How often have you heard someone say that “Money is the root of all evil”? I Timothy 6:10 is the source of that misquote! First, we should understand that it is the “love” of money, a sinful attitude and materialistic based ideology, and not the money itself about which we are speaking. Secondly, money is a most useful and legitimate tool for mankind. You can go back to early Biblical times when Abraham used silver money to buy a grave for his deceased wife Sarah.

By putting the focus on the money instead of the heart’s attachment to it, evil people have been able to cast aspersions at will upon those who have a lot of money. In so doing, they have been able to push the idea of shared wealth or Socialism. Abraham was wealthy, Solomon was the richest man in history, and many others in the Bible were blessed with wealth that came from GOD’s hand. Of course, the Bible is replete with examples of both responsible and irresponsible use of one’s wealth.

So this “love of money” is not “the” root, but “a” root of all kinds of evil. “The” is a definite article, and “a” is an indefinite article. By using the word “the”, it eliminates any other influence on evil. When someone rapes someone, what does money have to do with it? Nothing! By using the word “the”, it becomes a tool for distorting the motivations for sin. In fact it creates a material sin – money as money becomes an idol!

As the passage continues, it tells us that this “love” of money causes people to stray from “the” faith (we’re talking a definite article here, and “faith” refers to Biblical faith), and as such it also exposes that the motivation is “greed” which is a Biblical sin! As a result of the straying, it leads to “many sorrows”. Now you know what the real quote is, and you can correct the next person who misquotes I Timothy 6:10.

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