Matthew 13:22
Ephesians 5:5
5. this ye know—The oldest manuscripts read, "Of this ye are sure knowing"; or as ALFORD, "This ye know being aware."
covetous . . . idolater— (Col 3:5). The best reading may be translated, That is to say, literally, which is (in other words) an idolater. Paul himself had forsaken all for Christ (2Co 6:10; 11:27). Covetousness is worship of the creature instead of the Creator, the highest treason against the King of kings (1Sa 15:3; Mt 6:24; Php 3:19; 1Jo 2:15). hath—The present implies the fixedness of the exclusion, grounded on the eternal verities of that kingdom [ALFORD]. of Christ and of God—rather, as one Greek article is applied to both, "of Christ and God," implying their perfect oneness, which is consistent only with the doctrine that Christ is God (compare 2Th 1:12; 1Ti 5:21; 6:13). 1 Timothy 6:10
10. the love of money—not the money itself, but the love of it—the wishing to be rich (1Ti 6:9) —"is a root (ELLICOTT and MIDDLETON: not as English Version, 'the root') of all evils." (So the Greek plural). The wealthiest may be rich not in a bad sense; the poorest may covet to be so (Ps 62:10). Love of money is not the sole root of evils, but it is a leading "root of bitterness" (Heb 12:15), for "it destroys faith, the root of all that is good" [BENGEL]; its offshoots are "temptation, a snare, lusts, destruction, perdition."
coveted after—lusted after. erred from—literally, "have been made to err from the faith" (1Ti 1:19; 4:1). pierced— (Lu 2:35). with . . . sorrows—"pains": "thorns" of the parable (Mt 13:22) which choke the word of "faith." "The prosperity of fools destroys them" (Pr 1:32). BENGEL and WIESINGER make them the gnawings of conscience, producing remorse for wealth badly acquired; the harbingers of the future "perdition" (1Ti 6:9).
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