For the Love of Money
There are many passages in Scripture dealing with money and wealth, but the two that I think are paramount are the one from which the title of this article is taken, 1 Tim. 6:10, and one from Eccl. 10:19:
While these two passages appear to contradict each other, they really don’t as long as they are not lifted from their respective contexts or misquoted. But alas, that is exactly what many people do. In the case of the first passage, it is often misquoted by excluding the first four words of the first phrase, which leads readers to presume that money, in and of itself, is evil. But that isn’t at all what it says. Money, in whatever form it takes, is simply a medium of exchange. Before we go any further, let’s establish what the attributes of money are:
1.It is durable: You don’t want your money to fall apart, or dissolve when it gets wet. It has to last over time.
2. It is divisible. You need to be able to split it into smaller increments without it losing value. That’s why a painting doesn’t make good money. Half a Van Gogh isn’t worth a whole lot!
3. It is convenient to use. Good money packs high value into a small package and is easily portable.
4. It has consistency. Money should be easily recognizable, with each piece identical to the next. This property is sometimes referred to as fungibility.
5. It has intrinsic value. Good money should be something a lot of people want or can use. In other words, it has a useful purpose and value based on something other than its role as money.
Most of what passes for money in our modern world fails to qualify under these attributes, particularly numbers 1 and 5. The reason for this is that these pieces of paper (or now, digits on a computer/phone screen) we refer to as “money” have no real durability over time or intrinsic value, and since they are not redeemable into anything that does have these two attributes, they don’t qualify as money, but are better called “currency.” And the fact that their value( or what of a real nature they can be exchanged for) is in a constant state of flux makes them even more unqualified to be called money.
From a Biblical perspective, to determine what true money is, we need to look at the original language behind the English word as it appears in Scripture. The word appears in Scripture about 150 times in the OT, and about 25 times in the NT. In the OT, the Hebrew word, in every instance, literally means “silver.” In the NT, there are numerous words behind it, but the most prevalent one also literally means “a piece of silver.”
So, according to Scripture, silver is true money. This is why, until the middle of the 20th century, it (and gold coinage) was still considered real money in almost every country and culture in the world. But in 1964, that all began to change here in the U.S., as the coinage after that date contained no silver at all, and the use of it as a medium of exchange was forbidden by law. Then in 1971, the paper currency, or what scripture refers to as “scrip,”1 was no longer redeemable in real money (gold or silver).
But let’s return to our original passages and take a look at what, exactly, they mean for us in this modern “fiat” currency world we live in.
We’ve all watched movies from the bygone past depicting wealthy, greed obsessed individuals sitting amidst huge piles of gold and silver coinage or massive stacks of paper currency, or some crazy fool throwing hundred dollar bills onto the street from the upper story of a building and a crowd of people clamoring to scoop as many up as possible, but this really doesn’t tell us what “the love of money” actually constitutes. When one “falls in love with money,” it is when one is willing to do anything it takes, including defrauding others, to get it. It is the ruthless pursuit of it and the power it provides that compels someone to risk the love and well-being of every other human being in the pursuit of it. It is when one places his/her complete trust in it for their happiness and mental well-being.
But the other verse says, “money answereth all things.” If this is the case, why would anyone in their right mind not want as much of it as possible?
The world in which we exist indeed requires us to have money if we wish to have any “things,” but in looking at the context in which this passage is quoted, a writing of Israel’s third human king, Solomon, who we are told was one of the richest men that ever lived, that is, above all else, an expose of the sorrows of having “all things,” we certainly cannot conclude that he meant it would buy happiness or contentment. This is a man who supposedly had everything, including hundreds of women at his beck and call, but was obviously content with nothing!
Conclusion
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ told his disciples:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.2
When we include this with the directives for discipleship in Matt 10 and 19 to “sell out” and have nothing but the clothes on your back, no money in your pocket, totally dependent on others for your sustenance, this does not apply, doctrinally speaking, to the church, the body of Christ,3 in the dispensation of grace,4 because Paul instructs the church to “do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you..But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel, 5 which obviously is the opposite of the order the Lord gave to his disciples to abstain from working and being concerned with the things of this life that all people of the world have always concerned themselves with, e.g., food, clothing, shelter, etc. 6 But in a principled sense, while members of the b of C are allowed to possess “mamonas” (money) and worldly “things,” we are warned not to allow them to dominate our lives. The apostle gives some parting words to us concerning this in the letter to the Philippians and his first letter to Timothy:
Let your moderation be known unto all men….For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
All Scripture references are quoted from the King James Bible. Feel free to distribute this and other articles here as you see fit.
Related articles: Giving in the Grace Dispensation; I Have Decided to Follow Jesus
Post Script
Are you saved? I ask this, because the Bible says only those who are (saved) will one day inhabit the heavenly realm. Jesus Christ—“who knew no sin”—and his sacrificial death on the Cross, has made the way for “everyone that believeth” to be reconciled to God. History has shown that whatever peace man has achieved in the world can only be temporary. The Bible says that individual men and women can know, beyond a doubt, that they are saved and bound for heaven, and therefore have absolute and permanent peace by trusting Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for their eternal salvation. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures….for our justification….believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”2 Have you done this? If not, why not now?
www.agbsf.com
Discuss this article