1 Timothy 6:10

The context

First Timothy 6 closes a letter about order in the congregation, and this section addresses teachers who supposed godliness to be a means of gain. Paul contrasts that with contentment and the transience of wealth, then charges Timothy to flee these things. The sentence is a proverb-like observation inside a pastoral exhortation.

What it establishes

The verse identifies the love of money, not money itself, as a root from which many kinds of harm grow, and it connects that love to wandering from the faith. The wording is "a root," which leaves room for other sources of evil.

What it does not establish

It does not condemn wealth as such. The sentence indicts a love; the surrounding passage criticizes the desire to be rich, not the possession of means. Nor is it a sociological finding, but a pastoral generalization about a disposition.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• Don’t the numerous televangelists on TBN and other such networks show that Christianity is all about the money?
• I tried Christianity but failed when the church bouncer told me to check my intelligence in at the door. Christians are stupid – ignorant, dumb, money-grubbing gay-bashing idiot bigots.

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.