Very clever; folding money so that it delivers a message! And the message conveys a reference to the Bible; how interesting. Yet, that message bothered me a bit. For it seemed to say that ONLY money is a problem; and I know that this is not true. So, I made a comparison of several common texts to look for an answer…
1 Timothy 6 ( World English Bible )
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1 Timothy 6 ( King James Version )
10 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.
1 Timothy 6 ( American Standard Version )
10 For the love of money is a root of all [1] kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows. *
1 Timothy 6 ( Young’s Literal Translation )
10 for a root of all the evils is the love of money, which certain longing for did go astray from the faith, and themselves did pierce through with many sorrows;
1 Timothy 6 ( Byzantine Majority Text )
10 ριζα γαρ παντων των κακων εστιν η φιλαργυρια ης τινες ορεγομενοι απεπλανηθησαν απο της πιστεως και εαυτους περιεπειραν οδυναις πολλαις
So, based on this comparison it would seem that Young’s and the KJV are the most accurate when compared to the Byzantine Greek. Digging a little deeper, I looked at the immediate context of this verse and this clarified things. The Bible says...
1 Timothy 6 ( World English Bible )
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out.
8 But having food and clothing, we will be content with that.
9 But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.
10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Conclusion: The root of all evil is money, as based within the context of the 1 Timothy 6 passage.
Why all this? Well, consider the following…
1 John 2 ( World English Bible )
15 Don’t love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.
17 The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever.
The Bible DOES NOT CONTRADICT ITSELF; context is very import, whether it be within a passage or in comparison to another Bible Book or the Bible as a whole.
And, having said this – YES, the LOVE of money can very well be the root of all evils when one considers the context of 1 Timothy 6.
LOVE GOD MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN YOUR LIFE; If you do this, then everything will fall into its proper place.
No comments:
Post a Comment