Affluence

Godly affluence

Exodus 3:8 NET 2nd ed.

I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

See also Dt 28:1–6; Dt 28:11; Ps 1:3; Ps 112:3; Pr 8:18–21; Pr 22:4; Is 60:5; Is 61:6; Is 66:12; Mic 4:4

Examples of affluence

Ge 2:8–12 Eden; Ge 13:2 Abraham; Ge 26:12–13 Isaac; Ge 33:11 Jacob; Job 42:10–12 Job

Solomon:

1 Ki 3:13; 1 Ki 10:23–29

2 Ch 32:27–29 Hezekiah; Mt 27:57 Joseph of Arimathea

The dangers of affluence

Pride

Dt 8:17–18; 1 Ti 6:17

See also Ps 10:4–6; Ps 73:3–6

Reliance upon riches

Pr 11:28; 1 Ti 6:17

See also Ps 62:10; Pr 23:5; Ec 10:19; Mk 10:24; Lk 12:16–21

Over-attachment to riches

Matthew 19:22 NET 2nd ed.

But when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he was very rich.

Greed for more riches

Ecclesiastes 5:10 NET 2nd ed.

The one who loves money will never be satisfied with money, he who loves wealth will never be satisfied with his income. This also is futile.

Temptation

1 Timothy 6:9–10 NET 2nd ed.

Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains.

Cares and anxieties

Matthew 13:22 NET 2nd ed.

The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing.

Spiritual complacency

Revelation 3:17 NET 2nd ed.

Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, and need nothing,” but do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,

Contempt for God

See also Pr 30:8–9

Contempt for the poor or unfortunate

Job 12:5; Pr 22:16; Am 2:6–8; Am 4:1; Am 5:11; Lk 16:24–31; Jas 5:1–6

Affluence is temporary

It is for this life only

1 Timothy 6:7 NET 2nd ed.

For we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either.

See also Job 1:21; Ps 37:35–36; Ps 49:10–12; Ps 49:16–20; Ec 5:15

It is often lost

Job 1:13–15; Ec 5:13–14

Spiritual affluence

The riches of God

Philippians 4:19 NET 2nd ed.

And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

See also Ps 36:7–9; 2 Co 9:9; Eph 3:8

Spiritual wealth

Eph 1:3; 1 Pe 1:4; Re 2:9

The shared wealth of the church

Mk 10:29–30; Ac 4:34–35; Php 4:18

The wealth of heaven

Mt 6:20; Lk 12:33; Re 7:16–17