Mammon

Biblical Text

In the New Testament, the word mammon appears only in the sayings of Jesus. Korean Bibles, including the New Korean Revised Version, generally render it as "wealth."

• Matthew 6:24: In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." This is followed immediately by the teaching not to be anxious about food and clothing (Matthew 6:24–34).
• Luke 16:9, 11, 13: In the conclusion of the Parable of the Unjust Steward, Jesus says, "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness" and "If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon," and he concludes, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Verse 14 then records that the Pharisees, who were covetous, derided him for these words.

The Word and Its Background

The Greek text reads mamōnas, a transliteration of the Aramaic māmōnā used by Jews of the period (Languages of the Bible). In the Aramaic Targums and in rabbinic literature, it is reported to have been an ordinary word for property or possessions. One view links its etymology to a root meaning "to believe" or "to entrust," interpreting it as "that in which a person trusts and relies," but this derivation remains uncertain. Notably, the Gospel writers left the word untranslated rather than rendering it into Greek.

Meaning in the Broader Biblical Context

Jesus speaks of mammon not as a mere object but as a "master" that enslaves people. The verb "serve" denotes a servant's service to a master, so the saying means that loyalty to wealth and loyalty to God cannot coexist. This idea is related to the Pauline equation of covetousness with idolatry (Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5). It also accords with the warning that "the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:9–10). Luke places the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus in the same chapter and elsewhere includes the accounts of the Rich Young Ruler and the Parable of the Rich Fool, returning repeatedly to the question of wealth.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

• The meaning of "the mammon of unrighteousness": Interpretations differ. Some take it to mean dishonestly acquired money; others hold that wealth itself is entangled with the unrighteousness of this world; still others understand it as worldly wealth, which is transient compared with what is eternal.
• Attitudes toward wealth: Many Protestant traditions do not regard wealth itself as evil. They hold that wealth is entrusted by God and that human beings are stewards who manage it. In the Methodist tradition, John Wesley's sermon "The Use of Money," which urges believers to "gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can," is frequently cited. Other interpretations, by contrast, warn more fundamentally against the accumulation of wealth itself.
• The prosperity theology debate: Critics regard teaching that ties faith to material blessing as a form of serving mammon. Supporters respond that enjoying the material blessings God gives is different from serving wealth.
• Traditions outside the biblical text: From the Middle Ages onward, Mammon came to be treated as the name of a demon or deity presiding over greed. In John Milton's Paradise Lost, Mammon appears as a fallen angel. The biblical text, however, does not present mammon as a pagan god like Baal or as a demon; such personifications were added by later literature and tradition.

In the Korean Church

In preaching, the word is used mainly in sermons on Matthew 6:24 that warn against materialism. In criticism from both inside and outside the church, expressions such as "Mammonism" and "Mammon worship" are used to censure materialism or a preoccupation with church growth.