Jesus
and
Money

A Guide for Times
of Financial Crisis

Ben Witherington III

© 2010 by Ben Witherington III

Published by Brazos Press
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.brazospress.com

E-book edition created 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-0782-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Unless otherwise noted, scripture translations are the author’s own.

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Contents

Copyright Page

List of Abbreviations

Prequel: Reconsidering the Value of Money in Hard Times

1. “In the Beginning God Created . . .”: Getting Our Bearings

2. A King’s Ransom: Proverbial Wisdom on Wealth

3. Money in the Bartering World of Jesus

4. Jesus and the Treasure Hunt

5. James’s Rich Wisdom

6. Wealth and Poverty in Luke-Acts

7. Paul—On Work, Remuneration, and the Love of Money

8. John of Patmos and a News Flash for the Merchants and Mr. 666

9. Towards a New Testament Theology of Money, Stewardship, and Giving

10. Deprogramming Ourselves from a Lifestyle of Conspicuous Consumption and Self-Gratification

Appendix 1: Ten Christian Myths about Money

Appendix 2: “The Use of Money”: A Sermon by John Wesley

Abbreviations

Prequel

Reconsidering the Value of Money in Hard Times

Why a book on money, and why now? Because our economy is in a free fall. We have worked our way into at least a recession, if not a depression. And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men won’t be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again—at least not quickly. For at least a while, what lies ahead for most of us is pain and sacrifice, not indulgence and conspicuous consumption. Whether we like it or not (and who does like it?), we now have to learn to live with less. Given the state of the world economy since late 2008, we are not as secure in our trust that the market cannot ...