In this verse Paul proves his case against those who desire to be rich, by first of all quoting a popular proverb, and secondly, by noting that this desire for money has indeed led people to lose their faith and to experience unnecessary suffering.

This proverb is one of the most abused and misused parts of the New Testament. Some of the misunderstandings should be clarified in order that the verse may be properly translated and interpreted.

First of all, it is not money that is the root of evil, but love of money. Secondly, love of money is not the only source of evil, nor is it the source of all evil, as Revised Standard Version would have us understand. The meaning of the verse is clearly depicted in New Revised Standard Version “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil,” and Good News Translation “For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil.” Some commentators claim that the root is a better and more grammatically correct translation than “a root,” since, while root does not have the article, yet it is in initial position in the Greek text, and according to Greek grammar a definite predicate noun that is placed before its verb is usually without the definite article. A good example of this is John 1.1, which can be rendered literally “God was the Word,” with “God” not having the article. Other ways to express this first sentence are “When people love money it causes them to receive all kinds of troubles (or, evils)” or “All kinds of evils beset (or, fall upon) people who love money.”

The last part of the verse emphasizes once again the effect that the desire for wealth has on people. Craving translates a participle from the verb that pertains to eagerly desiring to achieve some goal or purpose; hence “to strive to attain,” “to aspire,” “to eagerly long for.” Here the goal is money, so New Revised Standard Version “in their eagerness to be rich.” Two results of this craving for wealth are mentioned. First, they have wandered away from the faith. Wandered away translates an aorist passive of a verb that means to stop believing in something that is true and start believing in something that is false, hence “to go astray from the truth.” For the faith see 1.2. To wander away from the faith is to cease to be a Christian, to stop believing and trusting in Christ.

Secondly, they have pierced their hearts with many pangs. This can be understood as a result not only of their craving for money but also of their wandering away from the faith. The verb for pierced is literally “pierce through,” “impale” (compare New English Bible “spiked themselves”). This is of course not intended in a literal but in a figurative sense. The meaning of the figure is to experience something severe and painful. A substitute figure may be used to express the same meaning; for example, Good News Translation “have broken their hearts.” Pangs may refer to physical pain due to a wound or a stabbing, but it is used here in a figurative sense to refer to intense anxiety, great mental anguish, severe grief. Other ways to say this are “they have been so sorrowful that their hearts have broken,” “their hearts have broken because of all the sorrows that have come to them,” or “their hearts ache because of all the sorrows that they have experienced.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .