Question: If money is the root of all evil, why do they ask for it in church?

Answer: Not quite. The Bible does not say that money is the root of all evil, but the love of money. That is what the Apostle Paul told his young protégé, Timothy:

If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (1 Timothy 6:8-10, emphasis added).

Money is neutral; it is simply a tool of exchange. Since money is a part of all of our lives and a part of Christian discipleship (look for my forthcoming book, Grace Giving), it may help us to know what money is. (Someone needs to develop a theology of money.)

Simply put, people invented money for the practical reason that bartering was awkward.

Here's a quick economics lesson. For a readable introduction, read this. Before money people had a barter system. A barter system depends upon what economists call “the coincidence of wants,” where the only way to make an exchange is to find someone who happens to want what you are selling. Finding those coincidences is very difficult.

For example, imagine if you were a chicken farmer and needed shoes. Under a barter system, you must find a shoemaker who wants to trade shoes for eggs. But what if the local shoemaker was allergic to eggs, or he already had his own chickens and didn’t need any more eggs? Then, you would have to find out something else he would trade for. Imagine he wanted an iron pot. You would then have to find a blacksmith willing to take your eggs in exchange for a pot, so you could then take the pot and trade it for some shoes. Now, repeat that process for every kind of exchange, do you see how awkward and complicated bartering can be?

As a solution to that problem, early in human history, people figured out it was much easier to have an indirect means of exchange, i.e., money. Some societies used seashells, tobacco, or grain, but most settled on gold and silver. Gold and silver have several advantages over other forms of money: they are rare, do not perish with time, can be purified into a consistent quality, are easily divisible into smaller units, and are useful for making jewelry and other products. So, instead of directly trading eggs for shoes, people would indirectly trade eggs for silver and then take the silver and trade that for shoes. Thanks to the invention money, economic exchanges no longer depended upon a “coincidence of wants,” which made it easier to trade in the market, leading to a civilized economy.

So, to repeat, money itself is not the problem. We all need money to buy the necessities of life for ourselves and our families, and to also help the poor and do ministry. The problem, as Paul told Timothy, is the love of money. That idolatrous love is the root of “all kinds of evil.” Older Christian writers called this the sin of avarice or, more simply, greed. The problem is that instead of being content with what you have—with life’s necessities—you can desire “to be rich,” leading you to “fall into temptation.” You may be tempted to steal, defraud, exploit, lie, or even do violence to others in pursuit of wealth. You may also sin in less obvious ways, such as by coveting other people’s goods or neglecting your poor neighbors. Since you prioritize what you love, if you love money, you will prioritize it over God and neighbor.

How do you fight the love of money, i.e., the sin of greed or avarice? A traditional principle is that you can fight a vice by developing the corresponding virtue. We call out to Jesus in prayer to help us fight the temptation, but we also work to strengthen the corresponding virtue, in this case, generosity. If you struggle with avarice, crave wealth, and desire to be rich, then go out of your way to develop the virtue of generosity and use your money to show compassion to the poor and to support the work of the gospel.

If the love of money is the root of all evil, then the love of generosity is the seed of much goodness.

Send your questions or comments to shawn@freegrace.in.

Read his latest book, The Five Points of Free Grace for free, or buy it on Amazon.