Soon, we are going to be gathering with family and/or friends and celebrating a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas season. It is a time where we give each other gifts and spend quality time with one another.
There have already been Christmas items in the stores and sales throughout this time of year. There are neighbors who have a lot of Christmas lights, and those people who have next to none, and some in between. The ads tell you to get more and more stuff such as Christmas decorations and ornaments.
It got me to thinking about how excessive we can get. One of the ten commandments is the following:
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor" (Exodus 20:17 NASB1995).
Paul, in Romans, wrote, "What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COVET'" (Romans 7:7).
Covet Meaning
The word covet (חמד) means to desire something and try to obtain. It has to do with bringing damage upon the person or thing desired (Ludwig, Koehler et al., 2000, p. 325).
In the Greek, covet (επιθυμιαν) has to do with lust, which is a desire for something forbidden or simply inordinate (excess) (William Arndt, et al, 2000, p. 372).
You Shall Not Covet
This commandment God gave Moses on Mount Sinai says that people should not covet the following:
your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. God doesn't want people to desire it and try to obtain it where it would cause damage. That would be sin in God's eyes.
Context Before Romans 7:7
"Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives? For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter" (Romans 7:1-6).
He asks the brethren who know the law if they do not know that the law has jurisdiction (rules, is master) over a person as long as he lives. He said the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he's living; but if the husband dies, she's released from the law concerning the husband. If while her husband is living, she joined to another man she would be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she's not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.
Then he went on to write that therefore they were also made to die to the Law (Mosaic Law) through the body of Christ, so they may be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order to bear fruit for God. While they (including Paul) were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
However, since they've been released from the Law, having died to that by which they were bound, so that they serve in newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter (the Law).
This is in contrast to the letter, which is the characteristic of God's older declaration of the divine will in the law. The Spirit refers to God's being as controlling influence of the believer's life. It involves a new spirit. (William Arndt, et al, 2000).
Paul and Romans 7:7
Paul then wrote that the Law is not and never will be sin. He then wrote he would've not come to know sin except through the Law. He wouldn't have known about coveting if the Law hadn't said not to covet.
Context After Romans 7:7
He went on to state, "But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good" (Romans 7:8-12).
He said that sin, taking the opportunity through the commandment, where the circumstances were convenient, produced in him coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. He was once alive apart from the Law. However, when the commandment came, sin became alive and he died.
This commandment, which was to result in life proved to result in death. It was to bring life, but instead brought death. Sin, taking the opportunity through the commandment, deceived him and through it killed him. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
Don't Covet
So, don't covet things; it's sin. You'll end up probably storing excess things in your garage or attic anyways, then maybe even complain about not having any more storage room.
Sources:
Ludwig Koehler et al., The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994–2000), 325.
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ex 20:17.
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 372.
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