In this series we are setting the record concerning some of the most common misquotes of Scripture. Today’s misquote is: “Money is the root of all evil.” This is an extremely common misquotation of 1 Timothy 6:10:

“For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:10)

Much like the misquote of Romans 8:28 from our last post, as things can’t work for good, money, the inanimate object itself, can’t do anything. You have to be sentient and have free will of choice to be capable of evil. Therefore, it is not money that is the root of all evil, but it is as the Scriptures say: “The love of money….” 

Notice that Paul not only points out that people’s love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, but that their love for it can also cause them to wander from the true faith. This idea that we have faith and can then just coast on through life is a false one. Peter writes about false teachers who lead people astray, describing them as having “wandered off the right road…” (2 Peter 2:15). Our ability to wander from the faith is very real. We cannot expect to claim faith in Christ and then to live on as we always have and continue to behave as if we don’t have to work at our faith.

“Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.” (Matthew 3:8)

 “So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-15)

Peter told us to supplement our faith. A supplement or to supplement is “to add an extra element to, something that completes or enhances something else when added to it.” 

“In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5-11)

So let us remember that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and can lead us to wander from the true faith. Let us make every effort to supplement our faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love for everyone. Let us work hard to prove that we are among those God has called and chosen, and this will help us all the more to love God and love our neighbor, not love money.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—Redeemed