How should I think about money?

What the Bible says

Jesus spoke about money often and directly. In the Sermon on the Mount he says that our treasure shows where our heart is.

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

Matthew 6:19

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

The problem is less having money than where the heart is fastened. And Jesus asks for a choice.

No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Matthew 6:24

Money is a good servant but a bad master, a rival to God. In Luke 12 God calls the farmer who thinks only of bigger barns a fool (Luke 12:20).

Paul writes to Timothy:

For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

1 Timothy 6:10

The root of evil here is not money but "the love of money." In the same chapter Paul offers the alternative.

Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.

1 Timothy 6:6

Contentment does not praise poverty. Paul says, "I have learned the secret of being filled and being hungry, of having plenty and having need" (Philippians 4:12). Hebrews says, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have," and gives the reason: "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

Scripture honors work and providing. A thief is told to work with his hands "that he may have something to share with the one in need" (Ephesians 4:28), and caring for one's household is part of faith (1 Timothy 5:8). For the wealthy, Paul tells Timothy what to say.

Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.

1 Timothy 6:17

The issue is not enjoyment but where hope is placed. Then comes the call "to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share" (1 Timothy 6:18).

Giving begins with the confession that all is God's: "The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 24:1). In 2 Corinthians 8-9 the Macedonian churches' "deep poverty overflowed into rich generosity" (2 Corinthians 8:2), and Paul grounds it in Christ.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

2 Corinthians 8:9

And the manner of giving:

Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:7

Finally, Scripture treats justice for the poor as a matter of money. "Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him" (Proverbs 14:31).

The church's witness

The Fathers distinguished riches from the attitude to riches. Jerome explains that "mammon" is the Syriac word for riches and then says: "Yet He said not, he who has riches, but, he who is the servant of riches" Jerome.

Matthew Henry reads 1 Timothy 6 the same way: "People may have money, and yet not love it; but if they love it, this will push them on to all evil" Matthew Henry. Of the rich he asks, "What is the best estate worth, more than as it gives opportunity of doing the more good?" Matthew Henry. On Philippians 4 he observes that "the temptations of fulness and prosperity are more than those of affliction and want" Matthew Henry.

Christians divide on whether to give up all possessions. The early Jerusalem church shared goods according to need (Acts 4:34-35), and monastic traditions took vows of poverty. Most churches have held that private property is lawful, with a duty to share; the duty to the poor is common ground. On tithing, see Must Christians tithe?.

In the original languages

The "love of money" in 1 Timothy 6:10 is philarguria (φιλαργυρία), built from philos, "love," and arguros, "silver."

The "contentment" in 1 Timothy 6:6 is autarkeia (αὐτάρκεια), "self-sufficiency." The Stoics took it as independence won by inner strength. But Paul, who uses a related word (autarkēs) for contentment in Philippians 4:11, goes on: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). That verse is often quoted as a promise of achievement, but its context is contentment in plenty and in need. Paul's contentment comes not from being sufficient himself but from Christ being sufficient. "Mammon" (mammōnas (μαμμωνᾶς)) is an Aramaic word.

Common objections

"God wants his children blessed and wealthy. Faith brings prosperity." There is truth here. Scripture does not deny material blessing: "The blessing of the LORD enriches, and He adds no sorrow to it" (Proverbs 10:22), and John writes, "Beloved, I pray that in every way you may prosper and enjoy good health, as your soul also prospers" (3 John 2). Israel's covenant promised blessing on land and harvest, and those who teach prosperity say they offer the poor hope that God cares for bodies and bills, not only souls. But prosperity theology, the teaching that faith and giving guarantee wealth and health, goes beyond the whole of Scripture, many churches judge, for four reasons. First, the Old Testament promises mostly belong to a covenant with the nation of Israel, and 3 John 2 is a greeting, not a promise. Second, Jesus adds "along with persecutions" to the hundredfold (Mark 10:30). Third, Scripture is full of faithful people who were poor and suffered: Job, Jesus himself, Paul, "poor, yet making many rich" (2 Corinthians 6:10), and those of Hebrews 11 who were "destitute, oppressed, and mistreated" (Hebrews 11:37). Fourth, Paul warns against those who "regard godliness as a means of gain" (1 Timothy 6:5). Thanking God for prosperity is one thing; using faith as a tool for it is another.

"Jesus told the rich young man to sell everything. Must Christians be poor?" Jesus said, "go, sell your possessions and give to the poor" (Matthew 19:21), and the man left in sorrow "because he had great wealth" (Matthew 19:22). Some read this as a demand on every Christian, others as a particular call exposing this man's idol; the New Testament has both those who sold everything and those who kept property and served the church. Both readings agree: nobody may put wealth in God's place, and when God says "sell," we must obey.

"Aren't the poor poor because they are lazy? Doesn't Paul say that if anyone won't work, he shouldn't eat?" Scripture does say, "If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but to those who refuse to work while living off others, not those who cannot work or find none. Proverbs warns that laziness leads to poverty, but it also knows poverty caused by injustice. Matthew Henry comments on Proverbs 14:31: "To oppress the poor is to reproach our Creator" Matthew Henry. Working and helping the poor are both commanded.

Going further

In one sentence, the Bible's teaching on money is this: money is God's and I am its steward, so I work honestly, spend gratefully and give gladly.

You might ask yourself: If where my money goes shows where my heart is, what do my expenses say? Who near me needs help right now? What fear or pride about money have I not yet handed over to God?

To read further, see How should we live? Reading Matthew 6:19-34 and 2 Corinthians 8-9 slowly is a good start.