1 Timothy 6:10

6:6-10 Those that make a trade of Christianity to serve their turn for this world, will be disappointed; but those who mind it as their calling, will find it has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. He that is godly, is sure to be happy in another world; and if contented with his condition in this world, he has enough; and all truly godly people are content. When brought into the greatest straits, we cannot be poorer than when we came into this world; a shroud, a coffin, and a grave, are all that the richest man in the world can have from all his wealth. If nature should be content with a little, grace should be content with less. The necessaries of life bound a true Christian's desires, and with these he will endeavour to be content. We see here the evil of covetousness. It is not said, they that are rich, but they will be rich; who place their happiness in wealth, and are eager and determined in the pursuit. Those that are such, give to Satan the opportunity of tempting them, leading them to use dishonest means, and other bad practices, to add to their gains. Also, leading into so many employments, and such a hurry of business, as leave no time or inclination for spiritual religion; leading to connexions that draw into sin and folly. What sins will not men be drawn into by the love of money! People may have money, and yet not love it; but if they love it, this will push them on to all evil.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and {d} pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (d) Sorrow and grief do as it were pierce through the mind of man, and are the harvest and true fruits of covetousness.

For the love of money is the root of all evil; money itself is not evil, but the immoderate love of it, whether discerned in an over eager desire after it, or an excessive delight in it, is the cause of much evil, both of sin and punishment. Which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith; which money while some too greedily thirsted after, (for though the article be feminine and cannot grammatically agree with arguoion, which is neuter, yet that doth agree with it as to the sense, being understood in filorguria, with which the subjunctive article grammatically agreeth), they have erred, or been seduced, from the faith, that is, the doctrine of the gospel, or profession of Christianity. And pierced themselves through with many sorrows; and exposed themselves to a great many sorrows, which have pierccd their very souls, such as cares, troubles for the loss of their estates, &c.

Love of money (φιλαργυρία) N.T.o. See 4 Macc. 1:26. Rare in Class. The root (ῥίζα) Better, a root. It is not the only root. In Paul only metaphorically. See Romans 11:16, Romans 11:17, Romans 11:18. Coveted after (ὀρεγόμενοι) See on 1 Timothy 3:1. The figure is faulty, since φιλαργυρία is itself a desire. Have erred (ἀπεπλανήθησαν) More correctly, have been led astray. oP. Pierced through (περιέπειραν) N.T.o olxx. Sorrows (ὀδύναις) See on Romans 9:2.

1 Timothy 6:10 . Πάντων τῶν κακῶν , of all evils ) For it destroys faith, the root of all that is good: at first sight, the love of money seems to take away the nutriment or food that supports many crimes, as luxury, wantonness, etc.; but it is in reality the root of all evils. All evils in 1 Timothy 6:9 are comprehended under temptation, a snare, lusts, destruction, perdition; although the article τῶν does not precisely relate to those evils, but is added to πάντων , according to custom, for the purpose of amplifying or heightening the effect, without its relative power.— φιλαργυρία , the love of money ) When money is loved for itself, it is not used for procuring “food and raiment.”— ἧς ) φιλαργυρίας , viz. ἀργύρου .— τινὲς ) some: the Ephesians, ch. 1 Timothy 5:15 .— ὀρεγόμενοι , having coveted ) ch. 1 Timothy 3:1 , note [having grasped at].— ὀδύναις πολλαῖς , with many sorrows ) of the conscience, producing remorse for property badly acquired; also of the mind, urging to the laying up of more. The remedy of these sorrows is faith .

10. the love of money—not the money itself, but the love of it—the wishing to be rich (1Ti 6:9)—"is a root (Ellicott and Middleton: not as English Version, 'the root') of all evils." (So the Greek plural). The wealthiest may be rich not in a bad sense; the poorest may covet to be so (Ps 62:10). Love of money is not the sole root of evils, but it is a leading "root of bitterness" (Heb 12:15), for "it destroys faith, the root of all that is good" [Bengel]; its offshoots are "temptation, a snare, lusts, destruction, perdition." coveted after—lusted after. erred from—literally, "have been made to err from the faith" (1Ti 1:19; 4:1). pierced—(Lu 2:35). with … sorrows—"pains": "thorns" of the parable (Mt 13:22) which choke the word of "faith." "The prosperity of fools destroys them" (Pr 1:32). Bengel and Wiesinger make them the gnawings of conscience, producing remorse for wealth badly acquired; the harbingers of the future "perdition" (1Ti 6:9).

Verse 10. - A root for the root , A.V.; all kinds of for all , A.V.; some reaching after for while some coveted after , A.V.; have been led astray for they have erred , A.V.; have pierced for pierced , A.V. Love of money ( φιλαργυρία ); only here in the New Testament, but found in the LXX. and in classical Greek. The substantive φιλάργυρος is found in Luke 16:14 and 2 Timothy 3:2 . A root . The root is better English. Moreover, the following πάντων τῶν κακῶν (not πόλλων κακῶν ) necessitates the giving a definite sense to ῤίζα , though it has not the article; and Alford shows dearly that a word like ῤίζα , especially when placed as here in an emphatic position, does not require it (comp. 1 Corinthians 11:3 , where in the second and third clause κεφαλή , being in the emphatic place, has not the article). Alford also quotes a striking passage from Diog. Laert., in which he mentions a saying of the philosopher Diogenes that "the love of money ( ἡ φιλαργυρία ) is the metropolis, or home, πάντων τῶν κακῶν ." Reaching after ( ὀρεγόμενοι ). It has been justly remarked that the phrase is slightly inaccurate. What some reach after is not "the love of money," but the money itself. To avoid this, Hofmann (quoted by Luther) makes ῤίζα the antecedent to η΅ς , and the metaphor to be of a person turning out of his path to grasp a plant which turns out to he not desirable, but a root of bitterness. This is ingenious, but hardly to be accepted as the true interpretation.

Pierced themselves through ( περιέπειραν ); only here in the New Testament, and rare in classical Greek. But the simple verb πείρω , to "pierce through," "transfix," applied 'especially to "spitting" meat, is very common in Homer, who also applies it metaphorically exactly as St. Paul does here, to grief or pain. Ὀδύνησι πεπαρμένος , "pierced with pain" ('Il.,' 5:399). 1 Timothy 6:10

10 . the love of money ] One word in the original, occurring only here and belonging to the later Greek; the adjective in Luke 16:14 , ‘the Pharisees, who were covetous,’ R.V. ‘lovers of money,’ and so 2 Timothy 3:2 . ‘It differs from the ordinary word for covetousness (e.g. Colossians 3:5 ) (which does not occur in these Epistles) in denoting rather avarice, a love of money already gained, than an active grasping after more.’ Trench’s N. T. Synonyms , § 24. the root of all evil ] It has been much questioned whether we are to translate this admitted predicate ‘a root’ or ‘the root.’ On the general grammatical question, such passages as 1 Corinthians 11:3 , ‘the head of the woman is (the) man,’ make ‘the root,’ quite correct; if with R.V. we render ‘a root,’ it lays a stress on there being other roots, which is beside the point: the stress surely is on the ‘all,’ interpreted however in that rhetorical sense, if it may be so called, which is common in N. T. as elsewhere (cf. 1 Timothy 6:17 ), and is well given in R.V. We may translate the root of all kinds of evil . For this use of the plural we may compare ‘supplies of food,’ 1 Timothy 6:8 . which while some coveted after ] ‘Which (love-of-money) some reaching after,’ R.V. keeping to the root-notion of the participle. The verb (and its noun) occur four times in N.

T. and in each place the Revisers give a different version, 1 Timothy 3:1 and Hebrews 11:16 in a good sense; here and Romans 1:27 in a bad sense. ‘Desire,’ a colourless word, would fit everywhere, but is weak. Bp Wordsworth ingeniously explains the seemingly incongruous desire for the love-of-money thus: ‘riches were a proof of divine approbation: love of wealth was a love of God’s favour: thus they sanctified avarice .’ But the relative is only formally, logically , in agreement with the abstract. ‘love-of-money:’ all readers of A.V. or R.V. would refer the ‘which’ to the real antecedent in sense, ‘money,’ and would be virtually right. have erred from the faith ] R.V. is justified in rendering have been led astray . The Greek aorist ‘merely represents the action of having occurred, as filling a point of past time’ (Winer, iii., xl. 45, a). When it stands by itself, as here, with no qualifying word, this force is represented by the English perfect, as giving just in our idiom the past verbal idea merely, with no further stress or point, cf. Ellicott on 1 Thessalonians 2:16 . The word occurs in N.T. again only in Mark 13:32 , ‘that they may lead astray, if possible, the elect.’ ‘The faith’ as in 1 Timothy 1:19 , where see note. pierced themselves through ] Lat. transfigo ; only here in N.T.

1 Timothy 6:10 . ῥίζα , κ . τ . λ .: The root of all evils . The R.V., a root of all kinds of evil is not satisfactory. The position of ῥίζα in the sentence shows that it is emphatic. Field ( in loc .) cites similar examples of the absence of the article collected by Wetstein from Athenæus, vii. p. 280 A ( ἀρχὴ καὶ ῥίζα παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ ἡ τῆς γαστρὸς ἡδονή ), and Diog. Lært. vi. 50; and adds five others from his own observation. It is, besides, unreasonable in the highest degree to expect that on the ground of his inspiration, St. Paul’s ethical statements in a letter should be expressed with the precision of a text book. When one is dealing with a degrading vice of any kind, the interests of virtue are not served by qualified assertions. φιλαργυρία : avaritia ([299]) rather than cupiditas ([300], [301], Vulg.). The use of this word supports the exposition given above of 1 Timothy 6:9 . Love of money, meanness and covert dishonesty where money is concerned, is the basest species of the genus πλεονεξία . [299] Cod. Frisingensis [300] The Latin text of Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852. [301] Speculum ἡς : In sense the relative refers to ἀργύριον , understood out of φιλαργυρία , with which it agrees in grammar. The meaning is clear enough; but the expression of it is inaccurate. This occurs when a man’s power of grammatical expression cannot keep pace with his thought.