What Does the Bible Say About Money?
Jesus talked about money more than almost any other everyday subject. What Scripture actually teaches about earning, giving, debt, and contentment.
The Bible does not call money evil — it calls the love of money “the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Scripture commends honest work, generous giving, and contentment, and warns against greed, hoarding, and serving wealth as a master: “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
The heart problem, not the coin problem
Scripture’s sharpest words about money are aimed at the heart that clings to it. Paul’s much-misquoted line is precise: not money, but the love of money, is a root of all kinds of evil. Jesus presses the same point as an either/or — God and mammon are two masters, and nobody serves both. The question the Bible keeps asking is not “how much do you have?” but “what has you?”
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.
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Treasure, and where to keep it
Jesus’ financial advice is a relocation notice: lay up treasure in heaven, where it cannot rust or be stolen, because your heart follows your treasure wherever it is deposited. The Bible is consistently realistic about wealth’s shelf life — riches “make themselves wings” — and consistently enthusiastic about generosity, which it treats as the one investment that survives the giver.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
Generosity, in the Bible’s economics, enriches the giver — “he that watereth shall be watered.”
Contentment: the wealth anyone can hold
The New Testament’s alternative to the love of money is not poverty but contentment. Paul, writing from prison, claims to have learned it in every circumstance; Hebrews grounds it in a promise — be content with what you have, for God has said “I will never leave thee.” The logic is quietly devastating: if you keep the Giver, you can sit loose to the gifts.
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Quick answers
- Does the Bible say money is the root of all evil?
- Not quite — 1 Timothy 6:10 says “the love of money is the root of all evil.” Money itself is treated as a tool and a trust; loving it is the danger.
- What does the Bible say about saving money?
- Proverbs commends foresight — the ant stores in summer (Proverbs 6:6–8) — while Jesus warns against hoarding as security (the rich fool of Luke 12). Wise provision, held loosely, is the biblical balance.
- What does the Bible say about giving?
- That God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7), that generosity enriches the giver (Proverbs 11:25), and that giving to the poor lends to the LORD (Proverbs 19:17).
