Slaves in chains, at Smyrna, 200 AD
The vice of the 8th commandment, “Thou shall not steal,” connects with over 50 New Testament references and over 20 references in the teaching of Jesus, corresponding to at least eight Greek word families and at least 10 English words including thief/thefts, steal, swindler, robbery, defrauding or depriving, oppressing or exploiting, enslaving, and devouring. (see chart below) As you can see, the concept has a far reach in the specific teaching of Jesus, Paul, and the other New Testament writers. It is not nearly as simple as pointing the finger at someone who steals a car or robs a bank.
There are eight or more Greek word families that fall under this vice, and we must take seriously the full range of behaviors. It may help our thought process to think on a spectrum, for example, from individual theft to institutional oppression, or to consider how we use distinctions such as blue collar crime vs. white collar crime. The New Testament, and certainly any discerning ethic, will cut through these distinctions. The easiest theft to hide is that perpetuated by the strong against the weak. Remember the crooked golden rule … the one who has the gold makes the rules? In reality this is tragically true, in that the brokers of power throughout history have manipulated the rules, the laws, and the systems to legitimize various forms of dishonest gain and advantage. In perhaps his most significant display of anger, Jesus referred to the temple complex as a “den of robbers.” (He was quoting the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, Note 1). Jesus chastised the religious leadership for turning a space intended to facilitate an encounter with God into a realm of profit and dishonest gain.
There are 6 mentions of “defrauding” in the New Testament. It is interesting that Jesus slips in a reference to the evil of defrauding in his reference to the Mosaic commandments, just after mentioning stealing and bearing false witness, as if to suggest that fraud is a creative combination of these two. (Mark 10:19) Both Jesus and Paul point out the sin of devouring widows, an apparent reference to taking advantage of someone in a vulnerable state. The shrewd defraud the innocent - any email, phone call, or electronic transaction could potentially be a case of theft. But also the powerful exploit the weak. Without protection, without advocacy, the weak and less powerful are subject to the conditions dictated by the strong, the bosses, the "company" and the ruling executives, who create mechanisms of profit and then disappear when the financial wind shifts. When the poor can't pay the bills, even the medical bills, their credit is destroyed, their property is taken. Under our existing system, whatever might exist as a "safety net" is not holding up in such a way as to prevent thousands upon thousands from ending up homeless and destitute. Meanwhile, those at the higher end of the income spectrum - the owner/executive levels - are often shielded from failure, harm of poor decisions or unanticipated changes in the markets by financial mechanisms such as bankruptcy and corporate sell-out, often walking away with their wealth protected while the negative fall-out from these circumstances falls to the rank and file.
On two notable occasions in the gospel accounts, we find admonition of officials or authorities not to abuse their power. In one case, John the Baptist exhorts soldiers, which we can take as a reference to any form law enforcement or military authority, not to take money by force, or accuse falsely, given that extortion would have been commonplace in that power differential. In another case a reformed tax collector promised “if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” I take Zaccheus here to be a stand in for present day brokers of financial power.
On two notable occasions in the gospel accounts, we find admonition of officials or authorities not to abuse their power. In one case, John the Baptist exhorts soldiers, which we can take as a reference to any form law enforcement or military authority, not to take money by force, or accuse falsely, given that extortion would have been commonplace in that power differential. In another case a reformed tax collector promised “if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” I take Zaccheus here to be a stand in for present day brokers of financial power.
I find great significance in the references to dominating, oppressing, enslaving … it is beyond the scope of my analysis at this point to go into depth with each word, but consider for further study on this topic the following: κατεσθιω (to devour, i.e. appropriate illegally), καταδυναστευω (oppress, exploit, dominate), καταδουλοω (enslave, reduce to slavery), and ανδραποδιστης (used only once, translated as “kidnapper,” possibly reference to slave trader). (Note 2) We have been very creative throughout our history in our forms of taking, manipulating, and controlling property and wealth.
This evil was high on the list given to Moses, and high on the list given to us in the New Testament as well. In closing, I will take a slight liberty in paraphrase of Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 11:13-20:
For there are false apostles, deceitful workers … who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness … and do you bear with them as they enslave you, they devour you, they take advantage of you, as they exalt themselves, as they hit you in the face?
Note 1
Jeremiah 7:4-11 "The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah spoke at the temple gate: “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying ‘This is the temple of the Lord’ … For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered! - that you may do all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight?”
Note 2
Many books have been written on the question of slavery and the Bible, which connects with the broader question of the Bible and social change. I have no formal expertise here. I suggest that the spiritual teachers who are given voice through the Scripture addressed the issues of their time organically and in context, and that their ethical leadership and activism become more evident through close analysis and through our personal encounters with these texts through meditation and contemplation. For example, Jesus did not explicitly "lecture" on the status of women, rather, he engaged in interactions and relationships that challenged the status quo and elevated the women around him. Jesus did not conduct a seminar on mental health in the community, but he went directly to a man who was exiled to the cemetery due to violence and self harm and brought healing into his life and restored him to his family and to his community. And on the slavery issue, despite the tragic fact that slave holders have historically used the Bible in their defense, it cannot be overlooked that the central narrative of the Old Testament was the liberation of one people group from the oppression of bondage to another people group, and as such, the "people of God" should never again feel authorized or justified in placing any category of people under any kind of servitude or oppressed status; the same should apply today. Sadly, beliefs and actions of racial, ethnic, or cultural superiority persist ...
*Footnote to the Note: The point here is not to suggest that Jesus demonstrated the "proper" method of social change, but rather to contemplate why the teachings and actions of someone 2,000 years ago would be different from our own. Methods of action for ethical change have evolved over the centuries and in relation to the circumstances of the age, and some of the most effective methods and movements of activism have arisen in the past 200 years in efforts to strive for basic human rights, personal, political, and religious freedom, and to extend freedoms and rights to excluded groups by confronting, for example, colonialism, slavery, racial and gender discrimination, xenophobia, labor exploitation, and other denials of rights and freedoms.
Note 2
Many books have been written on the question of slavery and the Bible, which connects with the broader question of the Bible and social change. I have no formal expertise here. I suggest that the spiritual teachers who are given voice through the Scripture addressed the issues of their time organically and in context, and that their ethical leadership and activism become more evident through close analysis and through our personal encounters with these texts through meditation and contemplation. For example, Jesus did not explicitly "lecture" on the status of women, rather, he engaged in interactions and relationships that challenged the status quo and elevated the women around him. Jesus did not conduct a seminar on mental health in the community, but he went directly to a man who was exiled to the cemetery due to violence and self harm and brought healing into his life and restored him to his family and to his community. And on the slavery issue, despite the tragic fact that slave holders have historically used the Bible in their defense, it cannot be overlooked that the central narrative of the Old Testament was the liberation of one people group from the oppression of bondage to another people group, and as such, the "people of God" should never again feel authorized or justified in placing any category of people under any kind of servitude or oppressed status; the same should apply today. Sadly, beliefs and actions of racial, ethnic, or cultural superiority persist ...
*Footnote to the Note: The point here is not to suggest that Jesus demonstrated the "proper" method of social change, but rather to contemplate why the teachings and actions of someone 2,000 years ago would be different from our own. Methods of action for ethical change have evolved over the centuries and in relation to the circumstances of the age, and some of the most effective methods and movements of activism have arisen in the past 200 years in efforts to strive for basic human rights, personal, political, and religious freedom, and to extend freedoms and rights to excluded groups by confronting, for example, colonialism, slavery, racial and gender discrimination, xenophobia, labor exploitation, and other denials of rights and freedoms.
Bibliography
Bauer, W. (1979). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Second Edition ed.). (W. F. Gingrich, Trans.) Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
NASB-NIV Parallel New Testament in Greek and English. (1987). (A. Marshall, Trans.) Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.
NCBC - North Clackamas Bible Community. (2010, October 25). "Vice and Virtue Lists from the New Testament." Retrieved from Bible Study Resources from NCBC: https://bcresources.net/2200000-nts-frg12-lit-frm-vv-lists-nt-art-bcrx/
Renn, S. D. (Ed.). (2005). Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. Peabody, Massachusetts, USA: Hendrickson Publishers.
Strong, J. L. (1984). Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Thomas, R. L. (Ed.). (1981). New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery
