Is being wealthy/rich a sin?

How and why one acquires wealth and what one does with it - or has to do to keep or increase it - could conceivably be fraught with many snares. But being wealthy need not be inherently sinful.

Regarding the rich young man, he couldn't (at the time of meeting Jesus) give up what was on the throne of his heart - his possessions and status - for the sake of following Christ.

All manner of idols hold all manner of people captive. It is quite possible that a person who is an actor (certainly a successful one) will have more challenges to contend with - as a Christian - than just pitfalls associated with the love of money.

1yugioh said:

But I don't love money, I just want to act. Its fun, and exciting! I mean couldn't I just give money away to charities and stuff and then not have the problem of greed or pride or whatever.

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Then go for it - Jim Caviezel did, as have others. Do you currently act?

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Job were all rich by the standard of their day.

David was rich (being king and all).

Daniel was pretty well off financially.

It isn't a sin to have wealth, but having wealth means having an additional responsibility of how you use that wealth.

1yugioh said:

But I do worry that if having wealth is a sin how much do I give away? I mean I would like to pay off the car, and of cores I would get my family stuff, but how much is to much?

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For me, tithing takes care of all that. In fact, I believe tithing brought me the various occupational promotions I've received and the large sum of money I made in January when I dumped my stock.

A preacher I saw on TV recently said that the correct interpretation of Christ's quote about rich men and camels was more along the lines of, "It will be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it will be for a man who trusts in his riches to enter the kingdom of God." Being wealthy isn't a sin; making money the focus of your life, acquiring wealth by illicit means, and being greedy are.

It's worshiping wealth that's a sin!

This is why Jesus challenge the rich ruler saying "sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven."

Jesus went right to what meant most to that young man, and he couldn't give it up...because that was most important to him.

So the question becomes...where's your heart? If God asked any of us right now to sell all that we have...COULD WE???

I agree with what everyone says. Money itself is not the problem. The love of money is the problem. The new Testament also talks about how where your treasure is, your heart is. Meaning if you are focusing on heavenly things, there is where your treasure will be. If you are focusing on earthly things your treasure will be on earth (money).
Consider these verses.

Here is something from Proverbs 30:
8Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
9Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.


.....and verses from Deuteronomy 8 (concerning Israel but it could be applied to anyone of God's people)
6Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 7For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. 10When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. 11Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: 12Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; 13And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 14Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;

Here is something from Proverbs 30:
8Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
9Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Thanks, EGordo - edifying Scriptures.

There is something about what Jesus said that involves the viewpoint of people of that time. The average Jew of that time believed that God rewarded the good and punished the bad in this life as well as the next( for the ones that believed in a next life, it was not universally accepted that there was a next life.) . So since that was the case, to those people a rich man was by definition morally superior to a poor man. Notice the reaction of the apostles when Jesus makes his statement. They were amazed and disconcerted that a rich man would not be good enough to make it into heaven. To their mind that means that no one had a chance. And of course they were right in thinking that, because Jesus'point is not that being rich is a sin but that we do not achieve salvation by our own righteousness. Read the whole passage and remember the cultural context and you get a better picture of what Jesus was trying to tell us. It isn't merely that riches get in the way of committing to God and can become an idol in themselves, though that is certainly true. The whole incident begins with the rich man mistakenly believing there is something he can do to achieve his own salvation.



Matthew 19


16 Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
18 “Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’[c] and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”
20 “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[e] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

1yugioh said:

Not currently but I've always wanted to, but when your a Christian there are a lot of obstacles, like no cussing is one that comes to mind at the moment. Moral dilemmas that non Christians don't have.

But I do worry that if having wealth is a sin how much do I give away? I mean I would like to pay off the car, and of cores I would get my family stuff, but how much is to much?

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This kind of question keeps coming up.

If you give away every penny you earn then you have nothing to tide you over if your income dries up for a while. If you keep giving money away just for the sake of not having the money then you're being just as poor a steward of it than if you take to washing your Ferrari with vintage Dom Perignon because you don't know what else to do with all the cash. If you've accumulated a hefty chunk of cash it may be God simply wanted to bless you financially or it may be that there's a situation coming where having a chunk of cash puts you in a position to help someone else.

Having money, whatever your bank balance, isn't a sin in and of itself. If you love your money more than you love God that's where the problem lies, and that's the case whether you're living hand to mouth and struggling or using $100 bills as firelighters.

Because of that there's simply no way anyone can meaningfully say how much you should give away. Some people like to preach a message that anything that isn't essential is sinful, yet curiously manage to fund the means to post on an internet message board. Other people talk of not buying this or that but then it transpires they are a teenager living with their parents and are quite happy to tell people not to pay for a luxury like an internet connection while freeloading off Mummy's internet connection.

What matters is what is in your heart. Nobody else can tell you how to spend or give your money.

contango said:

This kind of question keeps coming up.

If you give away every penny you earn then you have nothing to tide you over if your income dries up for a while. If you keep giving money away just for the sake of not having the money then you're being just as poor a steward of it than if you take to washing your Ferrari with vintage Dom Perignon because you don't know what else to do with all the cash. If you've accumulated a hefty chunk of cash it may be God simply wanted to bless you financially or it may be that there's a situation coming where having a chunk of cash puts you in a position to help someone else.

Having money, whatever your bank balance, isn't a sin in and of itself. If you love your money more than you love God that's where the problem lies, and that's the case whether you're living hand to mouth and struggling or using $100 bills as firelighters.

Because of that there's simply no way anyone can meaningfully say how much you should give away. Some people like to preach a message that anything that isn't essential is sinful, yet curiously manage to fund the means to post on an internet message board. Other people talk of not buying this or that but then it transpires they are a teenager living with their parents and are quite happy to tell people not to pay for a luxury like an internet connection while freeloading off Mummy's internet connection.

What matters is what is in your heart. Nobody else can tell you how to spend or give your money.

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Can I get an "amen" for Contango?

1yugioh said:

Is being wealthy/rich a sin?

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No...

Those sluggards with no money or assets will say it is.

Money and wealth is a tool to be used to establish God's Covenant (Deut 8:18) and since we have been bought with a price and are not our own... and wealth / assets we have actually belong to the Lord and He retains the right to direct us in what to do with it as He sees fit.

It should be a joy and a high honor to make ourselves and our stuff available to Jesus to use as He desires.

1yugioh said:

Matthew 19
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

So I want to go into acting, not for the money but I have just always wanted to act, I love fantasy! And acting is fun. But you make quite a bit of money if your a good enough actor, so is this telling me money could get me sent to H**L?

I know there are scripture in the old testament about money but are there any scriptures in the New Testament that tells us its okay to have money as long as it DOES NOT corrupt us? I mean I'm really not a monetary person and even as a kid the idea was to make a ton of money so I could give it away anyway. I'm really not a money lover, like I said I want to go into acting for the fun I love fantasy.

And a Christian can do a lot of good things if they have the funding.

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If you spend the money for Gods purpose, it is well spent. If you spend it for your own pleasure, beware.

Why would any Christian need or want to have more money than they needed to survive, when we are taught to love our neighbors as ourselves and there are certainly neighbors that need food, water and shelter more than a Christian needs a new car, big house, new iPhone, etc.

I agree with the other respondents' replies that being rich is not a sin. It is a sin if the desire/pursuit of wealth becomes our main focus in life. Wealth, under these and like circumstances, will become a "god" that is worshiped. Reflect on Ecclesiastes 5:10; Matthew 6:24; 13:22; Luke 13:15-21;1 Timothy 6:10.

1yugioh said:

Matthew 19
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.


So I want to go into acting, not for the money but I have just always wanted to act, I love fantasy! And acting is fun. But you make quite a bit of money if your a good enough actor, so is this telling me money could get me sent to H**L?

I know there are scripture in the old testament about money but are there any scriptures in the New Testament that tells us its okay to have money as long as it DOES NOT corrupt us? I mean I'm really not a monetary person and even as a kid the idea was to make a ton of money so I could give it away anyway. I'm really not a money lover, like I said I want to go into acting for the fun I love fantasy.

And a Christian can do a lot of good things if they have the funding.

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You left out the part where Jesus says
25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Acting is not a very lucrative profession for the vast majority of those that attempt it. As a matter of fact there are probably many more people not making a living off their acting than those that are. Just like most painters do so without becoming wealthy most actors do as well. So don't become famous and get yourself a day job and you won't have to worry about getting too rich. IMO worrying about tomorrow is a sin too.

Matt 6:34
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Again IMO counting up how many sins we might someday be guilty of so we can avoid hell by not doing the wrong thing misses the point altogether. God saves us through Christ we do not escape hell by not becoming rich or by not committing any particular sin. No matter how many sins we avoid committing we are not worthy of salvation.

Jesus was poor. Jesus said there is no greater than john the baptist. He was poor. So was Peter, Paul, James, John and Jude.

The bible promises spiritual prosperity