"Money is the root of all evil" is the most-quoted Bible verse that is not actually a Bible verse. The KJV reading — "the love of money is the root of all evil" — comes closer but still smuggles two errors past most modern readers: a definite article that is not in the Greek, and a singular "evil" that the Greek makes plural.
What Paul actually wrote in 1 Timothy 6:10 is: "rhiza gar pantōn tōn kakōn estin hē philargyria" — literally, a root of all the evils is the love of money. The difference between "the root of all evil" and "a root of all sorts of evils" is the difference between bumper-sticker theology and the actual pastoral warning Paul delivered to a young pastor in Ephesus.
This is the exegesis. The Greek, the Ephesian wealth context, what philargyria actually denotes, why the verse is plural, what Paul means by "pierced themselves with many griefs," and the constructive flip-side most teachers skip — Paul's instructions to the rich in verses 17-19.
Read this alongside
Pair with our exegeses of the rich fool (Luke 12), contentment in the Bible (Greek autarkeia), and covetousness (Hebrew chamad, Greek epithumia).
The context: Paul to Timothy in Ephesus
1 Timothy is a pastoral letter from Paul to Timothy, his young protégé serving as overseer of the church in Ephesus (around AD 62-64). Ephesus was one of the three or four wealthiest cities in the Roman Empire — a port, banking centre, and home to the Temple of Artemis (one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world). Acts 19 records that the gospel disrupted Ephesus' silver-shrine industry severely enough to provoke a riot. Money was not theoretical in Ephesus; it was the city's bloodstream.
Chapter 6 of 1 Timothy contains Paul's most concentrated New Testament teaching on money. Verses 3-5 expose false teachers "who imagine that godliness is a means of gain" (an early prosperity-gospel template). Verses 6-10 set out Paul's counter — godliness with contentment is great gain, and the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. Verses 17-19 turn to the rich themselves with specific instructions. The whole chapter must be read together; pulling verse 10 out of context produces the bumper-sticker error.
The Greek of verse 10, clause by clause
"Rhiza gar pantōn tōn kakōn estin hē philargyria"
Rhiza — "root" (no article). Greek can mark a noun as definite ("the root") with the article or indefinite ("a root") without it. Paul deliberately omits the article. The construction is anarthrous: "a root."
Pantōn tōn kakōn — "of all the evils." The plural genitive plus the article means "all kinds of evils" or "all sorts of evils" (a standard Greek idiom). Paul is not claiming that every evil deed in human history is rooted in money-love. He is claiming that money-love produces evils of every kind — relational, sexual, intellectual, spiritual, social.
Philargyria — literally "silver-love" (philos + argyrion). This is one of two New Testament occurrences of the noun (the other is the adjective philargyroi, applied to the Pharisees in Luke 16:14). The word denotes affection or attachment, not mere possession. Paul does not say "money is the root"; he says love of money is. The same money in two different hearts produces opposite fruit.
A defensible English translation: "For a root of all sorts of evils is the love of money" (ESV, NASB, CSB all converge here). The KJV's "the root of all evil" is genuinely misleading and has caused four centuries of bad theology.
"Reaching for it" — oregomenoi
The second half of verse 10 sharpens the diagnosis: "hēs tines oregomenoi apeplanēthēsan apo tēs pisteōs kai heautous periepeiran odynais pollais" — "it is through this craving (literally, reaching/stretching out for which) that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."
Oregomenoi is a vivid present middle participle meaning "stretching themselves out toward, reaching after." It pictures someone leaning forward with grasping hands. Money-love is not static; it is active reaching, a perpetual forward lean that pulls the whole person off-balance.
Apeplanēthēsan — "have been led astray, have wandered." The verb is the source of English "planet" (the "wandering stars"). The image is of someone who set out on the path of faith and drifted off-course following the gravitational pull of wealth.
Periepeiran heautous — "have pierced themselves through." The verb is used elsewhere of spearing or impaling. The grammar is reflexive: they did this to themselves. The griefs that follow money-love are not arbitrary punishment from God; they are self-inflicted wounds from the same act of grasping.
Odynais pollais — "with many griefs/pangs." The noun odynē denotes deep mental or emotional anguish (used elsewhere of Paul's "great sorrow" for unbelieving Israel, Rom 9:2). Money-love produces piercing inward pain, not outward consequences only.
The setup in verses 6-9
Verse 10 is the conclusion of a four-verse argument that gives the misquoted line its real teeth.
Verse 6: "But godliness with contentment is great gain." The Greek autarkeia (contentment, self-sufficiency in Christ) is the positive opposite of philargyria. The whole passage hangs on this contrast. See our deeper study of contentment in the Bible.
Verses 7-8: "For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." Paul names the bookends of human life (nothing in, nothing out) and the threshold of sufficiency (food and shelter). Everything between is gift, not entitlement.
Verse 9: "But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction." Notice: Paul does not condemn being rich. He condemns the desire to be rich — the oregomenoi motion of reaching. The trap is in the wanting, not in the having.
This distinction is crucial and almost universally missed. A poor Christian can be ruled by money-love (constantly reaching for it). A wealthy Christian can be free of money-love (holding wealth with open hands as a stewardship). The verse does not target a balance sheet; it targets a heart posture.
The constructive flip-side: verses 17-19
Most sermons on 1 Timothy 6:10 stop at verse 10. Paul does not. Seven verses later he turns directly to the rich in the Ephesian church with five specific instructions that disprove any reading of verse 10 as a condemnation of wealth itself.
v. 17a — "Charge those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty." The first sin of wealth is pride, not possession.
v. 17b — "nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy." Two things here. First, riches are "uncertain" (adēlotēs, instability, opacity) — the same diagnosis the rich fool failed to grasp in Luke 12. Second, God "richly provides us with everything to enjoy" (plousiōs panta eis apolausin) — Paul is not ascetic. Enjoyment of God's gifts is legitimate. The error is fixing hope on the gift rather than the giver.
v. 18a — "They are to do good, to be rich in good works."
v. 18b — "to be generous and ready to share." Two Greek words, eumetadotous (ready-to-share, used only here in NT) and koinōnikous (fellowship-minded, willing to hold in common).
v. 19 — "thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." The rich are commanded to use their wealth to lay up the right kind of treasure — the kind Jesus identified in Matt 6:19-21. Generosity is the antidote to money-love, and it has eschatological weight.
Six modern applications
- Stop quoting the verse wrong. "Money is the root of all evil" is not what Scripture says. The misquote has produced both Christian asceticism (treating money itself as evil) and the lazy dismissal ("well, you have to love it, and I just have it"). Both miss the diagnostic precision of the Greek.
- Diagnose oregomenoi, not your balance. The test is the reaching motion, not the bank account. Ask: Where am I leaning forward? What am I grasping after? Whose life am I comparing mine to? The Christian who can answer those honestly will know whether philargyria has a hold.
- Inventory the "many griefs" already inflicted. Paul says money-lovers pierce themselves. Look at the wounds: anxious nights over markets, strained marriages over spending, broken friendships over loans, abandoned ministry calls because the pay was too low. Most of those are self-inflicted by reaching.
- Pursue contentment as a discipline, not a feeling. Paul learned autarkeia (Phil 4:11-13) — it did not descend on him. Practical disciplines: monthly net-worth statements paired with a giving log, sabbath from commerce (see our sabbath rest pillar), a 7-day fast from price-comparison and aspirational scrolling.
- If you are wealthy, obey verses 17-19 specifically. Not "be a good steward" generally — be haughty-resistant, hope-shifted, work-rich, generous, share-ready, future-laying. Five concrete commands. Audit yourself against each one.
- Re-anchor your hope. The hidden battle is verse 17b — "set hopes on God, not on the uncertainty of riches." The Christian whose financial planning is rigorous (see our biblical financial planning pillar) but whose hope rests on the plan rather than on God has lost the war while winning the spreadsheet.
Continue your study
Read the companion exegeses on the rich fool (Luke 12), the parable of the talents, and sabbath rest (Heb 4). For deeper background, see contentment in the Bible, what does covet mean in the Bible, and our pillar on 100 Bible verses about money and wealth.
All Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version. Greek transliterations follow standard SBL conventions. This article is for educational and pastoral purposes and does not constitute financial advice.