How Many References To Money In The Bible

"Did you know Jesus preached nigh money more than than anything else? That'south right! He taught nigh money in 11 of his 39 parables. Finances are Jesus' nigh talked almost topic."

Ever heard something like this earlier?

Did it surprise you?

It did me.

But as I kept hearing it over the years, I finally idea to myself, "Man, I've read the gospel accounts many times over, and I've never come up away saying, 'Wow, Jesus spoke on finances more than any other topic!'" In fact, I'd argue that the vast majority of Christians who have read Matthew, Marker, Luke, and John would say the same matter.

Unfortunately, many likely think the merits is true because they hear pastors and financial ministries cite it when instruction on coin and only presume they are correct.

But don't despair, if you were as surprised by this claim as I was, know your alarm is warranted because the Jesus-taught-more-nearly-finances-than-anything-else bending is an urban legend. Christ didn't teach on finances more than any other topic. Once y'all really await at his teachings, bluntly, it's not even close.

It's an urban legend because it mishandles the data by but seeking to find where Jesus talks about coin simply not, and this is critical, how money is talked about. There is a large departure between didactics on the topic of finances and using financial terms to illustrate a completely different topic. A brief reading of Jesus' teachings will ostend he did the latter much more than the former.¹ And that oft-quoted stat that 11 of Jesus' 39 parables were about finances? It doesn't hold h2o because in many of those parables Jesus used money to illustrate a different topic than money.

For example, in Matthew twenty:1-16 Jesus tells a story about the payment of vineyard workers. But, Christ isn't teaching about good business organization practices. Instead, he's illustrating how those who enter into God'south kingdom practice so by sheer grace. That's the bespeak.² No i finishes that parable and concludes that Jesus is pedagogy on the topic of horticulture simply because he referred to a vineyard or that he's addressing how Christian business organization owners do payroll merely because he talked about wages. Those details and references serve the main bespeak of the parable: the grace of the kingdom of God. Jesus even tells usa the point at the end: "So the concluding volition be kickoff, and the first last." Yup, it's conspicuously not virtually finances. Jesus simply uses coin (and a vineyard, workers, etc.) to teach a different topic than money.

Here'due south a challenge: take the other ten parables which reference money (e.one thousand., Two Debtors of Luke seven, Hidden Treasure of Matthew 13, Lost Coin of Luke fifteen)³ and see how many of them have Jesus using coin in a similar way to the parable of the vineyard workers. Don't be surprised if you discover that the number of teachings where Jesus uses finances to actually teach nearly finances begins to shrink.

However, don't recall this gets us off the hook from having our financial life submitted to the lordship of Christ.

On the reverse, how we handle coin is important for people of faith, specially so for N American Christians who struggle with cultural idols like materialism and individualism. Merely put, money is a gospel issue! Jesus definitely taught on coin as well equally the rest of the New Testament. Yet, it's simply inaccurate (and inappropriate) to say Jesus spoke more than about finances than anything else. It's just not truthful. If anything, he spoke more than about the kingdom of God than other topics. It's pretty clear. Just read the gospel accounts. Yous tin can't miss information technology.

A expert practice for Christians would be to stop spreading this urban legend. We don't need information technology in society to teach about how followers of Jesus should handle their finances. We have more than enough pertinent passages in the Scripture to appropriately and accurately teach us about honoring Christ with our money.

¹ In a Relevant magazine article, Jeffery Poor (ironic last name) writes, "Xi of Jesus' parables do mention money. Eighteen of Jesus' parables likewise mention food, but that doesn't make it the point of the stories."

² By and large speaking, parables only take one idea behind them. Observe that 1 idea and you've gotten the point of the parable.

³ Unfortunately, whoever commencement gave this statistic didn't tell us exactly which of those parables made up the eleven.

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Dr. Arrington is the Teaching Pastor at Articulate Creek Customs Church. He holds a BA in Faith from Baylor University, Masters of Divinity with Biblical Languages from Southwestern Seminary, and Doctor of Ministry from Covenant Seminary. He and his wife, Jennefer, accept iii sons. He is the author of 'Preaching that Moves People' and 'Tap: Defeating the Sins that Defeat You.'

Source: https://clearcreekresources.org/2021/01/19/no-jesus-didnt-teach-about-money-the-most/

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