Early Christian Teaching on Theft and Stealing

Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching

... he says, "and many of them too, from which the servant of God must restrain himself: theft, lying, robbery, false witness, cheating, wicked desire, deceit, vainglory, boastfulness, and all other vices like these. Do you not think these are truly wicked? They are extremely wicked for the servants of God. The servant of God must restrain himself from all of these. Restrain yourself, then, from all these things, so that you may live to God, and you will be counted among those who restrain themselves in these matters. These, then, are the things from which you must restrain yourself."

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Direct teaching

... God. They also taught us to keep away from unlawful idolatry, adultery, murder, sexual immorality, theft, greed, false swearing, anger, and every kind of lack of self-control and uncleanness. They taught that whatever a man would not want done to himself, he should not do to another. In this way, the one who lives righteously will escape eternal punishments and be considered worthy of the eternal life that comes from God.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

And after this is the command respecting theft.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

...out cause, Matthew 5:22. He who forbade adultery now also forbids all unlawful lust. He who forbade stealing now declares most happy the one who provides for those in need out of his own labor, Acts 20:35. He who forbade hatred now declares blessed the one who loves his enemies, Matthew 5:7. He who forbade revenge now commands long-suffering, Matthew 5:43; not as if just revenge were an unrighteous thing, but because long-suffering is better. Nor did He make laws to root out our natural passions, but only to forbid their excess, Matthew 5:38. He who had commanded us to honor our parents was Himself subject to them, Luke 2:51. He who had commanded us to keep the Sabbath by resting on it for the sake of meditating on the laws has now commanded us to think about the law of creation and of providence every day, and to give thanks to God. He set aside circumcision after He had Himself fulfilled it. For He was the One for whom the inheritance was reserved, and who was the expectation of the nations, Genesis 49:10. He who made a law for swearing rightly and forbade perjury has now commanded us not to swear at all, Matthew 5:33. In several ways He has changed baptism, sacrifice, the pri

Tertullian, Apology Direct teaching

...an obstinate refusal to offer sacrifices, he found in their religious services nothing but meetings early in the morning for singing hymns to Christ and God, and sealing their way of life by a united pledge to remain faithful to their religion, forbidding murder, adultery, dishonesty, and other crimes. In reply, Trajan wrote back that Christians were by no means to be sought out. But if they were brought before him, they should be punished. O miserable deliverance. Under the necessities of the case, it is a self-contradiction. It forbids them to be sought out, as innocent, and it commands them to be punished, as guilty. It is at once merciful and cruel. It passes by, and it punishes. Why do you play this game of evasion with yourself, O Judgment? If you condemn, why do you not also inquire? If you do not inquire, why do you not also absolve? Military stations are set throughout all the provinces for tracking robbers. Against traitors and public enemies every man is a soldier. Search is made even for their confederates and accessories. The Christian alone must not be sought, though he may be brought and accused before the judge, as if a search had any other end than that! And so

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

If a bishop, presbyter, or deacon is caught in fornication, perjury, or stealing, let him be removed from office, but not suspended. For the Scripture says, "You shall not take vengeance twice for the same crime by affliction."

Deuteronomy 5:19 Background

Thou shalt not steal.

Leviticus 19:11 Background

“You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

for falsehood leads to theft. Nevertheless the thief possesses really, what he has possessed himself of dishonestly, whether it be gold, or silver, or speech, or dogma.

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

...estroyers of souls. He sees secret crimes, and even thoughts themselves. There would be no fraud or robbery if they had learned, through God's teaching, to be content with what was their own, even if it was little, so that they might choose solid and eternal things over things that are weak and perishable. There would be no adultery, debauchery, or prostitution of women, if all knew that whatever is sought beyond the desire for procreation is condemned by God. Nor would necessity force a woman to dishonor her modesty and seek for herself a most disgraceful way of making a living, since the men also would restrain their lust, and the pious and religious gifts of the rich would help those in need. Therefore, as I have said, these evils would not be on the earth if there were, by common consent, a general keeping of the law of God, if those things were done by all which our people alone do. How happy, and how golden, the condition of human affairs would be if gentleness, piety, peace, innocence, fairness, temperance, and faith made their home throughout the world! In short, there would be no need for so many different laws to govern men, since the law of God alone would be enough f

Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching

...ly Spirit, and joined with what is heavenly and divine, it fights with the defense of its strength against the works of the flesh and the body, by which the soul is attacked and captured. Let us briefly look at a few things out of many, so that from a few examples the rest may also be understood. Adultery, fraud, and murder are deadly crimes. Let patience be strong and steadfast in the heart. Then the sanctified body and temple of God is not defiled by adultery, innocence devoted to righteousness is not stained by the corruption of fraud, and the hand, after carrying the Eucharist in it, is not polluted with the sword and blood.

Tertullian, On Idolatry Supporting witness

The essence of fraud, I take it, is, that any should seize what is another's, or refuse to another his due;

Athenagoras, The Resurrection of the Dead Direct teaching

...t commanded souls to keep away from things that have no relation to them, such as adultery, murder, theft, robbery, dishonor to parents, and every desire in general that leads to harm and loss for our neighbors. For the command, "Honor your father and your mother," is not suited to souls alone, since those names do not apply to them. Souls do not produce souls, so they cannot rightly be called father or mother. Rather, men produce men. In the same way, the command, "You shall not commit adultery," could never properly be addressed to souls, or even be thought of in that connection. This is because the distinction between male and female does not exist in souls. Nor do they have any ability for sexual relations, or any desire for them. And where there is no desire, there can be no sexual relations. Where there are no sexual relations at all, there can be no lawful sexual union, that is, marriage. And where there is no lawful union, there can also be no unlawful desire for, or sexual relations with, another man's wife, that is, adultery. Again, the command against theft, or against the desire to have more, does not apply to souls. Souls do not need the things for which men usually

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness

...who, as it were, prostitutes herself among the gods? How will they keep themselves from plunder and fraud when they know the thefts of Mercurius, who teaches that to deceive is not fraud, but cleverness? How will they restrain their lusts when they worship Jupiter, Hercules, Liber, Apollo, and the others, whose adulteries and corrupt acts with men and women are not only known to the learned, but are even presented in the theaters and made into songs, so that they are known to everyone? Among these things, is it possible for men to be just? Even if they were naturally good, they would be trained in injustice by the gods themselves. For to win the favor of the god whom you worship, you need those things that you know please and delight him. So it comes about that the god shapes the life of his worshippers according to the character of his own will, since the most religious worship is imitation.

Proverbs 1:19 Background

Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.

Proverbs 13:11 Background

Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, But he who gathers by labor will increase.

Leviticus 6:2 Background

“If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor

Proverbs 28:8 Background

He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.

Proverbs 20:17 Background

Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.

Wisdom of Sirach 14:4 Background

He that gathereth by defrauding his own soul gathereth for others That shall spend his goods riotously.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

He that forbade stealing, now pronounces him most happy who supplies those that are in want out of his own labours.

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

...y up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in nor steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21 And when He wished to describe a man as perfect and complete through keeping the law, He said, "If you will be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me." Matthew 19:21 Moreover, in another place He says that a merchant of heavenly grace, and one who gains eternal salvation, ought to buy the precious pearl—that is, eternal life—at the price of Christ's blood, using his inheritance, and giving up all his wealth for it. He says: "The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls. And when he found one precious pearl, he went away and sold all that he had, and bought it." Matthew 13:45-46

Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Background

neither money-loving, nor vainglorious, for out of all these thefts are engendered.

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Background

...onomy 5. And so on. These things must be kept, along with whatever else is commanded in reading the Bible. And by Isaiah He commands us: "Wash yourselves, and make yourselves clean. Put away wickedness from your souls before my eyes. Learn to do good. Seek judgment. Rescue the wronged. Judge for the orphan, and justify the widow. And come, and let us reason together," says the Lord. And we will find many examples in other places also. For example, about prayer, Scripture says, "Good works are an acceptable prayer to the Lord." And the manner of prayer is described: "If you see the naked, cover him, and do not overlook those who belong to your own seed. Then your light shall break forth early, and your healing shall spring up quickly; and your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall surround you." What, then, is the fruit of such prayer? "Then you shall call, and God will hear you; while you are still speaking, He will say, 'I am here.'"

Ephesians 4:28 Background

Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Proverbs 6:30 Background

People do not despise a thief If he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving.

Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching

...cast away His words and to despise the Lord's instruction, and to commit not earthly, but spiritual thefts and adulteries? While anyone is stealing from evangelical truth the words and deeds of our Lord, he is corrupting and adulterating the divine precepts, as it is written in Jeremiah. He says, "What is the chaff to the wheat? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words every one from his neighbor, and cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness." Also in the same prophet, in another place, He says, "She committed adultery with stocks and stones, and yet for all this she turned not to me." That this theft and adultery may not fall on us also, we ought to be very careful, and to watch with fear and reverence. For if we are priests of God and of Christ, I do not know anyone whom we ought rather to follow than God and Christ, since He Himself plainly says in the Gospel, "I am the light of the world; he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12 Therefore, lest we should walk in darkness, we ought to follow Christ and to keep His precepts, because He Himself told His apostles in anoth

Anonymous, Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian Background

... saying that he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but goes up some other way, is a thief and a robber. John 10:1 Moreover, in the same place He also says, “All who have come are thieves and robbers.” John 10:8 Who are these except deserters of the faith and transgressors of God's Church, who fight against God's ordinance? The Holy Spirit rightly rebukes them by the prophet, saying, “You have taken counsel, but not by me; and have made a confederacy, but not by my Spirit, to add sin to sin.” Isaiah 30:1 What, then, can those very wicked friends of Novatian, now a most miserable few, answer to these things? They have burst out into such foolish madness that they have reverence neither for God nor man. Among them, the episcopate is sought shamelessly and without any law of ordination. But among us, in its own sees, and in those of the throne delivered to it by God, it is refused. There the Truth says, “They reject me, that they may sacrifice to me; nor do they offer the holy oblations of the children of Israel, nor do they approach to offer the holy of holies, but they shall receive their shame in the error wherein they have erred.” Ezekiel 44:10-13 Let it be enoug

Tertullian, Against Marcion Background

...w can the Creator in any way have the appearance of a thief, when He is Lord of all mankind? No one steals or plunders his own property. Rather, he acts like one who falls upon the goods of another and takes man away from his Lord. Again, when He shows us that the devil is the thief, whose hour, if man had known it at the very beginning of the world, he would never have been broken in upon by him, He warns us to be ready for this reason, because we do not know the hour when the Son of man shall come, Luke 12:40—not as if He Himself were the thief, but rather as the Judge of those who did not prepare themselves and used no caution against the thief. Since then He is the Son of man, I hold Him to be the Judge, and in the Judge I claim the Creator. If then in this passage he presents the Creator's Christ under the title Son of man, so that He may give us some warning about the thief, the time of whose coming we do not know, you still have it ruled above that no one is the thief of his own property. Besides this, our principle also remains untouched: in as far as He presses the Creator on us as an object of fear, in so far He belongs to the Creator and does the Creator's work. When

Tertullian, On Idolatry Background

...his is why the Holy Scriptures use the name of fornication when they rebuke idolatry. The nature of fraud, I think, is that a person takes what belongs to another, or refuses to another what is due to him. And of course, fraud against a human being is considered a very great crime. But idolatry commits fraud against God by refusing His honors to Him and giving them to others. So it joins insult to fraud as well. But if fraud, just like fornication and adultery, brings death, then in these cases too, just as in the first case, idolatry cannot be cleared of the charge of murder. After crimes so destructive and so consuming to salvation, all other crimes also, in one way or another, and each in its own order, have their true nature represented in idolatry. In it also are the sinful desires of the world. For what idolatrous festival is without clothing and decoration? In it are lust and drunkenness, since these festivals are attended mostly for the sake of food, the stomach, and appetite. In it is unrighteousness. For what is more unrighteous than that which does not know the Father of righteousness? In it also is vanity, since its whole system is empty. In it is falsehood, for its

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Background

...m, and an impulse from God. Very well, let it be granted that the philosophers among the Greeks are thieves and robbers. Before the coming of the Lord, they received pieces of the truth from the Hebrew prophets, but not with full understanding. Then they claimed these things as their own teachings. They hid some points, handled others in a clever but deceptive way, and discovered still other things, perhaps because they had a spirit of perception. Exodus 28:3 Aristotle also agreed with Scripture, and said that sophistry had stolen wisdom, as we mentioned before. And the apostle says, "These are the things we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Spirit." 1 Corinthians 2:13 For it is said of the prophets, "We have all received from His fullness," John 1:16, that is, from Christ's fullness. So the prophets are not thieves. And the Lord says, "My teaching is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me." And about those who steal He says, "But he who speaks from himself seeks his own glory." Such people are the Greeks, lovers of themselves and boasters. 2 Timothy 3:2 When Scripture speaks of these as wise, it does not condemn those who are truly wise