Paul wrote, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Maybe you’ve heard, “Money is the root of all evil.” Is money the root of all evil? Read or listen to this chapter from Your Finances God’s Way to learn why the love of money (versus money itself) is the problem.

Table of Contents"For the Love of Money," Versus Money, Is the ProblemThe Love of Money Leads to SinThe Resulting DiscontentmentThe Love of Money Hurts OthersThe Love of Money Ruins and DestroysLearning from the Rich Young RulerThe Love of Money Requires RepentanceThe Love of Money Chokes Christ Out of Our Lives

https://youtu.be/GuVZIAo5P6MPaul wrote, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils" (1 Timothy 6:10). Read on to learn why loving money is so dangerous.

I once watched a fascinating video of a man trapping a monkey. He hollowed out a space on the side of a mound and put food in it. The opening was large enough only for a monkey to insert his hand to get the food. Then the man stood behind a tree a little distance away and waited. A monkey went to the opening, put in his hand, and grabbed the food. The opening wasn’t big enough for the monkey to remove its hand with the food, and because it wouldn’t let go, it was trapped. While the monkey tried to free itself, the man came up from behind and captured it.

While it’s easy to mock the monkey because it was caught by its own foolishness, the same can happen to us. Paul said those who love money “fall…into a snare” (1 Timothy 6:9 ESV). The Greek word translated snare is pagis, and it refers to a trap in which animals are entangled and caught unexpectedly, like the monkey. Let’s consider why the love of money Is the root of all kinds of evil as 1 Timothy 6:10 says, so we can avoid being trapped.

"For the Love of Money," Versus Money, Is the Problem

Money is amoral, but our relationship with money is moral. This means the way we feel about money is moral. Consider how many verses condemn loving money:

Luke 16:14 criticizes the Pharisees for being lovers of money.

First Timothy 3:3 says one of the qualifications for elders is they don’t love money.

Second Timothy 3:2 says one of the behaviors characterizing the wickedness of the last days will be love for money.

Hebrews 13:5 commands us to keep our lives free from the love of money.

Why so many verses warning against loving money? The answer is in these verses:

Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.1 Timothy 6:9-10

Consider the way the Amplified Bible translates parts of 1 Timothy 6:9-10: “Those who…crave to get rich [with a compulsive, greedy longing for wealth]…the love of money [that is, the greedy desire for it and the willingness to gain it unethically]…” These verses are not about people who say, “It would be nice to be rich.” Instead, they are about people so fixated on riches it controls their lives, and this is the danger.

You have probably heard the well-known maxim, “Money is the root of all evil.” The KJV renders 1 Timothy 6:10 as “the love of money is the root of all evil,” but this is a poor translation because it changes “a root of all kinds of evils” to “root of all evil.” This sounds similar to what 1 Timothy 6:10 says, but there are two differences, which, although subtle, are significant.

First, the maxim says money is the cause of all evil in the world, but we’ve already discussed that money itself is amoral. There is plenty of evil that has nothing to do with money. It’s not right to think money is immoral or responsible for evil because that puts the blame in the wrong place. Jesus blamed our hearts: “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murder, adulteries, fornications,