Private Property

Private Property

Private property refers to the right of a person or family to own, control, and benefit from goods, land, or resources recognized by law as belonging to them and not to others. This concept supports personal responsibility, productive work, and freedom in economic life. The idea of private ownership is also closely tied to biblical teaching about stewardship and moral accountability before God.1

Ownership in Scripture

The commandment “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15) assumes that individuals possess something that rightly belongs to them and cannot be taken by others. Without private ownership, theft would have no meaning. In a similar way, the prohibition against coveting another person’s possessions (Exodus 20:17) recognizes that each household has its own property and that it is wrong even to desire what belongs to someone else.

Wayne Grudem notes that biblical law repeatedly affirms personal ownership. He explains that Scripture “regularly assumes and reinforces a system in which property belongs to individuals, not to the government or to society as a whole.” He continues:

“We see this implied in the Ten Commandments, for example, because the eighth commandment, ‘You shall not steal’ (Exod. 20:15), assumes that human beings will own property that belongs to them individually and not to other people. I should not steal my neighbor’s ox or donkey because it belongs to my neighbor, not to me and not to anyone else. The tenth commandment makes this more explicit when it prohibits not just stealing but also desiring to steal what belongs to my neighbor: ‘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’ (Exod. 20:17). The reason I should not ‘covet’ my neighbor’s house or anything else is that these things belong to my neighbor, not to me and not to the community or the nation.”2

The pattern of ownership in Old Testament law reflects this principle. People could buy and sell land, lend and borrow, and pass property on to their descendants through inheritance (Leviticus 25:14–16; Numbers 27:1–11). Personal property was protected and regulated, not abolished or treated as communal.3

Stewardship and Responsibility

In the biblical view, property rights carry obligations. What a person owns is entrusted to them by God to be used for good purposes. Ownership, then, is not only about freedom but also about accountability. Those who possess resources are called to manage them with fairness, generosity, and wisdom (Proverbs 3:9; Luke 12:48).4

Private property strengthens families, encourages hard work, and makes voluntary generosity possible. Acts of giving honor God precisely because they are given freely. When people respect one another’s ownership, they uphold justice and preserve peace within the community. Thus, private property functions both as an economic foundation and as a moral boundary that protects human dignity and promotes faithful stewardship.5

References

  1. Wayne A. Grudem, Politics - According to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 262.

  2. Grudem, Politics - According to the Bible, 262.