"You shall not steal.
Exodus 20:15
The Scriptures recognise a man's right to own private property, and are prepared to safeguard that right zealously. No man, says the commandment, has the right to appropriate unlawfully another's property, whether that property be money or valuables, reputation or character. G. Campbell Morgan points out that ultimately there are only three ways of possessing anything; one, by free gift from another; two, by toil and labour; three, by theft. The eighth commandment recognises the first two of these, and forbids the third. It is a commandment of wide application. We steal, according to the Scriptures, when we appropriate for our own use what does not belong to us. A worker steals from his employer when he fails to give him honest and adequate work for the pay he receives; an employer steals from his employee when he fails to give adequate pay for the work he does. But a man may also steal from God as well as from his fellows. When he withholds from God what is His rightful due, either in money, time or talents, he is robbing God (see Malachi 3:8) of what belongs to Him, and is guilty of violating this commandment. 'To appropriate for our own use what does not belong to us ...' 'Will a man rob God?'