Keyword Study on Greed

Exodus 22:25 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.

We are not to grow wealthy at the expense of the poor.

Deuteronomy 23:19 Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:

We shouldn't charge interest when we lend money to another believer, or a relative.

Psalms 15:5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

Those who do seek to gain reward from the innocent, by implication, are unstable.

Proverbs 1:15 My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: 16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. 19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

Greed is often accompanied by a determination to get money by any means, including robbery and murder.

Proverbs 15:27 He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.

Greed can destroy our homes, our families, and our very lives.

Proverbs 28:8 He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.

God will take away what has been gained dishonestly, and place it in other hands to accomplish his purposes.

Isaiah 55:1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

God's best can be purchased without money.  Our greed, if it's possible to use the word in any positive way, should be for the provision and presence of God.

Isaiah 56:10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. 12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

God reserves special condemnation for his ministers who give themselves over to greed.

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

If your god is money, you are none of Christ's.

Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

When we seek after material gain at the expense of our souls, we always come out as losers.

Mark 14:10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them.
11 And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he might conveniently betray him.

Judas betrayed Christ out of greed.  He was a thief and a robber.

John 2:13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.

We are not to buy and sell in the house of God.

1 Timothy 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

This is a direct refutation of the so-called "prosperity gospel" practiced by some today; we are not to associate ourselves with them or their perverse doctrine.

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Notice that money itself is not the root of all evil, but the love of it, or greed. Christians who seek after it are headed for doctrinal error and no end of sorrow.

Titus 1:10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.

We need to be on guard against those who purport to be servants of Christ, but are only after money, and seek to pervert and lead astray others for their own benefit.