WLC 142

Q142. What are the sins forbidden in the eighth commandment?

The sins forbidden in the eighth commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are, theft, robbery, man-stealing, and receiving anything that is stolen; fraudulent dealing, false weights and measures, removing land marks, injustice and unfaithfulness in contracts between man and man, or in matters of trust; oppression, extortion, usury, bribery, vexatious lawsuits, unjust enclosures and depopulations; engrossing commodities to enhance the price; unlawful callings, and all other unjust or sinful ways of taking or withholding from our neighbor what belongs to him, or of enriching ourselves; covetousness; inordinate prizing and affecting worldly goods; distrustful and distracting cares and studies in getting, keeping, and using them; envying at the prosperity of others; as likewise idleness, prodigality, wasteful gaming; and all other ways whereby we do unduly prejudice our own outward estate, and defrauding ourselves of the due use and comfort of that estate which God hath given us.

Proof texts

• Jas. 2:15-16 — [15] If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, [16] and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
• 1 John 3:17 — [17] But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?
• Eph. 4:28 — [28] Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
• Ps. 42:10 — [10] As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
• Ps. 62:10 — [10] Put no trust in extortion; set no vain hopes on robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
• 1 Tim. 1:10 — [10] the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
• Prov. 29:24 — [24] The partner of a thief hates his own life; he hears the curse, but discloses nothing.
• Ps. 50:18 — [18] If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers.
• 1 Thess. 4:6 — [6] that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.
• Prov. 11:1 — [1] A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.
• Prov. 20:10 — [10] Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the LORD.
• Deut. 19:14 — [14] “You shall not move your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
• Prov. 23:10 — [10] Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,
• Amos 8:5 — [5] saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,
• Ps. 37:21 — [21] The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives;
• Luke 16:10-12 — [10] “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. [11] If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? [12] And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?
• Ezek. 22:29 — [29] The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.
• Lev. 25:17 — [17] You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the LORD your God.
• Matt. 23:25 — [25] “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
• Ezek. 22:12 — [12] In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profit and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.
• Ps. 15:5 — [5] who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.
• Job 15:34 — [34] For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
• 1 Cor. 6:6-8 — [6] but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? [7] To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? [8] But you yourselves wrong and defraud — even your own brothers!
• Prov. 3:29-30 — [29] Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you. [30] Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.
• Isa. 5:8 — [8] Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
• Mic. 2:2 — [2] They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
• Prov. 11:26 — [26] The people curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it.
• Acts 19:19,24-25 — [19] And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. [24] For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. [25] These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.
• Job 20:19 — [19] For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build.
• Jas. 5:4 — [4] Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
• Prov. 21:6 — [6] The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.
• Luke 12:15 — [15] And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
• 1 Tim. 6:5 — [5] and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
• Col. 3:2 — [2] Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
• Prov. 23:5 — [5] When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
• Ps. 42:10 — [10] As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
• Matt. 6:25,31,34 — [25] “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [31] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [34] “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
• Eccl. 5:12 — [12] Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
• Ps. 37:1,7 — [1] Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! [7] Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
• Ps. 73:3 — [3] For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
• 2 Thess. 3:11 — [11] For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.
• Prov. 18:9 — [9] Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.
• Prov. 21:17 — [17] Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.
• Prov. 23:20-21 — [20] Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, [21] for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.
• Prov. 28:19 — [19] Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.
• Eccl. 4:8 — [8] one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.
• Eccl. 6:2 — [2] a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil.
• 1 Tim. 5:8 — [8] But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

For discussion

1. The Assembly cited Jas. 2:15-16 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
2. 48 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
3. WSC Q45 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
4. HC Q92 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

WSC Q45 · HC Q92