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Scripture treats money as a real good that God provides and as a rival master that can own a person. It never calls money evil; it calls the love of money a root of all kinds of evil, warns that no one can serve both God and wealth, and directs the rich to generosity and everyone to contentment. Its main question about money is not how much you have but who you are serving with it.
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God's answer first
Three passages set the frame: what money can become, who it competes with, and where treasure is safe.
The passage that answers this
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Read the wording carefully. It is the love of money, and being determined to be rich, that Paul warns about, and the alternative he names is not poverty but godliness with contentment.
Read these with it
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Jesus puts money in the category of master. That is why Scripture treats money as a spiritual matter and not merely a practical one.
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The rich are not told to feel guilty but to move their hope and open their hands. God is described as one who richly provides everything to enjoy.
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Why we ask this
Money touches almost every decision, so a believer who has no biblical view of it will absorb one from somewhere else.
Some have heard that wealth is proof of God's favour, others that poverty is proof of . Scripture affirms neither, and says harder and clearer things than both.
Many are simply afraid: of debt, of not having enough, of the pull they feel toward more. Scripture speaks to fear and to the pull, and it distinguishes them.
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Historical context
- Written by
- Paul
- Written to
- Timothy, leading the church in Ephesus, a wealthy trading city
- Written because
- correcting teachers who used ministry as a means of gain, 1 Timothy 6:3-5
1 Timothy 6 does not begin with money in general. It begins with teachers who supposed that godliness was a way of getting, verse 5. Paul answers by redefining gain: godliness with contentment is great gain, verse 6.
Ephesus was prosperous, home to of Artemis and a considerable trade in silver work, Acts 19:24-27. A church there would include both the poor and the genuinely wealthy, which is why Paul gives instructions to both, verses 8 and 17.
Verse 17 is often overlooked in discussions of this chapter. Having warned about the determination to be rich, Paul then addresses those who already are rich, and does not tell them to divest but to reset their hope and to give.
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Verse by verse
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Paul borrows the language of profit and applies it elsewhere. Contentment here is a learned sufficiency, the same idea Paul uses of himself in Philippians 4:11.
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The argument is from birth and death, the two moments no one manages. Food and clothing set a strikingly low bar for contentment, and Paul does not present it as a rule for the poor only.
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Determined to be rich describes an aim, not an income. Snare and drown are hunting and drowning images: the danger is being caught and pulled under, not simply making a bad decision.
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A root of all kinds of evil, not the root of all evil. The stated harm is twofold: being led away from faith, and self inflicted sorrow.
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Two storehouses are compared by their security, not by their morality. Verse 21 gives the reason the subject matters: the heart follows the treasure, so where money goes the affections follow.
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Jesus gives a command and a reason. The reason is a statement about what a life is, which is why covetousness is treated as a misunderstanding as well as a sin.
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Giving is decided beforehand, freely, and gladly. Notice the purpose in verse 8: sufficiency so that good work may abound, rather than sufficiency as an end in itself.
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What Scripture says
Money is not evil; the love of it is ruinous
Paul names love and determination, not possession. Scripture records wealthy believers without rebuking their wealth, Abraham in Genesis 13:2, Job in Job 42:10-12, Lydia in Acts 16:14-15, and it still calls riches uncertain, 1 Timothy 6:17.
Money competes for the place God holds
Jesus calls it a master. Colossians 3:5 goes further and calls covetousness idolatry, and Luke 16:13-14 shows the teaching resented by those it exposed.
Contentment is learned, not arranged
Paul says he learned to be content in plenty and in need, and grounds it in strength given by Christ. Hebrews 13:5 attaches contentment to a promise: I will in no way leave you.
Generosity is the direction Scripture pushes
Ready to distribute, willing to share, rich in good works. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 adds that giving is deliberate and cheerful, and Proverbs 3:9-10 puts honouring God with the firstfruits before any thought of increase.
Debt and diligence are treated soberly
The borrower is servant to the lender is an observation about power, not a prohibition. Alongside it Scripture commends planning and work, Proverbs 6:6-8 and 21:20, and Romans 13:8 says owe no one anything except love.
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Cross references
Two masters
God and money set against each other as masters.
Covetousness named as idolatry.
Faithfulness in money as a test of faithfulness in more.
Contentment
Godliness with contentment as the real gain.
Contentment grounded in the promise of God's presence.
The one who loves silver is never satisfied by it.
Generosity
Deliberate, cheerful giving and God's supply.
The one who waters others is watered.
Believers selling property so that no one lacked.
Warnings
The rich fool, secure in stored goods.
Wealth gathered by withholding wages.
Riches described as flying away like an eagle.
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Common misunderstandings
Money is the root of all evil.
The verse says the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, 1 Timothy 6:10. Two words are changed in the common version, and both matter: love, and a root among others.
Wealth is proof that God approves of you.
Job was upright and lost everything, Job 1:8-22. Jesus had nowhere to lay his head, Luke 9:58. Psalm 73:3-12 describes the ungodly prospering, and the psalmist only settles when he considers their end, verse 17.
Poverty is holier than wealth.
Scripture never says so. 1 Timothy 6:17 tells the rich to hope in God and to give, not to divest, and 1 Timothy 4:4 says every creature of God is good. Proverbs 30:8-9 asks for neither poverty nor riches, naming a spiritual danger in each.
Give in order to get.
2 Corinthians 9:7 rules out giving grudgingly or under compulsion, and verse 8 states the purpose as abounding to every good work. Where Scripture does promise blessing, Proverbs 3:9-10, the motive named is honouring God, not securing a return.
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Things most readers miss
1 Timothy 6:17 calls God the one who richly provides everything to enjoy.
In the middle of the strongest warning about wealth in the New Testament, God is described as generous and enjoyment as legitimate. Scripture's critique of greed is not a critique of gladness.
Matthew 6:21 explains why Jesus talks about treasure at all.
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. He is not managing our finances; he is telling us that money moves affections, so it is a spiritual indicator.
The rich fool's fault is stated as not being rich toward God.
Luke 12:21. The parable does not criticise saving or farming. It criticises a life arranged as though God and neighbour were not in it.
Paul says contentment was learned.
Philippians 4:11-12. He learned it in both plenty and need, which means neither condition teaches it automatically and both can be schools for it.
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Someone in Scripture faced this too
Scripture shows wealth held rightly, wealth held tightly, and wealth released.
The rich fool
What he or she went through
A good harvest, bigger barns, and a plan for years of ease. Every verb in his reasoning is about himself.
How God responded
God calls him foolish, verse 20, because his soul is required that night and the goods will belong to someone else.
What we learn
Jesus names the problem as not being rich toward God, verse 21, and prefaces the parable by saying life does not consist of possessions, verse 15. Nothing is said against the harvest itself.
Zacchaeus
What he or she went through
He was a wealthy chief tax collector who had taken from others by his position.
How God responded
Jesus went to his house, and Zacchaeus gave half his goods to the poor and restored fourfold what he had taken by fraud, verse 8.
What we learn
touched his accounts, and he was not commanded to do it. Notice also that he kept half, which shows Scripture's aim is not destitution but liberated ownership.
The widow of Zarephath
What he or she went through
She had a handful of meal and a little oil, and expected to eat one last meal and die.
How God responded
Through Elijah's word the jar of meal did not run out and the oil did not fail until rain came, verses 14 to 16.
What we learn
God's care reached the smallest household budget in the account. It is worth noticing that the supply was daily rather than abundant, which is how Scripture usually describes provision.
How it points to Christ
Jesus cites this widow in Luke 4:25-26 as an example of God's mercy reaching outside expectation.
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Christ and this question
The one who became poor, and the treasure that does not fail
2 Corinthians 8:9 puts the whole subject on gospel ground: though he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, that through his poverty you might become rich. Christian generosity is presented as an echo, not a strategy.
Jesus, who warned about treasure on earth, had nowhere to lay his head, Luke 9:58, and was buried in a borrowed tomb. He is not asking of us a freedom he did not live.
And Hebrews 13:5 sets contentment on his promise rather than on a balance: be content with such things as you have, for he has said, I will in no way leave you. The security money is asked to give is given somewhere else.
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What to do with this
Look at where the money went last month
Matthew 6:21 says the heart follows treasure, so a statement of spending is a fairly honest spiritual record. Read it as information, not as a verdict.
Decide giving in advance
2 Corinthians 9:7 says each one gives as he has determined in his heart. Decided beforehand, giving is worship. Left to the moment, it becomes whatever is left.
Name your contentment line
1 Timothy 6:8 names food and clothing. Ask what you have quietly told yourself you need before you can be at peace, and hold that against the verse.
Move one thing out of the snare
Verse 9 describes a trap. If a debt, a purchase or an ambition is pulling you under, take one concrete step: a plan, a conversation, a cancellation.
Give to someone who cannot repay you
Luke 14:13-14 commends exactly that, and 1 Timothy 6:18 says be ready to distribute. One gift given quietly does more to loosen money's grip than a year of resolutions.
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Study the question further
Is it a sin to be rich?
No. Scripture warns the rich severely and never tells them that wealth itself is sin. It tells them where not to place their hope and what to do with what they have.
1 Timothy 6:17-19
The rich are addressed with instruction, not with condemnation.
Genesis 13:2
Abraham is described as very rich without rebuke.
Mark 10:23-27
Jesus says how hard it is for the rich to enter, and that God can do it.
How to apply this today
- Where is my hope actually resting when I think about next year?
- What in my life would look different if my money were held rather than owned?
Father, hold my hope in you and open my hands. Let me use what you have given rather than trust it.
Does the Bible require tithing today?
Christians hold different views, and the broad agreement is larger than the disagreement: God's people are to give deliberately, generously and gladly, and to support those who teach them.
Where Christians agree
Giving is commanded, planned and cheerful, 2 Corinthians 9:7, and gospel workers may be supported, 1 Corinthians 9:14.
One view
The tithe of Malachi 3:10 and Leviticus 27:30 remains a fitting baseline, and Jesus affirms tithing in Matthew 23:23 while rebuking neglect of weightier matters.
Another view
The tithe belonged to the Mosaic , and the New Testament pattern is proportional, free giving, 1 Corinthians 16:2 and 2 Corinthians 8:12, sometimes far beyond a tenth.
Is debt a sin?
Scripture does not forbid borrowing, but it warns plainly about the position it puts you in and commends paying what is owed. It also commends lending generously.
Proverbs 22:7
The borrower is servant to the lender, stated as a fact about power.
Romans 13:8
Owe no one anything except to love one another.
Psalms 37:21
The wicked borrows and does not pay back; the righteous is generous.
Does God promise to make faithful Christians wealthy?
No. Scripture promises to supply need, and its examples include prophets, apostles and Christ himself living with very little. Promises of prosperity in the Old Testament belong first to Israel's setting.
Philippians 4:19
Every need supplied according to his riches in glory, written to a church that had just sent money away.
Matthew 6:31-33
Seek the Kingdom first, and these things will be added.
2 Corinthians 11:27
Paul lists hunger and cold in his own faithful service.
How much should I give?
Scripture gives principles rather than a single figure for the church age: give as you have decided, proportionate to what you have received, cheerfully, and with a readiness to share.
1 Corinthians 16:2
Set aside as he may prosper, regularly.
2 Corinthians 8:12-14
Willingness measured by what a person has, aiming at equality of burden.
Luke 21:1-4
The widow's small gift is weighed by what it cost her.
How to apply this today
- Have I ever actually decided a figure, or do I give whatever remains?
- What would generosity cost me this month, and is that cost the point?
Lord, make me a cheerful giver rather than a careful one, and teach me what to let go of.
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Reflection
- Read 1 Timothy 6:6-10 and then verse 17. What does holding both together prevent you from concluding?
- Read Matthew 6:19-21. Judging only by where your money went this year, where is your treasure?
- Read Luke 12:15-21. What in the rich man's reasoning sounds like ordinary wisdom, and what does God call foolish?
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Prayer
Father, everything I have came from you and none of it leaves with me. Keep me from serving what I am meant to steward.
Teach me contentment, in plenty and in need, and take from me the quiet belief that a little more would finally settle my heart.
Make me generous where I am guarded, and let my hope rest on you, who richly provide everything to enjoy.
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Further reading
1 Timothy 6:3-19
The whole passage, warning and instruction together.
Matthew 6:19-34
Treasure, masters and anxiety in one teaching.
Luke 12:13-34
The rich fool, followed by Jesus on worry and giving.
2 Corinthians 8
Generosity modelled on Christ becoming poor.
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Explore the passage
These are questions the text can actually answer. Take one, go back to the passage with it, and read until Scripture answers rather than until you have an explanation you like. Each question names where this study, or another passage, does the answering.
What this reveals about God
Start here, because every passage of Scripture is first about God before it is about us. Read for what He does, what He says, and what He is called.
What does these passages teach about God?
Underline every verb God is the subject of. What He does tells you who He is.
What does these passages reveal about God's character?
Look for the words the text itself uses of Him: holy, merciful, faithful, jealous, patient. Take the text's own vocabulary rather than your own.
What this reveals about us
Scripture is honest about people. Read for what it says of human need, human failure, and the kind of response it calls for.
What does these passages teach about humanity?
Watch what the people in the text want, fear, and trust. Scripture rarely flatters them.
What does these passages reveal about faith?
Faith in Scripture is always faith in someone, about something specific. Ask what exactly is being believed here, and on what word.
Where this arrives in Christ
Jesus said the Scriptures testify of Him. Follow the line the Bible itself draws rather than inventing one.
What does these passages reveal about Jesus Christ?
Look for what the New Testament does with this text. A connection Scripture makes is a connection you can stand on.
What does these passages reveal about salvation?
Ask who does the saving, who is saved, from what, and by what means. Let the text answer each part.
The world behind the words
The first readers knew things we have to learn. Recovering what they knew is study, not speculation.
How would the original audience have understood these passages?
Ask what they had already been told, what they were living through, and what this would have cost them to believe.
What historical or cultural background helps explain these passages?
Look at the work, the worship, the law and the customs the text assumes you already understand.
How this connects to the rest of Scripture
Scripture is its own best commentary. The clearest answers usually come from another passage rather than from a scholar.
Which Old and New Testament passages help explain these passages?
Prefer passages that quote or clearly echo this text. Those links are the Bible's own, not ours.
What biblical themes are developed in these passages, and where do they begin?
Trace one theme backwards to where Scripture first raises it, then forwards to where it lands.
What this asks of you
Application is the last step, never the first, and it must come out of the passage rather than out of general advice.
What does these passages teach believers to do today?
Say it as one sentence you could obey this week, and be able to point at the verse it came from.
Where faithful readers differ
Some questions here are genuinely open. Where Bible believing Christians read this differently, the readings are set out with the passages behind each one, and what Scripture states plainly is kept separate from what is interpretation.
Which parts of these passages does Scripture state plainly, and which parts are interpretation?
Write two lists. Anything you cannot put in the first list, hold loosely and say so when you teach it.
Questions Audela will not answer
Where Scripture does not answer a question, Audela says so plainly rather than filling the silence. An honest “the Bible does not tell us” is more faithful than a confident guess, and it keeps the reader’s trust in God’s Word rather than in our reasoning.
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever.
- Ask instead: What does the passage say God did, and what does that reveal about His character?
- Ask instead: What has God told us about His purpose here, in this text or elsewhere in Scripture?
- Ask instead: What does Scripture say about how God acts, and where does it say it?
- Ask instead: What happened, and what does the rest of Scripture make of it?
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Study tools
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Where this leads
A question is a doorway, not a destination. Here is where this one leads if you want to keep reading rather than stop at an answer.
Topic hub
Primary study
Philippians 4: The Peace That Guards
Philippians 4 is where Paul says he learned contentment in plenty and in need, and where every need is promised supply, in a letter written to thank a church for a gift.
Supporting studies
1 Timothy 6:3-19
Read the fullest New Testament passage on wealth, warning and instruction together.
Matthew 6:19-34
Read treasure, masters and anxiety as one teaching from Jesus.
2 Corinthians 8:1-9:15
Read generosity grounded in Christ rather than in pressure.
Deep chapter studies
Philippians 4: Contentment Learned in Chains
Learned contentment, peace that guards, and God supplying every need.