Theology Detail
Applied to: Right to repair and meaningful ownership
Exodus 20:15 is the eighth commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.” It is the foundational biblical text on the sanctity of property, and it governs all questions about the legitimacy of ownership and the boundaries that must be respected around it.
“Thou shalt not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)
The eighth commandment belongs to the second table of the Decalogue—the commandments governing man’s duty to his neighbor. It is given by God at Sinai to Israel as the covenant people, but the Reformed tradition (WCF 19.2) teaches that the moral law summarized in the Ten Commandments is binding on all people in all ages as a transcript of God’s eternal moral will.
The Hebrew word ganab refers to taking what belongs to another without right or consent. It covers not merely physical theft but every form of unjust deprivation—fraud, deception, manipulation of weights and measures, and any scheme by which a person is deprived of what is rightfully his.
The Westminster Larger Catechism expounds the eighth commandment with remarkable breadth. The duties required (WLC 141) include “truth, faithfulness, and justice in contracts and commerce between man and man; rendering to every one his due” and “an endeavour, by all just and lawful means, to procure, preserve, and further the wealth and outward estate of others, as well as our own.” The sins forbidden (WLC 142) include “theft, robbery,” “receiving any thing that is stolen,” “fraudulent dealing,” and “all other unjust or sinful ways of taking or withholding from our neighbour what belongs to him.”
The principle is twofold:
The eighth commandment thus protects both the fact of ownership and the substance of ownership. A man who holds title to a thing but is systematically prevented from using, maintaining, or benefiting from it in the ordinary ways of ownership has been deprived of his property in substance if not in name.
The modern right-to-repair debate often involves situations where a consumer purchases a good—a tractor, a phone, a medical device—but the manufacturer retains effective control through software locks, parts restrictions, or licensing terms that prevent the owner from servicing, repairing, or modifying the product. The question the eighth commandment raises is: has the substance of ownership been unjustly diminished?
If a person pays the full price of a good, takes delivery, and is then told he may not open, repair, or maintain it—or that he must use only the manufacturer’s authorized service at the manufacturer’s price—the practical effect is a transfer of control away from the owner. The eighth commandment does not use the language of modern licensing law, but its moral logic extends to any arrangement where the substance of ownership is hollowed out while the appearance is maintained.
This is a strong implication, not a direct teaching. The commandment does not address end-user license agreements. But its moral logic—that taking from another what is rightfully his is sin—bears on situations where ownership is rendered nominal by design.
The eighth commandment cuts both ways. It protects the property of the buyer and the property of the manufacturer. Intellectual property, trade secrets, and proprietary designs are also forms of property that may not be stolen. A legitimate right to repair does not include a right to pirate software, reverse-engineer protected designs for competitive advantage, or void contractual obligations freely entered.
The commandment also does not settle every question of how ownership should be structured in a modern economy. Licensing models, subscription services, and leasing arrangements may be legitimate when they are transparent and voluntarily entered. The moral problem arises when the substance of ownership is stripped away without the buyer’s informed understanding—when the transaction appears to be a sale but functions as a conditional lease with hidden restrictions.
Nor does this text justify treating all intellectual-property protections as theft. Innovation requires investment, and the laborer is worthy of his hire (Luke 10:7). The eighth commandment protects the manufacturer’s honest labor as well as the buyer’s rightful possession.
“Thou shalt not steal” presupposes real ownership and forbids every unjust scheme that deprives a person of what is rightfully his. Applied to the right-to-repair question, it supports the principle that when a good is sold, the buyer should receive the genuine substance of ownership—not a hollow title stripped of ordinary stewardship rights. It also protects the manufacturer’s legitimate intellectual property. The eighth commandment does not resolve every licensing dispute, but it establishes the moral framework: ownership must be real, not illusory, and both buyer and maker have property rights that must be respected.