MAMMON - MATTHEW 6:19-24

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. KJV

The climax of these 6 verses is found in verse 24. The major theme the Lord is trying to get across to the reader (or listener) is that “No one can serve two lords”. In this brief explanation (interpretation) of “mammon” we will start with last verse of this grouping first, so that the first verse of conversation is the last verse of the selection. We can plainly see that God said, “No one can serve two things (masters, causes, businesses, people, etc…) equally at the same time. No one can wholeheartedly serve God without reservation and satisfy a strong lust of greed at the same time. This is why we must explain the word “mammon” to thoroughly understand what the Lord is saying to the church and all people on the face of the earth. Some in the church world have replaced this word “mammon” with the word “money” but “money” is not “mammon”. Although some may believe them to be one in the same there is a distinct difference between the two words. This is why we will take a little time to examine the subject of “mammon not meaning money”. The different between “mammon” and “money” is mammon is speaking of “treasures” whereas money could be used as treasure but it is more generally known as “a medium of exchange”. For example the majority of people here in America have money but having money does not make you rich, nor does having money imply that you have “treasures” of great value. Statically speaking only a small percentage (the minority) of Americans have treasures, or we could say “treasures of money” that are stored for personal gain and satisfaction. A noteworthy fact is “money stored with the purpose of future exchange is not treasure”. A saving account for a rainy day is not treasure but storing gold coins for bragging purposes, million dollar cars with no intentions of driving them and storing precious items of great worth so no one else can use them is “mammon”. Don’t think this was a mistranslation of the Kings James Version, no the word “money” was in use during the time of writing for the King James Version of the Holy Bible. The word “money” is used 16 times in the four gospels alone (refer to Matthew 17:24,27 and 22:19 and 25:18, 27 and 28:12,15 and etc….). In context the Lord Jesus started speaking about treasure in verses 19, 20 and 21 and the Lord did not mention anything about money. Then in verses 22 and 23 the Lord speaks of the spiritual heart of an individual being either evil or good (saved vs. unsaved, alive vs. dead, enlightened vs. darkened). After that premise of natural treasures and the spiritual heart of man then comes verse 24 where the Lord contrast serving God or serving mammon. The Lord is basically comparing the spiritual side of worshipping God to the natural side worshipping wealth (or mammon). Jesus is publicly stating that you can not serve a holy pure God completely and have an inward lust for treasure. Remember, according to verse 20 Jesus counsels you to have your treasure (your heart and your mind) in Heaven. This means your treasure should be spiritual desiring God’s richness, not man’s earthly ideal of wealth by the accumulation of expensive things. In verse 19 of Matthew 6 the Lord specifically states, "Not to place treasures (plural – so He is not speaking of monies) on earth because after a long time of not being used they will decay (lose their value) or men will plan on stealing them. The world’s system is very devious so having wealth (treasures) stored in one location entices evil men to steal. When a lot of things are distributed among plenty of different people it is harder for thieves to steal. This is why banks and jewelry stores are targeted by thieves more than card stores and candy shops. Since the Lord created precious things (wealth) to be used by men (plural) why should a selfish man (singular) hoard them up to keep them from being used by the men (plural) God created. This is contrary to God’s heart, thus it is a sin to be avoided by the Christian both now and forever. It is not a sin to have lost treasure, that would be a shame but it is a sin to selfishly store natural treasures only to let them decay (lose their value) when others in the world had need of them. Remember according to John 10:10 the wicked one (Satan) motivates murders to destroy and thieves to steal treasures. The Lord God can not steal because He owns all things, nor is it His will to destroy something beautiful that He inspired men to create. Our loving Father God sent Jesus Christ to restore good things unto people in need. Therefore all Christians should model Jesus example by giving freely to others instead of selfishly hoarding for personal greed. Money is not evil and money is not mammon but the storing of treasures upon the earth for personal gain is considered “mammon” and that, my faith friend, is evil in the eyes of God. Therefore keep Jesus as your only Lord because He is the Savior and keep yourself from being divided when it comes to the subject of serving God or “mammon”. Serve God with all your spirit, soul, body and finances (your money) and you will never have a problem with “mammon” because your heart is properly positioned in Christ Jesus (our heavenly treasure) instead of the material wealth of treasures upon the earth (mammon). Jesus came to make men free but we must choose God over the temptations of this world to truly be free from the sins of the devil. We all know that those who highly esteem the riches of this world are the same one’s who lightly esteem the riches of Christ. Be prudent dear child of God choose wisely and choose soberly and choose by the conviction of God, thus choosing Christ Jesus one time forever. Amen!

In His Love, Eric & Angela Foster

Further References:

MAMMON

mamonas NT:3126, a common Aramaic word for "riches," akin to a Hebrew word signifying "to be firm, steadfast" (whence "Amen"), hence, "that which is to be trusted"; Gesenius regards it as derived from a Heb. word signifying "treasure" Gen 43:23; it is personified in Matt 6:24; Luke 16:9,11,13.

(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright (c)1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers)


NT:3126

mamonas (mam-o-nas') or mammonas (mam-mo-nas'); of Aramaic origin (confidence, i.e. wealth, personified); mammonas, i.e. avarice (deified):

KJV - mammon.

(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)


avarice – is a noun meaning “an unquenchable greed for riches”

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