S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

The apostle Paul, in his first letter to his young disciple, Timothy, had this to say: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the fa...

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July 01 2013 • 4 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

The wealthiest may be rich not in a bad sense; the poorest may covet to be so (Ps 62:10). Love of money is not the sole root of evils, but it is a leading “root of bitterness” (Heb 12:15), for “it destroys faith, the root of all that is good” [BENGEL]; its offshoots are “temptation, a snare, lusts, destruction, perdition.”

"The love of money," says ISBE, in the Greek is philarguria, 1 Tim 6:10, literally, "love of silver"; compare corresponding "lovers of money" (Lk 16:14; 2 Tim 8:2), equivalent to "avarice"): The vice that seeks to retain and hoard all that is acquired (Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, xxiv); described as "a root of all kinds of evil."

Wiersbe says, "[The love of money] describes a person who has to have more and more material things in order to be happy and feel successful. But riches are a trap; they lead to bondage, not freedom. Instead of giving satisfaction, riches create additional lusts (desires), and these must be satisfied. Instead of providing help and health, an excess of material things hurts and wounds. The result Paul described very vividly: “Harmful desires … plunge men into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim. 6:9 NIV). It is the picture of a man drowning! He trusted his wealth and ‘sailed along,’ but the storm came and he sank."

The NET	Bible says, "For the love of money is the root 1 of all evils. 2 Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains."

NET Notes	
1 tn This could be taken to mean “a root,” but the phrase “of all evils” clearly makes it definite. This seems to be not entirely true to life (some evils are unrelated to love of money), but it should be read as a case of hyperbole (exaggeration to make a point more strongly).

2 tn Many translations render this “of all kinds of evil,” especially to allow for the translation “a root” along with it. But there is no parallel for taking a construction like this to mean “all kinds of” or “every kind of.” The normal sense is “all evils.”

March 24 2022 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report