even those redeemed by Christ never obey it perfectly in this age.
Someone might think, “I’m not a shoplifter, or an embezzler or a thief. I don’t cheat on my taxes. I think I have been obeying the commandment, ‘You shall not steal.’” But have we been faithful stewards? Faithful stewardship of what God entrusts to us requires wise use of all of our possessions and time and talents and opportunities. Faithful stewardship requires immense wisdom and mature judgment in the complex balancing of multiple factors such as love of neighbor, care for one’s family, wise planning for the future, fear of God, desire to advance God’s kingdom, and a desire to subdue the earth to the glory of God.
Grateful stewardship in obedience to the Eighth Commandment also requires avoiding the temptations and sins connected with possessions, such as gluttony, greed, selfishness, materialism, and waste. It also requires that we avoid laziness, apathy and false asceticism. While self interest is acceptable in biblical ethics, selfishness and greed are not acceptable, but are distortions of rightful self interest.
Further, the stewardship requirements implied by the Eighth Commandment are life-long. They begin in childhood, with the responsibility to care for one’s toys and small responsibilities, and they continue until the day of one’s death, when a person must make wise choices regarding the disposition of any goods that are left behind.
Therefore, who among us can say from his heart, “I know that I have always made right stewardship decisions. I know that God is pleased with how I’ve managed my resources. I’ve made judicious allocations of funds between giving to others, investing, saving, and using for my own present enjoyment. I have been a wise steward of all the intellectual, creative, artistic, and managerial opportunities and abilities that God entrusted to me. My talent has made five talents more”? I doubt any living person could honestly say that today, for, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
Therefore, the challenge of the Eighth Commandment is immense. The immensity of the challenge should not discourage us, however. It should excite us that God has entrusted such a great challenge to us. It should excite us to know that God fills us with joy and delight as we seek by his power to accomplish these tasks.
Hidden within the simple words, “You shall not steal,” we discover the infinite wisdom of God. Through these words, God laid the foundation for a system of private ownership of property, of stewardship and accountability, and of an expectation that we would achieve much and flourish as we live on the face of the earth and enjoy its abundant resources.
