WHAT THE BIBLE REALLY SAYS ABOUT MONEY AND GIVING

An account of the biblical position on financial matters, coupled with a practical guide to personal money management.

According to debut author and former college professor Davis, money is the “most discussed topic in the Bible,” although, he says, there’s confusion regarding its teachings on the subject. Some argue that Scripture extols a life of abundance, understood as material prosperity, but the author contends the only abundance that matters is that of a spiritual nature. Money, he asserts, is not necessarily good or bad, but a mere “tool and a test of where our hearts are”; however, he says that the love of money is “detestable in God’s sight,” and that the pursuit of it can disfigure one’s soul: “But there is something about it—or rather about us, our sin nature—that makes us want to crave it, to hoard it, to accumulate it, and to do crazy things to get more of it.” Davis avers that it’s helpful to remember that nothing is ever truly ours—asserting all things belong to the Lord—and that one’s life shouldn’t be devoted to the accumulation of ephemeral things. Nevertheless, one shouldn’t live in anxious financial insecurity, he says—so he provides sound and lucid, if not groundbreaking, counsel regarding the debt management, savings, and investment. His principal goal is to teach readers how to think about money in terms of one’s overall mission on Earth. Overall, his rendering of Scripture is thoughtful and textually rigorous, and it should be helpful to Christians who are interested in situating their financial lives within their religious commitments. His prose can sometimes be didactic to the point of condescension, however; for example, many readers will tire of his many rhetorical questions, such as “Am I right?” Also, it’s not clear that notions such as retirement and stock diversification require biblical support, even for the most faithful. Still, Davis supplies a theological argument about the nature of wealth that’s both reasonable and exegetically meticulous.

A persuasive religious treatise with sensible financial advice.