Seventh Commandment: You shall not steal

Commandment Seven is about justice and charity. It reminds us of the mandate to be good stewards of the treasures of the Earth. On the surface, this commandment seems straightforward. The message is, do not take anyone else’s stuff. Indeed, theft of any kind is a sinful transgression of the Seventh Commandment. In Old Testament Scripture, stealing was a serious wrong with a severe penalty. Penalties ranged from an “eye for an eye” form of justice to death for serious theft. Strict rules protected the order of society.

 Jesus reiterated this commandment when he said, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17-18)  But Jesus moved from the seeing the commandments as simply rules. He taught us to live them in spirit. When a rich man asked Jesus what else he needed to do beyond obey the letter of the law,  Jesus said, “go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor.” (Matthew 19:21) In saying this, he recalibrated the priority of goods and wealth. He recognized the value of rewards for hard work in parables like the parable of the talents. The Church continues to respect the right to private property. However, Jesus recognized the purpose of goods as first and foremost the well-being of humanity. His words set up an expansion of the word “steal” that might even look like a reversal of focus.

As our Church discusses the Seventh Commandment in her Catechism, she spends only a few words on basic theft in a personal criminal sense. The teachings broadly discuss actions that violate the place of goods as God-given treasure to serve the well being of humanity. The Catechism says, “The goods of creation are destined for the whole human race.” (CCC2402) We are called to be good stewards of the treasure of creation. This is a matter of justice. In that sense, the concept of who is stealing, flips from the poor man who steals a loaf of bread to feed his family to the one who hordes all the bread in the name of wealth. The Seventh Commandment mandates that those who have possession or control of the goods of the earth be good stewards of that wealth. Good stewardship means enjoyment of that wealth in moderation “reserving the better part for guests, for the sick and the poor.” (CCC2405) Once again, real reflection on this commandment moves from a “thou shalt not” focus to thinking about what we should do. My next article will dig into what that means.