Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday October 5, 2011

www.wenstrom.org

1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 6:10-The Love Of Money Is The Root Of All Kinds Of Evil And Some Wandered From The Faith Because Of It

Lesson # 132

Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 6:3.

In 1 Timothy 6:10, the apostle Paul teaches that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and some wandered from the faith because of it.

1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.

7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.

8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.

10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

(NASB95)

“For the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil” is composed of the nominative feminine singular form of the noun rhiza (ῥίζα) (or-ree-zah), “the root” and this is followed by the post-positive conjunction gar (γάρ) (gar), “for” and then we have the genitive neuter plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “full” which is modifying the articular genitive neuter plural form of the adjective kakos (κακός) (kah-koce), “evil” and then we have the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί) (ee-mee), “is” and this is followed by the articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun philarguria (φιλαργυρία) (feeldah-eeya-reeah), “love of money.”

The conjunction gar is introducing a statement that presents the reason why those apostate pastors who want to be rich fall into temptation which is a trap set by the devil which plunges these men into experiencing discipline from God resulting in a loss of rewards.

The noun philarguria refers to “avarice,” which is an excessive or insatiable desire for wealth.

This word speaks of a form of a idolatry, which originally meant the worship of idols, or the worship of false gods by means of idols, but came to mean among the Old Testament Hebrews any worship of false gods, whether by images or otherwise or the worship of the Lord through visible symbols (Hos 8:5-6; 10:5).

Idolatry is not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion, which belongs to God alone, but also is putting anything ahead of your relationship with God and which would prevent you from doing His will (1 Cor 10:14; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).

Ultimately in the New Testament idolatry came to mean, not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone, but the giving to any human desire a precedence over God's will (1 Cor 10:14; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3; 1 John 5:21).

The love of money is thus a form of idolatry in the sense that it is putting acquiring money ahead of love for God, which is demonstrated by obedience to the Word of God (John 14:15).

Therefore, since avarice or an insatiable love for wealth is idolatry, it violates the first of the Ten Commandments, which is to never have any gods before the Lord, which would include money or materialism (Exodus 20:3).

The love of money thus violates the commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (Matthew 22:37).

The Lord Jesus Christ taught that you can never love both money and God (Matthew 6:16-25).

The Christian who pursues riches will not grow to maturity since it prevents the Word of God from taking root in their soul (Luke 8:4-15).

The Lord Jesus Christ taught not to be a lover of money, which was rejected by the Pharisees because they were lovers of money (Luke 16:1-17).

The writer of Hebrews warns believers to be content, making sure their character is free from the love of money.

Hebrews 13:5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,” 6 so that we confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID.

WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?” (NASB95)

Paul teaches that in the last days people will be characterized as lovers of money (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

The believer who loves money will be an unfaithful steward of the money that God has given him or her.

In 1 Timothy 6:10, the noun rhiza is used in a figurative sense and means “the root” or “the cause” referring to the “cause” of all sorts of evils in a believer’s life.

Paul is teaching the reason why the unfaithful pastors in Ephesus commit all sorts of evil, namely because they commit the sin of loving money more than the Lord.

The adjective kakos is in the plural and means “evil actions.”

The adjective pas refers to the individual acts of sin that constitute evil.

“And some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith” is composed of the genitive feminine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) (oce), “which” and this is followed by the nominative masculine plural form of the indefinite pronoun tis (τις) (teece), “some” and then we have the nominative masculine plural present middle participle form of the verb orego (ὀρέγω) (ore-raygo), “by longing for” and this is followed by the third person plural aorist passive indicative form of the verb apoplanao (ἀποπλανάω) (ahpoe-plah-nahowe), “have wandered away” and then we have the preposition apo (ἀπό) (ah-poe), “from” and its object is the articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun pistis (πίστις) (pee-steece), “the faith.”

The indefinite pronoun tis refers to certain unidentified apostate Christian pastors in Ephesus.

The verb orego speaks of a negative or evil desire and means “to lust” or “to possess an insatiable desire” for money.

The middle voice of the verb is an indirect middle indicating that these unfaithful, apostate pastors in Ephesus were selfishly acting in their own interests rather than in the interests of the Lord Jesus and His body by possessing an insatiable desire for money.

The verb orego functions as a causal participle indicating that the verb is expressing the reason why some pastors in Ephesus wandered away from the Christian faith.

The verb apoplanao is in the passive and means “to lead astray” from Christian doctrine and refers to the act of apostasy meaning that you were obeying the Word of God but you did a 180 and are now going in the opposite direction.

It is used here of certain pastors in Ephesus who were teaching false doctrine because they loved money.

The noun pistis is used in an objective sense for the Christian faith and refers to the gospel from the perspective of a body of doctrine or that which is believed by the church.

The noun pistis is the object of the preposition apo, which functions as a marker of separation or dissociation indicating that the love of money was the reason why certain pastors in Ephesus wandered away “from” or “dissociated” themselves “from” obeying Paul’s apostolic teaching.

“And pierced themselves with many griefs” is composed of the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by the accusative masculine plural form of the reflexive pronoun heautou (ἑαυτοῦ) (owf-too), “themselves” and then we have the third person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb peripeiro (περιπείρω) (pehdee-pearowe), “pierced” and this is followed by the dative feminine plural form of the noun odune (ὀδύνη) (owe-thee-nee), “with griefs” which is modified by the dative feminine plural form of the adjective polus (πολύς) (police), “many.”

The conjunction kai is used in a consecutive sense or in other words, it introduces a phrase that presents the result of certain pastors in Ephesus wandering away from Paul’s apostolic teaching because of their love of money.

The verb peripeiro means “to impale” or “to pierce through” and refers to those unfaithful, apostate pastors in Ephesus who taught false doctrine because of their love of money causing themselves to suffer the terrible consequences of their actions.

The reflexive pronoun heautou emphasizes the action of these unfaithful, apostate pastors who because of their love of money impaled “themselves” with many sorrows or in other words, their suffering is self-inflicted.

The noun odune is figuratively for the state of severe emotional distress and anxiety of those apostate pastors who loved money.

This word refers to the severe mental and physical pain that these pastors have inflicted upon themselves because of their love of money.

It speaks of the severe physical and mental anguish that is the result of obeying the sinful desires of their sin nature because of their love of money.

The word odune speaks of the mental anguish that these pastors were experiencing because of their love of money since their conscience would be accusing them of sin, which if the sin is not confessed and repented of will lead to physical illnesses.

Thus, it speaks of the pain of a guilty conscience, which not dealt with through the confession of sin and obedience will result in severe physical pain.

Commenting on this word, Towner writes, “Any number of things might be included, from the personal emotional torments of unfulfilled dreams (of wealth) and damaged reputations to the relationships destroyed when desire for wealth overrules brotherly love.”

(Page 405)

So the word is a general term which speaks of the severe emotional anguish as well as severe physical pain as a result of the Lord handing these unfaithful pastors over to the consequences of their bad decision to love money more than Him.