Madison Hetzler

Sprinkled throughout the teachings of Jesus, we find tales of mustard seeds and swine, pearls and wineskins. Narratives of coins and stray sheep, buried treasure and banquets collect within the pages of our Bibles. These colorful parables evoke earthly images we can see to help communicate heavenly meanings that we cannot see. Put simply, a parable is a short story that conveys a greater truth.

While most of Scripture’s parables are found within the Gospels, we do find a few in the Old Testament. For example, the prophet Nathan tells David a story of a rich man stealing a poor man’s sheep to bring out David’s adulterous affair with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:1-4).

The New Testament contains over 40 parables. These stories illustrate much about the Kingdom of God for those who have ears to hear.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke, or the Synoptic Gospels, differ from John in that they closely mirror one another in their accounts. In these three gospels, we find similar wording, chronology, and Old Testament referencing. While we should expect consistent narratives amongst all the gospels, the similarities amongst the Synoptics seem to suggest that they were written in reliance upon one another or an outside source. Even amidst the similarities, we do still find content that is unique to one or two books.

Do these similarities discredit the authors or challenge the authority of their writings? Can we trust the Synoptic Gospels?

When Jesus met John the Baptist in the rippling current of the Jordan River, he ordained for his church the holy act of baptism. As Christ-followers came to identify with Jesus as their Lord, they too would step into the waters of baptism and follow in his example. Today, baptism continues to be a celebration of the Gospel and a public proclamation of faith in the truth of its message.

The message of the Gospel is simple: God is righteous, but each and every one of us is sinful and can do nothing to earn credit before the Lord in his holiness. We are deserving of death (Romans 6:23). While we are separated from God in our sin, Christ gives us his righteousness and reconciles us to God when we put our faith in the atoning work of Jesus (Romans 5:8). Salvation cannot be earned; it can only be gifted through Christ.

What is coveting and what does the Bible say about it? We were created to desire. Some desires stem from our needs, like our craving for food and rest. Other desires originate from our wants, like our longing for trends and excess. While we can distinguish between wants and needs, both categories lead us to conclude that we are not self-sustained or self-satisfied. We require outside provisioning and when that provisioning arrives, we take pleasure in it.

Our good Creator designed us to have needs and wants so that we might know him and delight in him as our Provider and our Sustainer. 

He did not create us as robots that lack feeling or gratitude. Instead, he gave us the ability to crave and savor. Consider how lackluster life would be without the satisfaction of desires fulfilled. This part of us is sacred because it precedes our worship. When needs and wants are met, we worship the source. Trust is then garnered and we return to that source as desires continue to arise.  

Sin corrupts our God-given yearnings and makes us believe that our desires can be satisfied apart from the Lord. As a result, we run after worldly goods that, like a sleeve of cookies, gratify us for a moment, but end up leaving us sick and malnourished.  

When we forage for fulfillment apart from the Lord, severing the relationship between Provider and provision, we covet.

This broad definition of the sin of covetousness may surprise us. We are far more inclined to assign coveting to a specific desire for a specific thing, like ogling a neighbor’s lawnmower or a friend’s house. We might even vocalize these thoughts in jest. Though these pointed desires can be a form of coveting, we do the word a disservice if we so limit this far reaching sin.

The Bible Explains the Sin of Coveting

In Scripture, coveting is explicitly addressed and labeled as a sin in the Ten Commandments. The commandment against coveting is found in two Old Testament passages:

1. Exodus 20:17 - "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 is your neighbor's."

2. Deuteronomy 5:21 - This verse echoes the commandment in Exodus, stating again not to covet a neighbor's wife, house, field, servant, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The commandment against coveting is distinctive because it addresses the inner thoughts and desires of an individual, rather than just their outward actions. Coveting is seen as the root of many other sins and harmful behaviors because it can lead to envy, theft, adultery, and other acts that harm community relations and personal integrity.

In the New Testament, the concept of coveting is also addressed and is seen as contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. For example, in Romans 7:7, Paul reflects on the law and sin, acknowledging that coveting is indeed a sin according to the law, "What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'"

Thus, both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible regard coveting as a sin because it is an unhealthy desire for what others have, which can lead to further wrongdoing and is contrary to a life of contentment, gratitude, and trust in God.

Consider these three questions to help us deepen our understanding of what it means to covet.

Photo Credit: Getty/Deagreez©