Month: December 2023

The Bible on Money —That Sword Cuts Both Ways

Posted on by richabbaholyabba

I will be the first to acknowledge that the Bible message is not about money, wealth or the pursuit of riches. This raises the obvious question. If this is not what the Bible is about, then why devote an entire blog to the subject? After all, does the Bible not say, ‘For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil?’

In answer to that question, I would submit…

First — even though it is not a core theme, the Bible still has something to say on the subject and…

Second — since most churches I ever attended have failed to address the subject at all, I feel it needs to be discussed somewhere.

With that said, we come to the next protest with regards to falling for the love of money. Whenever interpreting the Bible, we can’t take a single scripture out of context; we have to interpret each scripture in the light of all scripture. This is a common response in modern Christian culture when addressing a taboo subject like money.

For instance, if I choose to focus on the following verse:

Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.

Ecclesiastes 11:2

… and suggest that this is some sound advice that the Bible offers about how we should invest our money…

Christendom’s ‘for love of money’ alarm-bells start to ring. The immediate response is, ‘You can’t take one scripture out of context and disregard all other scripture on the subject! For instance, you can’t ignore,’

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

1 Timothy 6:10

For the Love of Money is… Only Half the Story

For the love of money is only half the story

My response? Consider those words carefully, dear brother or sister. That sword cuts both ways. And in this instance, that sword is the word of God. I am not suggesting that we should love money or pursue riches. However, the same Bible that contains 1 Timothy 6:10 also says,

Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.

Proverbs 21:20

In fact the very same passage in 1 Timothy contains the following verse;

Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

1 Timothy 5:8

And then there are verses like,

Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds;  for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.

Proverbs 27:23-24

… or…

Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.

Proverbs 12:11

And that is to name only a few verses that speak about how we should manage our money. There are plenty more I could quote. Please look here if you want to explore this further.

All I am saying is, ‘We can’t take one scripture, (E.g. 1 Timothy 6:10) out of context and disregard all other scripture on the subject.’

We need to look at God’s word as a whole to understand everything the Bible has to say on a given subject.

1 Timothy 6:10 is an important verse and it is one hundred percent true. But does that make any of the other verses above less important — or less true?

And here’s the rub. I have lost count of the number of times I have heard 1 Timothy 6:10 quoted or taught in church, from the pulpit, in home groups or in Christian media. There are countless sermons, books, DVD’s and even entire ministries devoted to the truth of this verse.

How many times have I heard any of the other verses above quoted or taught? In some forty years as an active Christian, who has seldom let a week go by when I was not in church or the company of fellow-believers…

… I might have heard 1 Timothy 5:8 quoted once, maybe twice in Christian conversation. And I have definitely heard Ecclesiastes 11:2 quoted on a handful of occasions, though never taught from the pulpit. As for the rest? As far as I can recall, I have never heard one of those verses taught by a pastor or elder in any church I have ever attended. Nor have I heard any of those verses discussed in a home-group or Bible study setting. In fact, I have never even heard those verses mentioned around a dinner table with fellow-believers; I had to seek them out and find them for myself.

This is a pity because, to quote the apostle Paul again,

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

So, here I take my stand — and choose to quote and discuss the verses that others have chosen to avoid.

Noble Poverty in the Bible — Exposing the Lie

Posted on by richabbaholyabba

Better the poor whose walk is blameless than the rich whose ways are perverse.

Proverbs 28:6

Proverbs 28:6 is one of those scriptures so easily turned on its head.

Spoiler alert! This verse does not say it is better to be poor than rich; it says better to be blameless than perverse.

Yet, somehow, we always tend to focus on the wrong aspects of verses like this. I guess this is because we are physical beings in a physical world. As such, our immediate focus is on what we see every day; the poor vs the rich.

So, when we read a verse like this, we immediately latch on to the obvious — and we zone in on the words, ‘Better the poor…’

And why wouldn’t we? Our Christian culture loves to focus on the virtues of poverty over the evil of riches. But this is a cardinal error on our part with respect to this verse — because Proverbs 28:6 is not concerned with issues of poverty vs wealth. It is primarily concerned with issues of sin vs righteousness.

Jesus did not come into this world to save us from poverty. Nor did he come into this world to save us from wealth, for that matter. He came to this world to take away our sin and to make us righteous before God.

Better the Poor — Exposing the Lie

Better the poor - exposing the lie

So, if we read the verse again — carefully this time — it does not say, ‘Better the poor… than the rich.’

Rather, it says, ‘Better [to be] blameless… than [to be] perverse.’

The verse simply uses poverty vs riches as a measure against which to show us exactly how important this is. In fact the writer assumes that everyone agrees we would rather NOT be poor. It assumes that everyone would want to have a little more money in their pockets.

Then it teaches the lesson; those whose walk is blameless are far better off than those who are perverse. Even if they were steeped in poverty — something we all agree is a terrible fate — they are still better off than they would be if they were perverse.

To be perverse, according to the dictionary definition, is to deliberately deviate from what is good. At its core, this scripture addresses a condition of the human heart. Blamelessness versus perverseness. So how do we become blameless? Well, that is what the Bible is really all about. Jesus died on the cross and, in so doing, took all our sin — our perverseness, if you like — on himself. And in that same moment, he imparted his righteousness, or blamelessness, to all who would accept his free gift of grace.

Relative wealth or poverty pales into insignificance next to this eternal gift of righteousness — which is precisely the point that the writer of Proverbs 28:6 is trying to make.