"You shall not steal.” Exodus 20:15
As we began considering the commandment not to steal, we noted that it is easily understood: Don’t take anything that belongs to another. We then considered that a prohibition against taking what belongs to another affirms the right of private ownership of property and other assets.
This time let’s consider how one comes to possess assets. God’s ordained method of acquiring possessions is work (Genesis 2:15, 3:17-19). Before moving forward, however, from a biblical perspective, it is essential that we understand that everything belongs to God since He created everything. Biblically, our ownership is more literally our stewardship of what belongs to God. And as we learn from the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), we will all have to give an account of our stewardship of our Master’s goods!
Another lesson to be learned from that same parable is that we need to be OK with the fact that not everyone has the same amount of wealth. There are two reasons why we do not all possess the same amount of wealth. (1) God sovereignly entrusts differing amounts of assets to each of His stewards. (2) Not every steward is equally adept at growing what he has been given to manage. That is due to a number of considerations. We are entrusted with different assets in the first place. Some invest more wisely, and frankly, some simply work more diligently.
One of Satan’s favorite ways to disrupt society is through inciting people to break the tenth commandment: coveting. We will consider that in greater depth when we get to that commandment, but in the current context, class warfare (insisting that the rich have too much and the wealth needs to be more evenly distributed), is nothing short of blatant sin!
It is sin because it is coveting. It is stealing because it accuses God of injustice by not giving everyone their “fair share.” It is sin because it advocates stealing from the rich to give to the poor—even though it depends on the government to do our stealing for us!
God’s way of assisting the legitimately poor is through charitable giving. Taxation and redistribution of wealth is not charitable giving. I trust you can understand why!