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Faith Beyond the Boundary of Possession and Greed: An Ethical Reflection on the Public Dimension of the Ten Commandments

  • The Korean Journal of Chiristian Social Ethics
  • Abbr : 기사윤
  • 2025, (63), pp.417~441
  • Publisher : The Society Of Korean Christian Social Ethics
  • Research Area : Humanities > Christian Theology
  • Received : October 31, 2025
  • Accepted : December 16, 2025
  • Published : December 31, 2025

Lee Dong Ho 1

1목원대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

What is the essential thing that brings us meaning and happiness in life in modern society? Humans seek stability and a sense of identity through possessions, but an excessive obsession with them creates boundaries and mistrust toward others we must live with. Especially when possessions become the measure of personal worth, discrimination and hostility grow in interpersonal relationships, leading to an ever greater separation and division within communities. The obsessive desire for possessions strengthens individualism, weakens communal ethics, and ultimately diminishes social cohesion and tolerance, thus resulting in social dysfunction. Therefore, this study argues that the value of happiness lies not in possessions, but in appreciating existence itself and living together with others. This study, from a theological perspective, critically examines how the desire and greed for possessions in contemporary capitalist society undermine the fundamental principles of communal ethics and faith. Drawing upon the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament—particularly the Eighth Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ and the Tenth Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not covet’—it situates the issues of possession and greed beyond the scope of individual morality, extending them to the broader framework of social ethics. Drawing upon this biblical tradition, the study undertakes a critical analysis of the inequitable structure inherent in contemporary capitalism, its disproportionate accumulation of wealth, and the consequent alienation of humanity. It advances the ethic of ‘common life’ as a foundational principle for alternative religious praxis. The en- during public relevance of the Ten Commandments necessitates the reestablishment of an ethical order wherein individuals, neighbors, and communities coexist in reciprocal interdependence within the paradigm of divine justice and love.

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