Shorter Catechism Q. 75. What is forbidden in the eighth commandment? A. The eighth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbor’s wealth or outward estate.
Commentary: There are many ways you can unjustly hinder your neighbor’s wealth or outward estate. Stealing is perhaps the most common one, and it can take many forms. One way is not to pay someone for the work they did for you. Another way is to download a copyrighted movie without paying for it. Interestingly, Kevin DeYoung says that when the movie, The Passion of the Christ, first came out, it was the most pirated movie.
WLC 142 provides a detailed list of what this commandment forbids: “The sins forbidden in the eighth commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are, theft, robbery, manstealing, and receiving any thing 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 inclosures and depopulations; ingrossing commodities to enhance the price; unlawful callings, and all other unjust or sinful ways of taking or withholding from our neighbour 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.”