Packer on "Do not steal"

Some jottings from J. I. Packer, Keeping the 10 Commandments (Crossway) previously Growing in Christ / I Want to Be a Christian on the 8th Commandment "Stop, Thief!":

Love to your neighbour requires you to respect not only his life (commandment 6) and his marriage (commandment 7) but also his property (commandment 8) (p89)

Ownership is stewardship - I am God’s trustee – all I have is leant to me on a temporary basis to be used for his purposes - One day I shall be asked to give an account of what I have done with all that God has given me

Theft by doing a shoddy job (e.g. as a tradesman)

Leaving debts unpaid a kind of theft – Rm 13:8

Stealing someone’s reputation - Shakespeare: “Who steals my purse, steals trash … but he that filches from me my good name … makes me poor indeed.”

In the Belfast revival of 1922-1923, converted shipyard workers brought back tools and equipment that they had “knocked off” in such quantities that in one place an additional storage shed had to be provided to hold them.” (p93)