What does the Bible teach about money?

While the class of people who have the form of godliness and deny its power, make piety a means of gain in earthly things, which is condemned, the apostle speaks of true piety, or as it is called in the Authorized Version, godliness, with contentment as a great gain. True piety, in walking with God, having a good conscience, gives contentment, no matter what earthly circumstances are. A believer who seeks the things above should no longer cling to earthly things, knowing that we brought nothing into the world nor carry anything out. If the eternal things, that promised glory, are ever real before the soul, then each will be content with having the necessary things, food and raiment. And how very true are the words which follow, as not a few have found out. "But they that desire to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which plunge men into destruction and ruin. For the love of money is the root of every evil; which, while some coveted after, they have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows." Money itself is not evil, but the love of it is the fearful thing. No further comment is needed on these words. Examples of this evil are all about us in the professing church, and "lovers of money" and "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God" are constantly increasing. Surely they heap treasure together for the last days. Weeping and wailing will follow (James 5:3).

In nothing perhaps are the children of God so commonly unfaithful as in the stewardship of money. Too much spent on luxuries, and too little dispersed abroad, and even that not always wisely. When shall we learn to neither spend nor give without seeking the guidance of God? In Luke 16: the Lord Jesus, after speaking of the unjust steward who so skilfully manipulated his circumstances for his own advantage, said: "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much." "Least?" Is that how men regard money? Note also our Lord's further words: "that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God!" In 1 Tim. 6 the Apostle has much to say about this serious matter. In verses 9-11 he warns saints who are not rich, but who aspire to be, that there are dangers ahead. Men in the world who pursue such a course frequently "drown themselves in destruction and perdition" and money-loving saints "pierce themselves through with many sorrows." In Verses 17-19 the Apostle charges those who are already rich not to "trust … in uncertain riches, but in God who gives us richly all things to enjoy," and to be ready "with open hand for every good work." There is nothing wrong in possessing wealth (mark the word "enjoy") if the wealth comes to us honourably; but when we consider that He to whom we owe our eternal all had not where to lay His head, and when we also remember that He is still "despised and rejected by men," to be holders of large sums of money puts us in a position of grave responsibility, in the discharge of which we need daily and hourly grace. Referring again to Luke 16 we can "make to ourselves friends by the mammon of unrighteousness," if our hearts so dispose us (ver. 9) or we may make enemies by the same means. Those who are generous and kind are beloved; but those who are selfish and haughty by reason of their wealth are disliked. Oh, that it may be said of us, as of Josiah's workmen "they dealt faithfully! "

But why is it called "the mammon of unrighteousness"? Because all accumulation of property in one man's hand, more than in another's, belongs to man's fallen state in this world, since sin entered into it — a condition of unrighteousness. Hence in verse 11 the Lord speaks of it as "unrighteous mammon." But can what is thus solemnly characterised be possibly fit to be turned to profitable account by the Christian? It can; he can use it in view of where he looks to find his eternal home. It is "that which is least" (vers. 9-10) in the estimate of God. But how many have found the possession of wealth the most crucial test. Only by all the grace revealed in Luke 15 can any of us know "how to abound" — ("to be abased" is not so testing) — and be faithful in it. Possessions here wind themselves round the heart, and give man a false place among his fellows, ministering to his pride, and shutting out God. Hence (ver. 13) it is impossible to make both God and mammon the object of the heart — impossible to make the best of both worlds; either one or the other, but not both. Grace teaches us to sacrifice the one in view of the other, the present in full view of the eternal.

"If, therefore, ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" And herein lies what is so important as to possessions here, in the moral bearing of the parable. They are not our own. They are "that which is another man's" — the master's goods, according to the parable, which happen to lie over in our hands before our stewardship has been finally taken away. If looked upon as our own we might be tempted to spend them upon ourselves, or hoard them up — heaping treasure together in the last days, as James 5:3 says. But seen to be wholly "another man's," we can afford to be liberal in our use of them, and to lavish them on every interest of His, in view of that scene where we shall receive our own things. All we have here is His, then, to be used in view of eternity; our own things lie there with Him, where we look to be received, when our earthly course is closed. It is only by such an estimate of money, to speak plainly, that we can be delivered from the influence of what governs so powerfully the heart of man.

Having ascribed "honour and power everlasting" to the immortal, invisible God, before whom Timothy was to walk far removed from the spirit and ways of those whose main object was the acquisition of riches, the Apostle turns in verse 17 to give instructions as to those believers who are "rich in this world." His words indicate first of all the dangers attached to the possession of wealth. It has a tendency to generate high-mindedness and to divert the possessor from trust in God to trust in money. The worldly man of wealth naturally fancies himself greatly and feels himself secure against the ordinary troubles and struggles of humanity. The wealthy Christian must not imagine that his money entitles him to dominate the church of God and lord it over his fellow-believers.

Secondly Paul shows us the privileges attaching to wealth. It may be used in the service of God, in the help of His people; and thus he who starts by being rich in money may end in being rich in good works, and this is wealth of a more enduring kind. Earthly riches are uncertain, and he who lays it up in store for himself may find his store sadly depleted just when most needed. He who uses his riches in the service of God is laying up in store a good foundation of reward in eternity and meanwhile his trust is in the living God, who after all does not deny us what is good but gives it to us richly for our enjoyment. It is just those who hold and use their possessions as stewards responsible to God that can be trusted to enjoy God's good gifts without misusing them.

We saw that trust in the living God is the very essence of godliness when we were looking at 1 Tim. 4:10. The expression occurs again in verse 17 here. Rich believers are to be godly and to bend their energies not to the laying hold of larger things in this world but to the laying hold of "eternal life," or "that which is really life." The latter is probably the correct reading. Real life is not found in money and the pleasures it procures (See, v. 6.) but in the knowledge and service of God.

On all hands are people who earnestly desire to become rich; the making of money is to them the chief end of life. The Christian may all too easily become infected with this spirit to his great loss. Verse 9 does not speak of those that are rich, as does verse 17, but of those that "will be rich" or "desire to be rich," that is, they set it before them as the object to be pursued. Such become ensnared by many lusts, which in the case of the man of the world plunge him into destruction and ruin. This is so whether they succeed in their aim and amass wealth or whether they do not, for the coveting of money it is that turns men aside from the faith and pierces them through with sorrows, and not the acquisition and misuse of it only. The love of money is declared to be the root of every kind of evil. It is not that every bit of evil in the world can be traced to the love of money, but that the love of money is a root from which on various occasions every description of evil springs.

The exercised reader should pause here and read the last chapter of Paul's first letter to Timothy. With reference to riches, two classes are indicated; those who are not rich, but who wish to be (verses 9-12); and those who are rich already (verses 17-19). The first class are warned that the pursuit of wealth leads to temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men who know not God in destruction and perdition. Such a course is unworthy of those who are in union with Christ and blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. Money is not evil in itself, but the love of it is a root from which every evil may spring. The Apostle had observed some who, by their covetousness, had erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. He who would be a man of God (and there is great need of such) must flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness. If earthly pursuits leave no time for the cultivation of these seven divine graces all that the Christian may acquire is not gain but loss.

It is impossible to serve God and mammon at the same time. Mammon is simply material possessions: these are given to be of service to us, not that we should serve them. If we profess to serve God while really serving mammon, we shell actually despise God and His claims, whether or not we would think of this as hatred. On the one hand, there may be strong feelings of love toward one master and hatred toward the other; or on the other hand, the feeling may not be so strong, but the fact of holding to one and belittling the other will be evident.

Verse 6 gives the precious positive side of this matter. If the two things are present, godliness and contentment, this is a great gain. Contentment alone could not be this, for it would then be that in which the flesh would glory; but godliness must come first, and be the root cause of contentment. Paul was himself a true example of this. Compare Philippians 4:11-13. If Christ is truly the Object of the soul, will this not produce a contented spirit? And it is a most pertinent reminder for us that in entering the world we had nothing, and in leaving it we shall take nothing. Why then grasp all that we can, as though it is this upon which we depend? How many are like the apostle Paul in this matter, honestly content with the simple necessities of life? This should be no small exercise to our souls, and specially in a civilization that today places great emphasis on material comforts and luxuries. How subtle a snare this becomes to any of us who may be attracted by it!

In Christianity all we possess is sometimes viewed as belonging to God, and we are but stewards of what God has given us (Luke 16:11-12): but our present possessions are also viewed as our own (Acts 5:4), with the responsibility of using them aright. Those who are rich are not exhorted to give a tenth, but are to "be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate" (1 Tim. 6:18). All who give are to do it with simplicity (Rom. 12:8). even if we are not able, like the poor widow, to give all our living (Mark 12:41-44), or like the disciples of the Lord who left all to follow Him (Luke 18:28).

We have read your letter with deep interest and we can enter into your feelings. We believe the Christian is bound to provide for his family, day by day — bound to educate his children and put them in the way of earning an honest livelihood. All this is so plainly commanded in the New Testament as to admit of no question. But these sacred duties leave wholly untouched the question of hoarding up and of speculation. We do not believe in these latter at all. We believe that hoarding covers the soul with rust and speculation fills the heart and mind with care and anxiety.