Dharius Daniels - What Does the Bible ACTUALLY Say about Money and Wealth

Hey, there are a lot of questions surrounding this topic, and I’m going to try to address some of your inquiries, focusing on the idea of wealth. Here’s a question: Is being wealthy a sin? Or do I have to sin in order to become wealthy? Let’s discuss this in this video. The scriptures are very clear on this matter, both in the Old and New Testaments. They provide explicit warnings related to wealth. What I want to argue from the onset is this: those warnings are not about wealth itself; they are about ensuring that wealth remains in its proper place.

I want to be clear from the beginning, and I invite you to let me present my argument. You have the right to disagree, but if you do, please engage with the argument I’m making, not the one you assume I will make. When you hear conversations or warnings regarding wealth, they generally address the significance wealth holds in a person’s life, not the possession of wealth itself.

I want to share my reasoning for taking this position. Often, when someone takes something good and places it in the wrong context, others may assume that because that good thing is misallocated, it becomes a bad thing, when, in fact, there’s nothing wrong with the thing itself; the issue is with the place it’s been put in. Here’s an example I’ve used before in a previous teaching: the Bible states, «He who finds a wife finds a good thing.» That is very clear, and I think we can agree that this is what the scriptures teach, and it’s self-explanatory. It is found in Proverbs, where it states that finding a wife is a good thing and grants favor from the Lord.

So, if I were to ask, «Is a wife as God intended a good thing?» we would say yes, because the Bible clearly affirms it. But let’s say someone takes that good thing, a wife, and makes her more important than God. Would we say having a wife is a bad thing? No, no one would claim that you shouldn’t have a wife because it’s easy to place her before God. No, we would affirm that having a wife is good; it’s just about putting her in the wrong context.

If this principle applies to a wife, why can’t we apply it to wealth? Wealth, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. In fact, Jesus in the New Testament benefitted from the ministry of those who were wealthy. Joseph of Arimathea provided Jesus his tomb, and I could mention one of the women who followed Him, who was a woman of resources. The issue regarding wealth in scripture is not whether a person possesses it, but rather whether it has a hold on them.

For instance, there are scriptures that teach us not to place our trust in deceitful riches. What does that mean? It means that riches can be deceptive and may create a false sense of security. You can think that riches alone protect you in ways that they don’t. I will argue in a moment that they do offer some protection, but when I rely on them more than on God, I’m overestimating their value, as everything you have acquired is ultimately at the mercy of uncontrollable circumstances. Therefore, the Bible advises against trusting in riches.

Additionally, the Bible teaches that we cannot serve two masters. Let me clarify what Jesus didn’t say: He didn’t say not to have wealth; He said not to serve it. Wealth needs to serve you; you cannot serve it. This is incredibly important.

There’s a scripture where people comment on how it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. I encourage you to research what that means because it does not refer to a literal needle and thread with an actual camel trying to pass through. Rather, it speaks to the reality that people who have accumulated vast resources tend to love those resources more than they love the Father, which complicates their entry into the kingdom. It doesn’t say it’s impossible or even unlikely; it simply states that it is difficult.

I believe many people respond to wealth issues based on what they think the Bible says, rather than what it actually teaches. Those are two distinct matters. There is often an assumption that people who have amassed wealth have done so through deception, exploitation, or unethical means. While that may be true for some, it is not the case for all. God is against exploitation. When you examine the cohort of Jesus’s disciples, it becomes clear that many had various backgrounds and experiences.