The Eighth Commandment: “You shall not Steal”.

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
061018

The Eighth Commandment: “You shall not Steal”.

We have now come to the eighth commandment in Exo 20:15 which says “You shall not steal.” There are only two words in the entire verse in the Hebrew translated “You shall not steal”. Stealing refers to anything that falls under the category of things that are natural or spiritual, including people. We also noted that your life is protected; marriage is protected, and the family is protected, all by commandments in the Mosaic Law. In other words, one of the main reasons for the Mosaic Law was to reveal to mankind what sin is all about.

WHY?

Because the apostle Paul tells us the purpose of the Law in ROM 7:7, What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

GAL 3:24, the apostle Paul writes; “Therefore the Law has become our tutor or school bus to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.”

This gets very interesting when we see the Ten Commandments and the principles of freedom that are intimately related. For example, we noted that Divine Institution #1 Volition =  that which  protects your freedom and your life and so a commandment is given to prevent others from taken your freedom a way to live and so in Exo 20:13 it says; “You shall not murder.”

Then we have Divine Institution #2, Marriage, we are given all the doctrine necessary to protect those involved in the marriage; and this is done through observation of the seventh commandment in EXO 20:14, “You shall not commit adultery.”

Next we have Divine Institution #3: The family, which is to protect those involved within the family unit in EXO 20:12, “Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”

Now we have a command in our passage that deals with the stealing and violations of the property or materialism you own or possess in EXO 20:15 which says “You Shall not Steal.” This commandment is for the protection of your freedom and your private property. This commandment establishes the divinely given right” of the individual to own personal property and possessions, and it limits government interference to the protection of this property. Every time the government gets involved in your life, you are opening up doors to the cosmic system and satanic deception.

There are two words coming up that we need to recognize; The word for Temple and the word for Body and what they refer to. In fact, look at 1Co 6:19, a passage that most of you are familiar with by now and it has a main interpretation but also a spiritual application where the apostle Paul said: 1Co 6:19, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

Here, the word I want you to focus on is the word “Temple” it is the Greek noun ‎‎naos = a safe place to dwell, a shrine or a temple. It is true that your physical body is a temple of the Holy Spirit but so is your “spiritual body, the Church,” which you are a part of forever, is also called a “temple of the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, this means that every time the word Temple is used we need to define and recognize if it is a real temple or is it the spiritual temple that is in the passage.

So, all this means is that there are times when the word Temple is used and it refers to the spiritual Temple or a group of believers who are worshipping the Lord together. And then Paul goes on with a warning and a command when he says in 1CO 6:20, For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. Now, we have another word to focus in on, and that is the Greek noun soma meaning a “physical body” or a spiritual body, which is His Church also known as the “body of Christ.

So, there are two words used by the Apostle Paul, the word Temple which is the noun ‎naos which can be translated “the temple” referring to the temple of your physical body. It can also refer to the Temple of your spiritual body which is His Church. And we have the noun ‎soma which refers to your body, literally or figuratively, meaning your physical body or it can also refer to His spiritual body, which is His Church.

Let’s quickly point out some of the necessary verses concerning this subject.

1CO 12:12, For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.

And so immediately we see the spiritual aspects of the word “body” which refers to His Church. In 1CO 12:14, For the body is not one member, but many. Then Paul goes on to breakdown the analogy of the “body” by pointing out the different functions of the Body in 1CO 12:15, If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.

1CO 12:16-21, And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

Then he goes on in 1CO 12:26, that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 1CO 12:26, And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Then the apostle Paul gets right to the point when he writes 1CO 12:27 which says, Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

Please notice that one of the descriptions of our Lord’s Church is the body of Christ. So, this is a passage that definitely uses the word “body” referring to the Church, the Royal Family of God.

Now, with all of this in mind look at a very important passage concerning this subject for in 2CO 6:16 we read: “For we are the temple of the living God; just as God   said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Notice here the temple is called “we” not “you” referring to the those in the Church. I hope you are beginning to see the principle of the Wall of Fire from the Lord that He has placed surrounding us, His Church, His Body, His bride. It is when we recognize the intimate relationship and fellowship we can have with our Lord when we realize that we are His Church, His body, and His bride.

The analogy indicates that the members of the body of Christ are formed into one organic whole with a common plan, a common goal, common objectives, and a common purpose. And the phrase “One body” emphasizes the status of unity among the members of the body of Christ. Of course, being in the same family doesn’t mean you always get along. But God has provided a way so we can all get along in the same family. The moment we believed in Jesus Christ, we entered into the royal family of God. The baptism of the Spirit at salvation is the means by which we entered into this body. The baptism of the Spirit results in the creation of both the new spiritual species and the royal family of God. Therefore, what we possess as royal family is absolutely unique.

It is designed not only to give us the most fantastic happiness and blessing in every circumstance of life, but also so that we can get along together. We are not combined by the same genes; we’re combined by something far greater through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit. The body of Christ is composed of two categories of Church-age believers:
a. Those located on earth.
b. Those located in heaven, who have died physically.

However, we can thank the Lord for actually making us members of His spiritual body, the Church. This is how we learn to deny ourselves and our OSN and then live in the new nature with the spiritual life that God has given to His Body, the Church. You will never live in the new nature until you truly believe that God gave you a new nature and that new nature learns how to reject the old  life and recognize the new life for the new creature. Look what the apostle Paul writes in closing; ROM 6:1-4, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

ROM 7:6, But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

So, we have the newness of life and the newness of the Spirit. People forget sometimes who they use to be, and that the entire human race needed a miracle to save them from themselves and the eternal lake of fire. People have a tendency to forget that all people are sinners, including the pastor who must very careful not to allow anyone to make a role model out of him or for that matter a “role model” out of anyone. They forget such passages like ROM 3:23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

ECC 7:20, Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.

Do you believe that? It is true! Every member of the human race must realize that we were all born physically alive but spiritually dead, including the Gentiles and the Jews. So we read in GAL 3:22   But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Therefore, we must agree with God when He inspired the apostle John to deal with the sin issue in just three short verses, 1JO 1:8-10.

1JO 1:8-10, If we say that we have no sin [nature] we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

Now look at ROM 3:8-24, And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil that good may come”? Their condemnation is just. What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving, The poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Now, because of these passages and more, we can say the only true role model we should have is the one we develop in spiritual adulthood in our occupation with Jesus Christ. You must learn to be occupied with TLJC and keep your eyes off of people. As PRO 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding.”