Money. It is the serious pursuit of the human race. Everybody wants money. And it is noteworthy to say that money in and of itself is not evil. But the Bible gave us a warning concerning the dangers of loving money. Paul wrote, "Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. . . . Their minds are corrupt, and they have turned their backs on the truth. To them, a show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy. Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows" (1 Timothy 6:4-10).
If money is not the root of all evil but the love of it, what does it mean to love money? To fully understand this passage, notice that the first part of verse 10 ("For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil") functions as a cause (like cause and effect), both backward for verse 9 and forward for the rest of verse 10. Let's take these one at a time.
Expositing 1 Timothy 6:9-10
When we observe how verse 10a serves as a cause of verse 9, what we'll notice is crucial. Verse 9 says that those who desire to be rich "fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires." Notice that the longing to be rich does not produce just one desire, but many―which are in fact foolish and harmful. Then Paul says the desire to be rich has this effect: "For [because] the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils." Those "who long to be rich" in verse 9 corresponds to "the love of money" in verse 10a. And the "many . . . desires" of verse 9 corresponds to "all kinds of evil" in verse 10. I hope you're seeing what am painting.
Paul is tracing the cause of these "many foolish and harmful desires" back to the love of money as "the root of all kinds of evil." Why does the longing or desire to be rich not just result in one desire for money but "many desires"? Because the love of money is the root of vastly more than we usually think it is. It is the root of all kinds of evil that men do. Paul is tracing the multiplicity of desires that flow from the desire to be rich deep down to a root that accounts for "many" because it accounts for "all."
How does the love of money do that? Here is one way: Because "money" is of no value in itself (the paper or the metal). It is desirable only because it is a cultural symbol which can be traded for the "many desires" that we have. But it cannot be traded for God or godliness.
Hence, the love of money in Paul's mind corresponds to the root longing for the things money can buy without God. That is why all these many desires "plunge them into ruin and destruction" (verse 9). Good desires don't destroy. Only desires for anything without God destroy. That is what the love of money represents. Therefore, this love is the root of all kinds of evils that men commit. Because all evils come from that root desire—the desire for anything without God.
This is the essence of sin and the root of all sinning—falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Or, to put it another way, sin is "exchanging God for the creation" (see Romans 1:23, 25). In other words, at root, sin is preferring anything above God. "All kinds of evil" come from this preferring, or this desiring or this longing. If something is desired for God's sake, that desire is not sin. If anything is desired not for God's sake, that desire is sin. Therefore, all sin, "all kinds of evil," come from this desire, this love—represented in 1 Timothy 6:10 by love for the currency of satisfaction without God.
Expositing 1 Timothy 6:10
Now we look in the other direction from verse 10a—forward to the rest of the verse. "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows." Just as in verse 9 the "many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction," so here in verse 10 the love of money leads people to pierce "themselves with many sorrows." How? Through this love of money some "have wandered from the true faith."
The love of money works its destruction by luring the soul to forsake faith. Faith is the contented trust in Christ that Paul referred to in verse 6: "True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth." Faith says, "I have learned how to be content with whatever I have" (Philippians 4:11). Faith has contentment in all circ*mstances because it has Christ, and Christ makes up for every loss (Philippians 3:8).
All true virtue grows from the root of resting in Christ. Without it, we perform our deeds not as an expression of Christ's all-sufficiency, but in order to make up for some deficiency we feel, for lack of faith. But that is not true virtue, and it doesn't honor Christ. Only what is done from faith is truly virtuous (Romans 14:23). Which means, "all kinds of evil"—to use the words of 1 Timothy 6:10—rise from the soul that has been lured away from faith. And that, Paul says, is what the love of money does. Through this love of money some "have wandered from the true faith." And for a heart that loves money, "it is impossible to please God without faith" (Hebrews 11:6). Only evil comes from faithlessness—all kinds of evil.
What is the Love of Money?
So what did Paul mean when he wrote this? He did not mean that money is always on your mind when you sin. A lot of sin happens when we are not thinking about money. What he meant is that all the evils in the world come from a certain kind of heart, namely, the kind of heart that loves money.
So what does it mean to love money? It doesn't mean to love the paper or whatever that represents currency. In business, we believe that people don't buy your goods or services. But what your goods or services can do for them. Hence, to know what it means to love money is to first of all ask: What is money? As I have indirectly defined it, money is simply a symbol that stands for the exchange for human resources. Money symbolize what you can get from man—other human beings—instead of God.
God deals in the currency of grace, not money (Isaiah 55:1). Money is the currency of exchange for human resources. So, the heart that loves money is a heart that puts its hopes, and pursues its pleasures, and place its trust in what human resources can offer. In other words, the love of money is virtually the same as faith in money—belief, trust, confidence, assurance―that money will meet your needs and make you happy. In truth that's why everybody is in pursuit of money. People don't love money for the sake of money, but what money can do or buy for them.
If we press this down, we will see that the love of money is the alternative to faith in God. It is faith in human resources—the kind of thing you can obtain or secure with money. Therefore, the love of money, or trust in money, is the bottom of unbelief in the promises of God.
You cannot Serve God and Money
This is why Jesus said in Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
You can't trust in God and in money at the same time. Belief in one is unbelief in the other. Jesus uses the term "love" and "devoted" to describe the choice: We either love God, or we love money. He attaches the idea of "serving" to this idea of loving: "You cannot serve both God and money." From this I conclude that, if you love money, you cannot serve God. And if you cannot serve God, then everything you do is evil. Because that is what evil is: any act not done out of loving service to God. Therefore, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. For a heart that loves money—that depend on money for happiness—is not depending on all that God is for us in Jesus as the satisfaction of our souls.
O. O. Living (@oo_living) answered the call to follow Jesus Christ at the age of fourteen after hearing the teachings of a Christian lady. He is founder and teacher of Godcentered Christianity. Living is author of God’s Passion for His Glory and most recently, Joy to the World.
