Breaking the commandments constitutes sin. Sin brings death as its penalty. Sin has existed as a factor in human life since the time of Adam because the spiritual law of God was in effect from the beginning of creation. God ascribed sin to man from the start. People committed the sin of breaking the commandments before the time of Moses. Examples include idolatry, murder, adultery, and Sabbath breaking. Abraham kept the commandments. David was concerned about keeping the commandments. Jesus Christ kept the Ten Commandments and taught others to keep them in order to enter eternal life. The apostles taught obedience to the commandments. The church that Jesus Christ built teaches and practices keeping the Ten Commandments. Love does not nullify the law. Lawbreakers will not be allowed into the holy city once the Kingdom of God is established.

Breaking the rules results in a penalty. Transgressing the law constitutes sin because the law defines the standard of righteousness on one side and sin on the other. Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Breaking a commandment such as the prohibition against covetousness moves a person outside the hedges of God's love and requires immediate return to obedience. The law reveals such infractions so that sin may be purged like leaven from a life that has already been made unleavened through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Commandment breaking forms the foundational premise from which the entire economic discussion unfolds: breaking God's commandments, failing to walk in His ways, and failing to fear Him bring about scarcity and famine, a pattern the nation and the world have followed. This principle is given concrete expression through the law of honest weights and measures found in Leviticus 19:35-36, where God commands honest scales, weights, and measures, grounding this requirement in His identity as the One who delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage. Tampering with physical standards of measurement is identified as a sign that people have already tampered with moral standards, making dishonest scales a direct form of commandment breaking rather than a mere economic infraction. This connects specifically to the eighth commandment against stealing. The case law in Exodus 22:10-12 regarding restitution for theft establishes that honest weights and measures are a specific application of this commandment; tampering with scales or substituting something less valuable than what was agreed upon constitutes theft through fraud, an attack on God's justice and social peace. Debasing currency—whether through ancient coin clipping or modern printing of paper and electronic money by the Federal Reserve—is identified as counterfeiting, which is itself a form of stealing labor from citizens and other nations. Beyond theft, commandment breaking through debased money extends to idolatry, violating the second and tenth commandments. Colossians 3:5-6 identifies covetousness as idolatry, and the coveting of gold, silver, and other forms of value through debasement is explicitly named as idolatrous. When people debase currency, they attempt to play God, usurping His authority in a manner parallel to Satan's rebellion. Tampering with scales is further described as false witness against God's character as righteous Judge, since the one who controls weights and measures functions as a judge; cheating through false scales implies that God Himself is a cheater or that He lacks the power to enforce justice. This falsehood is traced to its ultimate source in John 8:44, where the lawbreaker's true father is identified as the devil, the father of lies. Commandment breaking is also shown through idleness and refusal to work, as addressed in II Thessalonians 3:6-12, where Paul commands the community to withdraw from those who walk disorderly, refusing to labor while depending on others. This disordered idleness, flowing into gossip and meddling, is treated as a serious sin against God's created purpose for human labor established in Genesis 2:15. Isaiah's prophecy against Judah illustrates how internal commandment breaking produces visible public evidence: corrupt judges, bribery, debased silver, and neglect of the fatherless and widow all testify together to a nation's rebellion against God's law. This corruption invites divine judgment, pictured as the purging of dross by fire, a theme carried into the New Testament through Paul's teaching on works tested by fire and John's vision of idolaters and liars facing the lake of fire. Ultimately, commandment breaking in the economic sphere—whether through dishonest scales, debased currency, idleness, or idolatrous trust in money—reveals a corrupted heart and invites God's righteous judgment unless repentance intervenes.

Rebellion against God's commandments brought punishment upon the church. Breaking God's law produces automatic consequences that break the individual without any need for direct action from God. Those who keep God's commandments please Him and receive added blessings while those who break them bring ruin upon themselves. Each person remains accountable for commandment breaking regardless of age once understanding exists. Repentance requires turning from all transgressions and putting God first to avoid eternal consequences.