The “love of money” is the root of all kinds of evil, not money itself.

“For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.”  (1 Timothy 6:10). This verse is often misquoted as saying, “Money is the root of all evil,” substituting “love of money” with  “money” which has an enormous impact on the sense of the verse.

The misquoted version which says that “money is the root of all evil” makes money and wealth the source (or root) of all wickedness in the world, which is undoubtedly phony. The Scriptures makes it clear that sin is the root of all evil in the world (Matthew 15:19 ; Romans 5:12 ; James 1:15).

By reflecting on the correct citation of the aforementioned verse, it could be perceived that it is the love of money, not money itself, that is a source of all different kinds of trouble and evil. It is when money begins to control human, wherein trouble begins.

Approaching the end of St. Paul’s letter (1 Timothy 6:2-10) , he encourages Timothy the need to “teach and urge these things” to his congregation, “these things” referring back to earlier material in the letter. He then cautions Timothy about false teachers who will seek to bend and misrepresent the content of sound doctrine for their own greedy gain (verse 3-5) What the apostle says at the end of verse 5: “supposing religion to be a means of gain.” These false teachers do what they do for the fame and disrepute they attain, next to the financial rewards it produces.

Paul wants to shove Timothy away from that trap, telling him that the real source of “great gain;” is godliness with true contentment (verse 6). Contentment, in a biblical sense, is the acknowledgement that humans come into the world with nothing and that everything that she/he possesses is a gift from God’s hands (verses 7-8) . Yet those who want to be rich (specifically those who have the “love of money”) are the ones who are led into the lure of temptation (verse 9).Paul concludes the passage by telling Timothy that the love of money leads to all sorts of sin and evil. 

Conversely, simultaneous with this horizontal effect (commission of greater sins against its neighbor brought by love of money) is a vertical commission of sin (against God). The Bible makes quite clear that all sin is ultimately against God’s holy character (Psalm 51:6).

Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24). This verse comes at the end of the passage in which Jesus tells His creations to “lay up treasures in heaven” (verse 19). Jesus compares the “love of money” to idolatry - idolatry refers not only to false pagan worship but consists in divinizing what is not God, whenever human honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. He refers to money as a “master” that human serve at the expense of serving God. God commands to have “no other gods” before the only true and living God (Exodus 20:3),(the first commandment. Anything that takes first place into human lives other than the Creator God is an idol and makes her/him guilty of breaking this commandment.

Question to ponder:

1 Timothy 6:10 - For the “love of money” is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.

There's nothing wrong with money; it’s simply a medium of exchange. What's wrong about it is when human is already controlled by it, when love of money becomes her/his set of values, when it provides a path to greed, gluttony and cruelty where trouble basically begins, as human has control over anything that the world has but not the world has control over human.

In your desire to earn a living or your employer’s goal to hit its optimum productivity, could you recall an instance that your employer takes a harsh measure (ex. deducting your salary with SSS, Philhealth, tax [law- mandated benefits], giving salaries lower than the minimum wage) in favour of amassing wealth for themselves, which brought them to legal charges just like what happened to the employer reported by GMA news, who were ordered by the Department of Labor and Employment to pay P8.3 million to the 99 employees for unpaid benefits and other labor violations.

How did you resolve the issue, was it through silence because of fear to lose a job or through a complaint.  Why or why not?

References:

1. http://www.gotquestions.org/love-money-root-evil.htm, Why is the love of money the root of all kinds of evil? 
2. Rose-Am Jessica Dioquino, Over 70 confirmed dead in Valenzuela factory fire, http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/487102/news/metromanila/over-70-confirmed-dead-in-valenzuela-factory-fire, May 14, 2015 11:33am
3. http://www.nwpc.dole.gov.ph/pages/statistics/stat_current_regional.html , Summary of Current Regional Daily Minimum Wage Rates Non-Agriculture, Agriculture (In Pesos)  (As of May 2015)