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The Love Principle - Study 12: Your Neighbour and Theft

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Exodus 20:15 NIVUK 

[15] You shall not steal. 

In Brisbane, Australia, some robbers attempted a very during high-value heist. They wanted to break into a jewelry story.  


They thought they had planned it meticulously. They smashed through a toilet block adjacent to the row of shops where the jewelry store was situated, believing it would get them inside. 


However, when the debris cleared, they found themselves in a branch of KFC. 


Their 2013 cock-up meant that they only had till-pickings instead of expensive jewelry.


They were eventually picked up and ended up serving their time in prison for armed robbery. 


As befits those who made such a grav-y error. 


The ‘No stealing’ command comes as no surprise. Even artful thieves are feared as much as they are respected. We might be a little gleeful when they steal from others, but we are afraid of what would happen if they stole from us, because we know that they have it in them. 


There is no such thing as ‘honour among thieves’. 


But this command has hidden depths. It covers not just pick-pockets, house-breakers and bank robbers. It also covers other crimes of which we may find ourselves to be guilty. 


So let’s look first at What It Is. 

 

What It Is 

Proverbs 1:10-19 NIVUK 

[10] My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them. [11] If they say, ‘Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for innocent blood, let’s ambush some harmless soul; [12] let’s swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; [13] we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; [14] cast lots with us; we will all share the loot’ – [15] my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; [16] for their feet rush into evil, they are swift to shed blood. [17] How useless to spread a net where every bird can see it! [18] These men lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush only themselves! [19] Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the life of those who get it. 

In 2023 and 2024, the changing political and military dynamics of Northern Myanmar allowed the local army, and their Chinese equivalents, to raid jungle frontier towns built entirely by the Chinese mafia. Tolerated for many years and guarded by rebel militia, these towns were a self-contained mess of criminality: illegal casinos, prostitution and, at the heart of them all, scam centres. These scam call centres used trafficked personnel from surrounding poor villages and countries to win the confidence of Chinese people in particular, ‘fattening’ them with trust, or even promises of romance, before ‘slaughtering’ them by encouraging them to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes. 


A modern version of confidence tricksters, ‘Romeo’ con-men and the old fashioned ‘boiler rooms’ of the nineties, these ‘pig-butchering’ scams exploited the loneliness of Chinese men (there are 30-35 million more Chinese men than Chinese women) and their financial naivety to rake in millions for their criminal bosses, all while cruelly exploiting their workers.

 

But as the Burmese army pressed into the jungle and pushed the militias back, and the Chinese government responded to loud dissatisfaction at their lack of action against these scam centres, raids took place which saw hundreds of people freed, and the criminal Ming family captured. 


Eleven of that family were sentenced to death in January 2026. 


Maybe you’re wondering what the fate of a bunch of Chinese confidence tricksters in the Burmese jungle has to do with the command to not steal. After all, they were not really stealing, were they? They were conning. Which is different, is it not? 


Jewish law disagreed. The word used for ‘steal’ doesn’t just include pickpockets and house-breakers and cattle rustlers and car and phone thieves.  


It covers them, of course. All of that is definitely wrong. 


But it also covers those who take anything surreptitiously, under false pretences. It covers those who say they will sell someone one thing and then sell them something cheaper. It covers those who misrepresent small print in contracts. It covers those who bribe and blackmail to win contracts. It covers cybercrime in all its heinous forms. 


It covers all manner of situations where a lack of integrity in business gives you the edge over someone else. 


It even covers dodging taxes by dishonest means. 


This law covers all that. And God says ‘Do not do it’. 


Do you need evidence of this? 


Leviticus 19:35-36 NIVUK 

[35] ‘ “Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. [36] Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. 

Deuteronomy 25:13-16 NIVUK 

[13] Do not have two differing weights in your bag – one heavy, one light. [14] Do not have two differing measures in your house – one large, one small. [15] You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. [16] For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly. 

Proverbs 16:11 NIVUK 

[11] Honest scales and balances belong to the Lord; all the weights in the bag are of his making. 

The ancient Israelites were an agricultural nation that traded in things that needed to be weighed. It was the oldest trick in the book to mess with the weights to make sure they were in your favour. God outlawed that to ensure that all their trading was honest. 


And then there’s taxes: 


Luke 20:20-26 NIVUK 

[20] Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. [21] So the spies questioned him: ‘Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. [22] Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ [23] He saw through their duplicity and said to them, [24] ‘Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. [25] He said to them, ‘Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ [26] They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent. 

Romans 13:7 NIVUK 

[7] Give to everyone what you owe them: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honour, then honour. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/rom.13.7.NIVUK)


Do you see this? Taxes are something we owe the government. If we can reduce the debt honestly, in ways that the government allows, then that’s fine. But deliberate avoidance or evasion using ways the government has not permitted is illegal, unethical and wrong.


Christians should be nowhere near this.  


We should pay our debt to the government. 


What about fraud – against the government in benefit or healthcare fraud? 


Proverbs 13:11 NIVUK 

[11] Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. 

Proverbs 20:17 NIVUK 

[17] Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel. 

Fraud means obtaining something you are not entitled to have by deceit. It is theft. It’s unethical. It is wrong. It is a sin. 


No God-loving, Bible-believing Christian should be anywhere near this. 


If they are, then their faith is a fraud. 


Because we, as Christians, are called to be like our Lord: 


Deuteronomy 32:3-4 NIVUK 

[3] I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! [4] He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. 

1 Peter 2:21-22 NIVUK 

[21] To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. [22] ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ 

We are called to live in the light: 


1 John 1:5-7 NIVUK 

[5] This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. [6] If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 

This means that we are called to live honestly, transparently, with integrity. There can be no room for deceit, for subterfuge, for chicanery or trickery. 


We should never to make any gain at all by confusing, misdirecting or outright lying. Ever. 


There is not even a case for ‘the end justifies the means’.  


People should trust us implicitly. 


And if they can’t, that is a very serious problem. 


Because a Christian does not steal. In any way. Ever. From anyone. Including the government.


So we have seen, then, that a Christian does not steal, and that this command not to steal encompasses a number of dishonest and deceitful behaviours, not just what we would call theft, and that all of them are excluded for Christians. 


There is a very good reason for that, which we will now explore: What It Says. 

 

What It Says 

Psalms 73:1-3 NIVUK 

[1] Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. [2] But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. [3] For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 

I would like you to imagine children playing in the kindergarten. Their carers have each given them a toy to play with. They are all quite contented. 


After a while, because they are immature, some of those children may grow tired of their toy and look with envy on the toy another child is playing with. They will abandon their toy and try to remove the toy from the other child. 


And that’s when things start to get noisy. They gave no interest in sharing. Their communication and reasoning abilities are limited. They will simply call out and cry in protest. 


We see these things and we try to pacify these small children as soon as possible. But, if we’re brutally honest, we see the same action being carried out by adults more than twenty times older than these kids on our TV screens and in our newspapers every day. 


Because, at its very essence, that is how wars start and are continued. It’s all down to the same basic envy and jealousy that nursery carers come across pretty much every day. 


Why am I saying this? 


Think about it: that is why theft takes place. That’s why there is subterfuge and plotting and deceit and fraud and every other crime of that nature. This is what James wrote: 


James 4:1-3 NIVUK 

[1] What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? [2] You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. [3] When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 

James, as he does throughout his letter, puts his finger right on the problem. Our battles to get what we want regardless of the cost, and that includes stealing, come from the fact that we don’t have something. 


We don’t have something because God has not given it to us yet. 


God has not given it to us yet because He knows that we will not use it to worship Him. Instead, we will use it to worship ourselves. 


And worse, so much worse, we see in a seemingly innocent verse the thinking behind our desire to take what someone else has: 


James 1:16-17 NIVUK 

[16] Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. [17] Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  

Every good gift is from God. So if He withholds something we believe is good from us right now, it is because it isn’t good for us right now. 


But when we are envious of others, when we covet what they have and want to take it from them, what we are saying is that God is not good because He has not given is what we want. 


So we set out to take it for ourselves.


And fundamentally that is the problem. It’s nothing to do with our relative position in life compared to other people, or whether we think it’s fair. 


Fundamentally, it all boils down to believing that God is not good because He has not given you something that he has given to someone else. 


And that is very shaky ground to stand on. 


In one of the most famous verses in the Bible, David said this: 


Psalms 23:1 NIVUK 

[1] The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.23.1.NIVUK)


If right now you believe that someone else has something that is yours by right and you need to get it, even though God has not given it to you, then God is no longer your Shepherd. 


Why? 


Because when the Lord is your Shepherd, you lack nothing. 


Even the intention to steal something from someone else – whatever it may be – communicates to a watching world that you are spiritually immature, that you don’t believe God is good anymore and that He is not your Shepherd. 


Is there anything in that communication that says that you love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength or that you love your neighbour as yourself? 


No. Of course not. 


It’s just pure disobedience. 


And that is the problem. 


But worse, it also shows a lack of love for ourselves. Because there were consequences to stealing. So after looking at what it is and what it says, we must also look at How It Is Punished. 

 

How It Is Punished 

Exodus 22:1-4 NIVUK 

[1] ‘Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. [2] ‘If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; [3] but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. ‘Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. [4] If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession – whether ox or donkey or sheep – they must pay back double. 

Zechariah 5:3-4 NIVUK 

[3] And he said to me, ‘This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. [4] The Lord Almighty declares, “I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.” ’ 

Back in the 1970s, as heroin began to really take hold in American cities, a dreadful and deadly side-effect was reported. Thoroughly intoxicated on a substance their body could barely tolerate, drug addicts would climb to the top of tall buildings and leap off, believing that they could fly. 


It goes without saying that they could not. 


It was a horrible irony that the soul singer R Kelly sung a sung about believing he could fly, before he was brought crashing down to earth and jailed for serious and vile criminality. 


If we pull off a con trick, the high can be quite intoxicating. We have bested someone, shown ourselves to be more powerful or more intelligent or more sneaky than them. But like a drug addict, we will then chase bigger cons for a bigger high and a bigger high and a bigger high. 


We start to believe that we are invincible: as if morality is like gravity and we have learned to fly. 


We need to be absolutely clear beyond any shadow of a doubt: there are consequences to our actions. Our sins will find us out. The penalty for our wrongdoing will one day catch up with us. 


We might believe ourselves to be invincible, but the God who said ‘No stealing’ is the same God who watches our every movement. And our every thought. He is not fooled. He cannot be bought off.  


His is just. 


And if you think for one second that He will allow you to get ahead in life by trampling on one of His own, you’d better think again. 


Luke 18:7-8 NIVUK 

[7] And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? [8] I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’ 

The Bible mentions three types of consequences for those who try to deceive and trick and rob their way up the Ladder of Souls. The first of these is self-inflicted. 


Proverbs 26:27 NIVUK 

[27] Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them. 

In other words, if you set out to trick others, the same ill treatment will rebound on you. This is the ultimate example of ‘live by the sword, die by the sword’. This is why Jesus Himself taught this: 


Matthew 7:12 NIVUK 

[12] So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/mat.7.12.NIVUK)


The second form of justice is peer-inflicted. That is, by other people. Those who find their way in life by conning and deceiving others will face judgement and condemnation at the hands of their fellow people.


That’s why there are rules on restoration in Jewish law.  


As we saw in our verses, if you stole a sheep and sold it, you would have to pay the victim back four times as much; steal an ox and it would be five times as much. If it was found alive in your possession, you would have to pay back double.

  

Worse, if they could not pay the debt, the thief was sold into slavery to repay it in work. 


Worse, if they were a house-breaker and the owner of the house used lethal force to prevent the theft, the house owner would not stand trial for murder.  


Justice was indeed rough.  


I don’t know why anyone would think for a second that it was okay to live a life of tricking or conning or stealing from other people.  


There are many who tell us that the proceeds from illicit business are good. And they may be, for a while, as even the Bible itself admits: 


Psalms 62:10 NIVUK 

[10] Do not trust in extortion or put vain hope in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. 

But justice will catch up with you. All your ill-gotten gains will be taken from you. 


Trust me: it’s not worth it. 


Apart from self-inflicted and peer-inflicted justice, we also see God-inflicted justice.  

And here is where any thief really ought to be afraid. 


1 Corinthians 6:9-10 NIVUK

[9] Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men [10] nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  

Do you understand this? Do you see it? If you are involved in thievery or swindling you disqualify yourself from the Kingdom of God and bring yourself under Divine judgement. 


And don’t think for one second that God can be bought off or fooled.  


Habakkuk 2:9-14 NIVUK 

[9] ‘Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin! [10] You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. [11] The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. [12] ‘Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice! [13] Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labour is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? [14] For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 

And we don’t need wait for justice to come. Zechariah decreed that a curse will come upon all who are thieves. We know now who these people are.  


They are not always who we might think, or hope, they are. 


Christians ought to be the most trustworthy people in any business. If our colleagues cannot trust us implicitly do to the right thing then our witness to the Gospel will be seriously impaired.  


If, however, we know that we are untrustworthy and we know why, then we need to choose right now who we will serve: our career and bank balance, or our God. 


Because there are many situations where we cannot serve both. 


We have seen, then, what stealing really is, what it says to God and to those around us and how it is punished.  


This is all very well, but we should also consider What We Should Do Instead. 

 

What We Should Do Instead 

Ephesians 4:28 NIVUK 

[28] Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/eph.4.28.NIVUK)


If I was to ask you what the opposite of stealing is, I'm not sure working would be the word you come up with. 


And yet that is that Paul said. 


The reason why is simple. 


When you are stealing, you are taking things for which you have no entitlement as they are not yours – they belong to someone else. But when you work, you are doing so to gain a wage, to which you are entitled. So you receive something by right, not because you stole it. 


The comparison between the two here in this verse is quite striking. 


Work is useful; theft is useless. 


Theft puts others down; work lifts them up. 


Theft creates need; work reduces need.


I have lived in neighbourhoods where whole generations had not worked. This was tremendously damaging. You could see the impact both on social skills and in self-esteem.


It created an immense harm that would take close to a miracle to heal. 


But when you saw those who worked for a living, there was something profoundly different: 


Ecclesiastes 5:12 NIVUK 

[12] The sleep of a labourer is sweet, whether they eat little or much. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/ecc.5.12.NIVUK)


Why is that? 


Because they have tired themselves out in their labours. 


Because they have produced something good and positive. They have contributed to society instead of taking from it. 


Because they know their work is meaningful and respected. 


That is the difference.  


They can sleep at night without constantly looking over their shoulders to check if law enforcement, or another thief, is on their tail. They do not fear any of these things. 

 

They sleep in peace. Their conscience does not cause them any trouble. 


If you have participated in thefts or cons or trickery, you will not know this peace. You cannot know this peace. 


You may look down on those who work. You may think that your way is better because it’s earned you so much money. But you can’t sleep at night, so who is really better off? 


Proverbs 19:1 NIVUK 

[1] Better the poor whose way of life is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/113/pro.19.1.NIVUK)


If all you want in life is money, you might gain what you want, but lose everything in life that’s more valuable and precious. 


Please, if you are involved in stealing, give it up and work for your keep, honestly and with integrity. 


You will surely feel the difference. 

 

Conclusion 

Exodus 20:15 NIVUK 

[15] You shall not steal. 

John 10:10 NIVUK 

[10] The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 

My first job was working in a call centre. I was reliably informed that I would not be doing any sales work, that I was simply there to ask people what they thought of the service they had received from the company and to get the renewal date for their car insurance. 


Straightforward, right? 


Except pretty soon it became clear that the survey we were taking customers through was something of a ‘front’. The company had no interest in the results from it. They were never published nor followed up. The company were only ever interested in that ‘magic’ renewal date, because when it was imminent, they would let loose the dogs of war (their insurance sales team) to try to get the customer to sign up with them. 


I was involved in a deception. 


I wasn’t happy with it. I knew it was ethically murky. But I had little option. I stayed with them for around nine months. 


I was relieved when I left to become a missionary. 


I have an idea, then, of what it feels like to be locked into a situation where some of what you are being asked to do at work is not quite above board.  


There are some industries where you are more likely to encounter this than not, such as pawn shops, anything at all to do with gambling, the retail of dependency-inducing substances and the like. It’s plain that if you get involved here, you will be required to do things that will make your conscience itch. 


More often than not, ethical issues also arise in banking, corporate finance, insurance, market trading and other industries where making money is paramount and ethics are almost always an inconvenience. 


Why am I saying this? 


Because if you looked at this command initially, you might have thought that it only applies to pick-pockets and house-breakers. You are correct in that assumption. 


But only partially.  


Its wider application is to all who, by lies, spin or misrepresentation, distort or ignore the truth to obtain a financial gain from their clients or customers.  


In other words, it’s about those who profit from other people’s loss by causing that loss in the first place. 


To give you an example, Jacob took Esau’s blessing from him (Genesis 27:1-41). He did it by carrying out a fraudulent act.


As far as Jewish law is concerned, he was a thief. 


Why is this a problem? 


Think again about the commands we must all obey: 


Matthew 22:37-40 NIVUK 

[37] Jesus replied: ‘ “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” [38] This is the first and greatest commandment. [39] And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” [40] All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ 

Can you love someone and trick them? Can you love someone and defraud them? Can you love someone and steal from them? 


Of course not! That is the very opposite of love – it is nothing but contempt. 


And that’s the point. We can’t just say that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbour as ourselves, we must do something about. It must show. 


And it must show in how we do business with other people, including, if not especially, with those who are not believers. We don’t have the right to take advantage of or exploit anyone. 


For clarity, that also includes people who are not citizens of our country: 


Exodus 22:21 NIVUK 

[21] ‘Do not ill-treat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. 

Leviticus 19:33-34 NIVUK 

[33] ‘ “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not ill-treat them. [34] The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. 

Deuteronomy 24:14 NIVUK 

[14] Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.  

No Bible-believing, God-loving, Christ-honouring Christian can ever exploit anyone for any purpose, least of all those who are unaware of local labour laws and who just want to earn an honest wage. To do something like that is utterly unacceptable. 


We may have believed, then, that this was just a command against pick-pocketing or house-breaking. It is not. It is a command against ever seeking to gain an advantage over anyone else using illicit or underhand means. That includes defrauding the government. 


We understand now that those who seek to do so are showing contempt in place of love for their neighbour, for themselves and for God. 


We understand that God takes it seriously and the punishments for this crime are rightfully severe. 


We understand that the alternative to such a poorly-lived life is where we make an honest living and live in peace with our neighbours. 


The question is: what do we do about it now? 


Do we examine our lives and repent of the ways we have stolen? 


Or do we keep going, hoping that no-one will notice? 


If you are seeking to do the latter, I have news for you: God sees, God knows and God is just. 


Repent of this sin now, while you still can. 

 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, I have examined my life. I know where I an guilty of theft. I don’t want to steal any longer. I want to make an honest living. Help me to repent. Amen. 


Questions for Contemplation 

  • When God told the Israelites that they should not steal, hat did He mean? 

  • Are you guilty of committing this crime? 

  • Now that you know just how wrong it is, what will you do next? 

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