Is the love of money the “root of all evil” or just the “root of all evil”? class of evils” (1 Timothy 6:10)? “All evils” is the formal English equivalent of the original Greek (pantōn tōn kakōn).
It is remarkable that all previous versions of the Bible translate 1 Timothy 6:10 more literally: “The love of money is the root of all the evils” (or all wrong). This includes the Wycliffe Bible, Luther Bibel, the Geneva Bible, the King James Version, Douay-Rheims, the Darby Bible, and the Revised Standard Version.
But almost all modern versions use the interpretive paraphrase: “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” These include NCV, NIV, NASB, ASV, ESV, NKJV, HCSB, NLT, NRSV, and GNT.
An exception among modern translations is the NET Bible: “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” The NET note on “all evils” says:
Many translations translate this as “from all manner of evils.” . . . But there is no parallel to taking a construction like this to mean “all kinds of” or “all kinds of”. The normal meaning is “all evils”.
Why do modern versions paraphrase?
So what changed in the last sixty years that made a uniform literal translation (“root of all evil”) give way to a uniform paraphrase (“root of all evil”)? One thing we know No changed: the meaning of the text. The Greek words of 1 Timothy 6:10 were intended by Paul in Luther’s day, and are intended the same way today.
One other thing we know hasn’t changed: It’s not harder or easier for the love of money to be the root of all evil today than five hundred years ago. If modern translators see a problem, so did the translators of five hundred years ago. All the translators have had the idea expressed in the notes of the NET Bible: saying that the love of money is the root of all evil “seems not to be entirely true in life (some evils are not related to the love of money). )”. That’s what they say.
“Modern translators feel freer to depart from clear and intelligible formal equivalence in favor of explanatory paraphrases.”
What has changed in the last sixty years is that today’s translators feel freer to depart from clear and intelligible formal equivalence in favor of explanatory paraphrases. There is nothing linguistically or grammatically obscure about the literal translation: “The love of money is the root of all evil.” What is not clear is What the love of money can be the root of all evil.
All translators have felt this, not just modern ones. Why, then, did none of the earliest translators translate the text as “all the types of evil”? My guess is that his way of thinking went something like this:
I may not be able to see how the love of money is the root of all evil, but I should not let my inability decide if there really can be such a way that money is the root of all evil. So, I’ll leave it as Paul wrote it. Perhaps more insightful people than I can penetrate Paul’s meaning.
That seems to be exactly the right attitude to have when translating a text that claims divine inspiration and has absolute authority. The modern assumption seems to be:
If we cannot see how Paul could mean, “The love of money is the root of all evil,” then we have the right and the wisdom to change the wording. to suggest a more plausible meaning.
Preserve original ambiguity
Let me try to preempt a criticism. I am aware that formal equivalence is not always possible. Sometimes there is no English construction that corresponds to the Greek and Hebrew. Sometimes the formal equivalence would be so awkward that all readers would trip over English.
But in the case of 1 Timothy 6:10, the Greek structure in question is simple (pantōn tōn kakōn) and has an exact counterpart in English (“of all evils”). . Both are equally clear and equally puzzling. There is no hidden clue in the Greek phrase or the English phrase that makes things clearer or darker. Which means that nothing is lost in clarity when a simple equivalent phrase is used to translate the Greek, such as “root of all evil.” Clarity is not lost, because the same ambiguity is preserved.
This conservation of formal similarity is a great gain. It is what I long for in any translation, whenever possible. The gain is that now the average reader, and the pastor whose Greek is rusty, has an opportunity to think deeply and contextually about how Paul saw the love of money as The root of all evils. The reader is not deprived of his own possible exegetical discoveries simply because the translators decided for him that no plausible meaning could be given to the words as Paul wrote them.
In my opinion, this text is a clear case in which translators must humble themselves and admit that their inability to see a plausible meaning for Paul’s words (“root of all evil”) does not mean that there isn’t one. If “every kind of wickedness” is the best interpretation of the puzzling words, let the reader discover and decide that.
How is the love of money the root of all evil?
It is possible that when Paul wrote these words he was fully aware of how challenging they would be, and he left them as he wrote them because he saw a sense in which the love of money is in fact The root of all evils — all evils! —and wanted Timothy (and us) to think deeply enough to see it.
I think that, in fact, that was the case. I will give my very brief suggestion how the love of money is the root of all evil. But even if you think I’m wrong, the main point about the translation remains, because someone else can find the key, even if I haven’t.
This is the context of 1 Timothy 6:6–10:
Great gain is godliness with contentment, because we brought nothing into the world, and we can get nothing out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with this we will be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation, into a trap, into many foolish and harmful greeds, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. Because the love of money is the root of all evil. It is for this love of money that some have strayed from the faith and pierced through with many sorrows.
Notice that the first part of verse 10 (“For the love of money is the root of all evil”) functions as a foundation, or cause, both backwards for verse 9 and forwards for the rest of verse 10. Consider these one at a time.
How is verse 10a a foundation for verse 9?
Verse 9 says that those who want to get rich fall into “many foolish things.” and harmful desires.” Note that the desire to be rich does not produce a single desire, but Many. Then Paul says that the desire to be rich has this effect “because the love of money is the root of all evil.” The “desire to get rich” in verse 9 corresponds to the “love of money” in verse 10a. And the “many desires” of verse 9 correspond to the “all evils” of verse 10.
Paul is tracing the cause of these “many desires” to the love of money as the root of “all evil.” .” Why does the desire to be rich not only result in a desire for money but in “many desires”? Because the love of money is the root of much more than we usually think it is. It is the root of all the evils that men do. Paul is tracing the multiplicity of desires that flow from the desire to be rich to a root that accounts for “many” because it accounts for “all.”
“The love of money is the root of so much more than we normally think it is.”
How does the love of money do that? Here’s a way: because “money” has no value in itself (paper or metal). It is desirable only because it is a cultural symbol that can be exchanged for the “many wishes” we have. But it cannot be changed by God or piety. Therefore, the love of money in Paul’s mind corresponds to the root of the longing for the things that money can buy except for God. That’s why all these many wishes “plunge the people into ruin and destruction” (verse 9).
Good wishes do not destroy. Only the desires of anything but God destroy. That is what the love of money represents. Therefore, this love is the root of all the evils what men do Because all evil stems from that root desire: the desire for anything but God. Without exceptions.
This is the essence of sin and the root of all sin: falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Or, to put it another way, sin is “exchanging God for creation” (see Romans 1:23, 25). In other words, deep down, sin is preferring anything over God. “All evils” proceed from this preferring, or from this wishing. If you desire something for God’s sake, that desire is not a sin. If you want something that is not for the sake of God, that desire is sin. Therefore, all sin, “all evils”, come from this desire, this love, represented in 1 Timothy 6:10 by the love of the coin of satisfaction minus God.
How does verse 10a relate to the rest of verse 10? ?
Now we look in the other direction from verse 10a, to the rest of the verse. “Because the root of all evil is the love of money. It is for this love of money that some have erred from the faith and pierced through with many sorrows.”
Just as in verse 9 “many foolish and harmful lusts rush upon the people to ruin and destruction,” so here in verse 10 the love of money leads people to “pierce with many sorrows.”
“If you love money, you cannot serve God. And if you can’t serve God, then everything you do is wrong.”
How? “For this love of money, some have strayed of faith”. The love of money works its destruction by enticing the soul to abandon faith. Faith is the satisfied trust in Christ that Paul refers to in verse 6: “Godliness is great gain. with contentment”. Faith says: “In any situation, I have learned to be happy” (Philippians 4:11). Faith has contentment in all circumstances because it has Christ, and Christ makes up for every loss: “I count all things loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).
All true virtue grows from this root of resting in Christ. Without it, we perform our works not as an expression of the total sufficiency of Christ, but to compensate for some deficiency that we feel, due to a lack of faith. But that is not true virtue, and it does not honor Christ. Only what is done from faith is truly virtuous. That is why Paul wrote: “For whatever does not proceed from faith is…