What Does the Bible Say About Money?

The Bible talks about money constantly, and its verdict is more careful than the two slogans people usually reach for. It does not say money is evil—wealth itself is a gift, and Scripture is full of prosperous believers whom God blessed. But neither does it say money is neutral. The famous line is precise: “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (1 Timothy 6:10). The danger is not in the coins but in the heart’s grip on them.

The real issue is worship. Jesus said you cannot serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24)—and He treated money as a rival god, a thing that competes for the trust and security that belong to the Lord alone. This is why the First Commandment is quietly at stake in your wallet: whatever you look to for safety, identity, and hope is functionally your god. Money makes a seductive one because it seems to deliver, right up until it doesn’t. So the question Scripture presses is not “how much do you have?” but “what has hold of you?” A poor man can be enslaved to money he doesn’t have, and a rich man can hold his wealth with an open hand.

That open hand is the goal. Paul tells the wealthy not to be arrogant or to set their hope on riches, but “to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share” (1 Timothy 6:18). Money held loosely becomes a tool for love—provision for your family, help for the poor, support for the Gospel. And under it all lies contentment: “keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you’” (Hebrews 13:5). The cure for anxious grasping is not more money; it is a God who has promised never to leave, which no amount of money could ever buy.