Survey
of the Letters of Paul: 1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.
This section includes verses 9 and 10.
1 Timothy 6:9-10
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful
lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil:
which while some coveted after, they have erred from
the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.
THE PERIL OF THE LOVE OF MONEY
1 Timothy 6:9–10
The paraphrase of the verse:
Those who wish to be rich fall into temptation and a
snare, and into many senseless and harmful desires
for the forbidden things, desires which swamp men in
a sea of ruin and total loss in time and in
eternity. For the love of money is a root from which
all evils spring; and some, in their reaching out
after it, have been sadly led astray, and have
transfixed themselves with many pains.
HERE is one of the most misquoted sayings in the
Bible. Scripture does not say that money is the root
of all evil; it says that the love of money is the
root of all evil. This is a truth of which the great
classical thinkers were as conscious as the
Christian teachers. ‘Love of money’, said the Greek
philosopher Democritus, ‘is the metropolis of all
evils.’ Seneca speaks of ‘the desire for that which
does not belong to us, from which every evil of the
mind springs’. ‘The love of money’, said the Cynic
teacher Diogenes of Sinope, ‘is the mother of all
evils.’ Philo, the Jewish writer, spoke of ‘love of
money which is the starting-place of the greatest
transgressions of the law’. The Greek writer
Athenaeus, who lived in the second century, quotes a
saying: ‘The belly’s pleasure is the beginning and
root of all evil.’
Money in itself is neither good nor bad, but the
love of it may lead to evil. With it, people may
selfishly serve their own desires; with it, they may
answer the cry of their neighbor's need. With it,
they may advance the path of wrongdoing; with it,
they may make it easier for other people to live as
God meant them to do. Money is not itself an evil,
but it is a great responsibility. It has power for
good and power for evil. What then are the special
dangers involved in the love of money?
(1) The desire for money tends to be a thirst
which cannot be satisfied. There was a Roman
proverbial saying that wealth is like sea water; far
from quenching thirst, it intensifies it. The more
we get, the more we want.
(2) The desire for wealth is founded on an
illusion. It is founded on the desire for security;
but wealth cannot buy security. It cannot buy
health, nor real love, and it cannot preserve from
sorrow and from death. The security which is founded
on material things is doomed to failure.
(3) The desire for money tends to make people
selfish. If they are driven by the desire for
wealth, it is nothing to them that someone has to
lose in order that they may gain. The desire for
wealth fixes people’s thoughts upon self, and others
become merely means or obstacles in the path to
their own enrichment. True, that need not happen;
but in fact it often does.
(4) Although the desire for wealth is based
on the desire for security, it ends in nothing but
anxiety. The more people have to keep, the more they
have to lose, and the tendency is for them to be
obsessed by the risk of loss. There is an old story
about a peasant who performed a great service to a
king, who rewarded him with a gift of much money.
For a time, the man was thrilled; but the day came
when he begged the king to take back his gift, for
into his life had entered the hitherto unknown worry
that he might lose what he had.
(5) The love of money may easily lead people
into wrong ways of getting it, and therefore, in the
end, into pain and remorse. That is true even
physically. They may so drive their bodies in their
passion to get that they ruin their health. They may
discover too late what damage their desire has done
to others and be saddled with remorse.
To seek to be independent and prudently to provide
for the future is a Christian duty, but to make the
love of money the driving force of life cannot ever
be anything other than the most perilous of sins.
~Barclay commentary
Let us look first at the general commentaries:
What sins will not men be drawn into by the love of money! People may have
money, and yet not love it; but if they love it, this will push them on to all
evil. Every sort of wickedness and vice, in one way or another, grows from the
love of money. We cannot look around without perceiving many proofs of this,
especially in a day of outward prosperity, great expenses, and loose profession.
~Matthew Henry Concise commentary
Now from the Matthew Henry volume set commentary
The apostle affirms that the love of money is the root of all evil. What sins
will not men be drawn to by the love of money? Particularly this was at the
bottom of the apostasy of many from the faith of Christ; while they coveted
money, they erred from the faith, they quitted their Christianity, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows. Observe, [1.] What is the root of all
evil; the love of money: people may have money, and yet not love it; but, if
they love it inordinately, it will push them on to all evil. [2.] Covetous
persons will quit the faith, if that be the way to get money: Which while some
coveted after, they have erred from the faith. Demas hath forsaken me, having
loved this present world, 2 Timothy 4:10. For the world was dearer to him than
Christianity. Observe, Those that err from the faith pierce themselves with many
sorrows; those that depart from God do but treasure up sorrows for themselves.
~Matthew Henry
Let us take a look at the John Wesley commentary:
Love of money - Commonly called "prudent care" of what a man has. Is the root -
The parent of all manner of evils. Which some coveting have erred - Literally,
missed the mark. They aimed not at faith, but at something else. And pierced
themselves with many sorrows - From a guilty conscience, tormenting passions,
desires contrary to reason, religion, and one another. How cruel are worldly men
to themselves! ~John Wesley Explanatory Notes
Now to the specific commentaries:
This verse is generally handled in 4 parts:
1] For the love of money is the root of all evil.
2] Which while some coveted after.
3] They have erred from the faith.
4] And pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1] For the love of money is the root of all evil.
For the love of money is the root of all evil - That is, of all kinds of
evil. This is evidently not to be understood as literally true, for there are
evils which cannot, be traced to the love of money - the evils growing out of
ambition, and intemperance, and debasing lusts, and of the hatred of God and of
goodness. The expression here is evidently a popular saying - “all sorts of
evils grow out of the love of money.” Similar expressions often occur in the
classic writers; see Wetstein, in loc, and numerous examples quoted by Priceaus.
Of the truth of this, no one can doubt. No small part of the crimes of the world
can be traced to the love of gold. But it deserves to be remarked here, that the
apostle does not say that “money is the root of all evil,” or that it is an evil
at all. It is the “love” of it which is the source of evil. ~Barnes Notes
The love of money is the root of all evil - Perhaps it would be better to
translate παντων των κακων, of all these evils; i.e. the evils enumerated above;
for it cannot be true that the love of money is the root of all evil, it
certainly was not the root whence the transgression of Adam sprang, but it is
the root whence all the evils mentioned in the preceding verse spring. This text
has been often very incautiously quoted; for how often do we hear, “The
Scripture says, Money is the root of all evil!” No, the Scripture says no such
thing. Money is the root of no evil, nor is it an evil of any kind; but the love
of it is the root of all the evils mentioned here. ~Adam Clarke
For the love of money is the root of all evil - Of all the evils before
mentioned, and of others; not money itself, as silver and gold, which are God's
creatures, and his gifts, and may be used to, and answer many good purposes; but
the love of it, and not any love of it; for there may be a lawful love of it,
and desire after it, so far as it is requisite to the necessaries of life, to
answer the calls of Providence, the duties we owe to God and men, to serve the
interest of Christ, and do good to fellow creatures and fellow Christians: but
it is an immoderate insatiable desire after it, and an inordinate love of it,
which is here meant, such as is properly idolatry: as when a man loves it, not
only besides, but above God; serves it as if it was God, and places his trust
and confidence in it, independent of God, and his providence; such love of it is
the source and spring of all iniquity, as above; it was the sin of Judas, and
the root of all his iniquity. The phrase is Jewish. So idolatry is said to be
עיקר כל עונות, "the root of all iniquities." ~John Gill
2] Which while some coveted after.
Which while some coveted after - That is, some who were professing Christians.
The apostle is doubtless referring to persons whose history was known to
Timothy, and warning him, and teaching him to warn others, by their example.
~Barnes Notes
While some coveted after - Ορεγομενοι· Insatiably desiring. ~Adam Clarke
Which while some coveted after - in a greedy and insatiable way: ~John Gill
3] They have erred from the faith.
They have erred from the faith - Margin, “been seduced.” The Greek is, they have
been led astray from; that is, they have been so deceived as to depart from the
faith. The notion of deception or delusion is in the word, and the sense is,
that, deceived by the promises held out by the prospect of wealth, they have
apostatized from the faith. It is not implied of necessity that they were ever
real Christians. They have been led off from truth and duty, and from all the
hopes and joys which religion would have imparted. ~Barnes Notes
They have erred from the faith - Απεπλανηθησαν· Have totally erred - have made a
most fatal and ruinous departure from the religion of Christ. ~Adam Clarke
They have erred from the faith - the doctrine of faith. Observing that the
professors of it are generally poor, they have declined that path, and have not
so much as heard the word; and if they have heard and embraced it, yet when
persecution arises because of it, they drop their profession of it; or else
their minds are so filled with worldly cares, and deceitful riches, that the
word is choked, and becomes unprofitable, and by and by, Demas like, they
forsake it, having loved this present world. ~John Gill
4] And pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
And pierced themselves through with many sorrows - With such sorrows as remorse,
and painful reflections on their folly, and the apprehension of future wrath.
Too late they see that they have thrown away the hopes of religion for that
which is at best unworthy the pursuit of [salvation/eternal life]; which
leads them on to a life of wickedness; which fails of imparting what it promised
when its pursuit is successful, and which, in the great majority of instances,
disappoints its votaries [adherent of religion] in respect to its
attainment. The word rendered “pierced themselves through” - περιέπειραν
periepeiran - occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and is a word whose
force and emphasis cannot be well expressed in a translation. It is from πείρω
peirō, and is made more emphatic by the addition of the preposition περι peri.
The word πείρω peirō, means, properly, “to pierce through from one end to
another,” and is applied to meat that is “pierced through” by the spit when it
is to be roasted (Passow); then it means to pierce through and through. The
addition of the preposition περι peri to the word, conveys the idea of doing
this “all round;” of piercing everywhere. It was not a single thrust which was
made, but they are gashed all round with penetrating wounds. Such is the effect
on those who cast off religion for the sake of gold. None can avoid these
consequences who do this. Every man is in the hands of a holy and just God, and
sooner or later he must feel the effects of his sin and folly. ~Barnes Notes
And pierced themselves through with many sorrows - The word περιεπειραν
signifies to be transfixed in every part; and is an allusion to one of those
snares, παγιδα, mentioned
1Timothy 6:9, where a hole is dug in the earth,
and filled full of sharp stakes, and, being slightly covered over with turf, is
not perceived; and whatever steps on it falls in, and is pierced through and
through with these sharp stakes, the οδυναις πολλαις, the many torments,
mentioned by the apostle. ~Adam Clarke
And pierced themselves through with many sorrows - riches are therefore fitly
compared to thorns, which give great trouble and uneasiness, both in getting and
keeping them; and oftentimes the reflection upon the unlawful ways and means
made use of to obtain them, gives very pungent pain and distress. The apostle
seem to allude to the Hebrew word בצע, used for a covetous man, which signifies
one that pierces, cuts, and wounds, as such an one does both himself and others.
~John Gill
Let us go now to the Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge:
For the love of money is the root of all evil:
Proverbs 1:19
So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life
of the owners thereof.
Ezekiel 22:12
In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase,
and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten
me, saith the Lord GOD.
Micah 3:9-12
9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the
house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire,
and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and
say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall
become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
Titus 1:10-11
10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of
the circumcision:
11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which
they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
Which while some coveted after:
1 Timothy 6:21
Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.
The first to Timothy was written from Laodicea, which is the chiefest city of
Phrygia Pacatiana.
2 Timothy 4:10
For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed
unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
Jude 1:11
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the
error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Revelation 2:14-15 ...to the church at Pergamos
14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold
the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the
children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit
fornication.
15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing
I hate.
And pierced themselves through with many sorrows:
Psalm 32:10
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy
shall compass him about.
Proverbs 1:31
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their
own devices.
2 Peter 2:7-8
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his
righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
We will finish now with some quotes on the inordinate love of money.
A little thought and a little kindness are often worth more than a great deal of
money.
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. ~Henry Ford
There are people who have money and people who are rich.
If you want to rear financial blessings, you have to sow financially.
A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
Money has never made man happy, nor will it, there is nothing in its nature to
produce happiness. The more of it one has the more one wants. ~Benjamin
Franklin
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