Battling With The Buck...Part 1 "Evil Spirit of Mammon"

Details: Created: Wednesday, 01 December 2004 18:06; Written by Tom Lipp

This is the first of a three part series dealing with the issue of wealth and the Christian. First I’ll look at that often misunderstood passage, “You cannot serve God and money.” In the next article I want to deal with the wealth gospel. The final column will deal with the concept of treasure.

When it comes to Bible translation I’m a bit picky. I tend to prefer the word for word approach over the thought for thought approach, although both need to be considered. Did Jesus really say, you can’t serve God and money?

The original Greek word for money is mammon. The word mammon, like the word baptism, is transliterated, meaning that it was taken directly out of one language and put into another. For example kinder garden is transliterated from the German “Kindergarten” meaning children’s garden. Pre-school age children would play in the garden more than listen to academic instruction.

What does the word mammon really mean? To translate the word as money or even wealth (NASB) is to miss the message. Mammon is the Greek form of an Aramaic word for “riches”. In general it was used as a personification of riches as an evil spirit. Upon researching the topic it appears that mammon is the name of an evil spirit (personal or impersonal) with great power, specializing in greed and avarice. It is a spirit of financial discontent.

The key to overcoming the spirit of mammon is being filled by a greater, more powerful Spirit, namely the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus wants us to use money like a tool, not love it like a treasure. Mammon tempts humanity to covet what others have; it is not money per se. Money itself is amoral like gasoline. It serves as a good fuel for combustion engines but, in the wrong hands as a weapon for arsonists to cause terror. Mammon is the spirit which says that money rules the world. Its version of the golden rule is: “He who has the gold makes the rules.” God is a spirit and the enemies of God are not powerless inanimate objects like gold or silver but spiritual beings, like mammon. Spiritual beings use beautiful, inanimate objects to draw our devotion away from the Creator and onto the creation. The spirit of mammon uses money for this purpose.

The spirit of mammon is in rebellion against God. Thus Jesus did not say you cannot serve God and money as He would not have said you cannot serve God and gasoline. Rather He said, you cannot serve the Almighty God and [the spirit that coined the phrase] the Almighty Dollar. If wealth or money itself were evil we would all be commanded to take vows of perpetual poverty.

Is it popular to serve mammon? Do people actually serve mammon in 2004? YOU BET! (pun intended!) In his commentary on this passage Matthew Henry contrasts the specific instructions given by God and mammon. For example: God says: My son, give me your heart. Mammon says: No, give it to me. God says: Be content with what you have. Mammon says: Get all you can. God says: Be honest and just. Mammon says: Cheat if you can avoid getting caught. God says: Be charitable. Mammon says: Pay yourself first! God says: Keep the Lord’s day holy. Mammon says: Use it like any other day. God says: Do deliberate acts of kindness. Mammon says: Do random acts of kindness.

These few contrasts show that a person can’t do both. As someone once said, “You can’t push and pull at the same time.”

Certainly we should keep our tools clean and in good working order, but we don’t build our lives around mere tools! However, Jesus wants us to be rich. He even commands us to accumulate treasures for future enjoyment. Stay tuned to find out more.

Next month let’s look at how the wealth gospel fits into this picture.