Jun 13
16
Doctrinal Standard #73 & 74
- Q. What is the eighth commandment?
- A. The eighth commandment is: You shall not steal.
- Q. What does the eighth commandment require?
- A. The eighth commandment requires that we lawfully acquire and increase our own and others’ money and possessions.
Memory Verses
- “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, ESV).
Scripture
- Study Passage: Ephesians 4:17-32
- Support Passages: Genesis 3:17-19; Leviticus 6:1-7; II Thessalonians 3:6-15; I Timothy 5:8; I John 3:16-18
- Bible Story: Genesis 2:10-20
Thoughts
- “God commands us to love others. He tells us that, when we show love to others, we keep the law. Sometimes we may wonder how to love someone. We can ask ourselves: what would I want someone to do for me if I were in that person’s place? Jesus said that doing for other people what we would want done to us sums up all God’s teaching on how to treat others. Read Matthew 7:12. We would not want someone to take something of ours or to barrow something of ours and never give it back. We would not like it if we paid someone to do a job for us and they did sloppy work that needed to be done over again. So we should not do any of these things to anyone else. But we would like it if someone shared their food with us if we had none. If we lost something valuable and someone else found it and returned it to us, it would make us happy. These are the kinds of things we should do for other people. When we do for others what we would like done for us, we keep the commandment to not steal.” [1]
Discussion Questions
- What is the eighth commandment?
- What does the eighth commandment require?
- In addition to God telling us not to steal why is stealing wrong? (refer to thoughts section)
- How does stealing affect both the thief and the victim?
- Why do people steal? What does it revel about their heart?
[1] Meade, Starr (2000). Training Heart, Teaching Minds. Phillipsburg, New Jersey, USA; P&R Publishing Company.
