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. Ephesians 4:28
“Paul defines the opposite of stealing another’s property and possessions: work in order to have something to share with those in need. In other words the trajectory of the eight commandment [You shall not steal] explicitly opens up from a narrow reading of the commandment as a guard of private property to a positive inducement to generosity…
In this way, the injunction to the Ephesian community follows out of and builds upon the various Old Testament regulations growing out of the eighth commandment that serve not only to protect the neighbor’s economic well-being but to enhance it, and especially those statutes providing for the poor, that is those in need.
The Scripture thus argues implicitly for a countercultural assumption that our aim is not the acquisition and protection (by legal and illegal means, by work and by stealing, by truth-telling and false witness) of our property and possessions but the sharing of the wealth that God provides.”
Patrick D. Miller in “Property and Possession in Light of the Ten Commandments” in Having Property and Possession in Religious and Social Life, eds. William Schweiker and Charles Mathewes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004) 41-42.
The OT provides a beautiful backdrop for the NT. The fruit of work in the OT Law was not private ownership for selfish gain, but rather private property stewarded in obedience to care for family, needy neighbor, and foreigner. I love how this restores meaning to the income-earning side of work in God’s economy.
Consider some examples. Through our work, our family has resources to help the church our son has helped plant here in Littleton. We have funds to help destitute children get food and Christ-centered education in Guatemala. We have monies to support friends who serve refuges in Germany, and we are positioned to mobilize missionaries in Hong Kong and Asia.
The “countercultural assumption” the Scriptures call for is seeing the fruit of our labor not as ours per se but as resources for blessing others. Failure to live this way is stealing because it holds back for self what God intends for blessing. When we obey, we are enriched and filled with joy. When we don’t obey, God’s work still goes forward, and we are the ones who miss out because God works through other channels.
Are you joyfully participating or missing out?