Early Christian Beliefs About Coveting and Greed

Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus Direct teaching

You shall not covet your neighbour's wife, you shall not covet your neighbour's house, nor his land, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his beast of burden, nor any of his cattle, nor anything that is your neighbour's.

Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching

and do not corrupt nor touch what is another's nor covet it, for it is an evil thing to covet the goods of other men;

Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Direct teaching

You shall not be covetous, nor rapacious, nor a hypocrite, nor evil disposed, nor haughty.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

For it is written in the law, You shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his field, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour's;

Clement of Rome, Second Epistle (attributed) Direct teaching

Now the Lord says, “No servant can serve two masters.” If we want to serve both God and mammon, it will do us no good. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? This world and the next are two enemies. The one urges adultery and corruption, greed and deceit. The other says farewell to these things. Therefore, we cannot be friends of both. By giving up the one, we must make sure of the other. Let us consider it better to hate the things that are present, since they are small, temporary, and corruptible, and to love the things that are to come, since they are good and incorruptible. For if we do the will of Christ, we will find rest. Otherwise, nothing will deliver us from eternal punishment if we disobey His commandments. For Scripture also says in Ezekiel, “If Noah, Job, and Daniel should rise up, they would not deliver their children in captivity.” Now if men so exceptionally righteous cannot, by their righteousness, deliver their children, how can we hope to enter the royal residence of God unless we keep our baptism holy and undefiled? And who will be our advocate unless we are found to have works of holiness and righteousness?

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Direct teaching

...Similarly, the saying "You cannot serve two masters" is explained by Him: "You cannot serve God and mammon," recognizing God as God but mentioning mammon as something that exists. He does not call mammon Lord when He says, "You cannot serve two masters," but He teaches His disciples, who serve God, not to be subject to mammon, nor to be ruled by it. For He says, "He that commits sin is the slave of sin." Since He calls those who serve sin "the slaves of sin" but does not call sin itself God, He also calls those who serve mammon "the slaves of mammon," not calling mammon God. For mammon, in the Jewish language, also used by the Samaritans, means a covetous person who wants more than they should have. In Hebrew, with the addition of a syllable, it is called Mamuel and means insatiable. Therefore, by both meanings, we cannot serve God and mammon.

Origen, Against Celsus Direct teaching

...e set over the affairs of this world. For no man can serve two masters, and we cannot serve God and mammon, whether that name is used for one or for more than one. Moreover, if anyone dishonors the lawgiver by breaking the law, then it seems clear to us that if the two laws, the law of God and the law of mammon, are completely opposed to each other, it is better for us to dishonor mammon by breaking the law of mammon, so that we may honor God by keeping His law, than to dishonor God by breaking the law of God, so that by obeying the law of mammon we may honor mammon.

Peter of Alexandria, Canonical Epistle Direct teaching

...ice of their goods so that they might not hurt or destroy their soul, which others, for the sake of filthy profit, have not done. And yet the Lord says, "What is a man profited, if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?" Matthew 16:26 And again, "You cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24 In these things, then, they have shown themselves to be servants of God, since they have hated, trodden under foot, and despised money, and have thus fulfilled what is written: "The ransom of a man's life is his riches." Proverbs 13:8 For we also read in the Acts of the Apostles that those who, in place of Paul and Silas, were dragged before the magistrates at Thessalonica, were released with a heavy fine. For after they had been very troublesome to them for his name, and had troubled the people and the rulers of the city, "having taken security," he says, "from Jason and the others, they let them go. And the brothers immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night to Berea." Acts 17:9-10

Methodius, From the Discourse on the Resurrection Direct teaching

...at is not made with hands. As the Lord also showed when He said, “Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations,” Luke 16:9. For what the Lord there called habitations, the apostle here calls clothing. And what He there calls friends of unrighteousness, the apostle here calls houses dissolved. So then, when the days of our present life come to an end, those good deeds of kindness that we have attained in this unrighteous life, and in this world which lies in wickedness, 1 John 5:19, will receive our souls. So when this perishable life is dissolved, we shall have the habitation that comes before the resurrection. That is, our souls shall be with God until we receive the new house that is prepared for us and will never fall. Therefore we also groan, not because we wish to be unclothed, as to the body, but to be clothed upon, 2 Corinthians 5:4, by it in the other life. For the house in heaven, with which we desire to be clothed, is immortality. When we are clothed with it, every weakness and mortality will be completely swallowed up in it, consumed by endless life. “For we walk by faith, not by si

Didache, Connection to Matthew 6:24 Supporting witness

The Lord Jesus also said justly: "No one 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."

Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching

...than their master. And oh, the hateful blindness of understanding, and the deep darkness of foolish greed! Although he could lighten his burden and throw off the load, he instead keeps brooding over his troublesome wealth. He stubbornly clings to his tormenting hoards. From him there is no generosity to those dependent on him, and no sharing with the poor. And yet such people call that money their own, which they guard with jealous labor, shut up at home as if it belonged to someone else, and from which they get no benefit for their friends, their children, or, in short, themselves. Their possession comes to this alone: they can keep others from possessing it. And oh, what a remarkable twisting of names! They call those things good things which they use for nothing but evil.

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Direct teaching

...depths of the sea, and the vast space of the air produce, they prepare for their gluttony. In their greed and anxious effort, these gluttons seem to drag-net the whole world in order to satisfy their luxurious tastes. These gluttons, surrounded by the hissing sound of frying pans, and spending their whole life over the pestle and mortar, cling to material things like fire. More than that, they weaken even simple food, namely bread, by straining off the nourishing part of the grain, so that the necessary part of food becomes something luxury looks down on. There is no limit to self-indulgence among people. It has driven them to sweetmeats, honey cakes, and sugar plums, inventing many kinds of desserts and hunting after every kind of dish. A man like this seems to me to be all jaw and nothing else. "Do not desire the rich man's delicacies," says Scripture in Proverbs 23:3, "for they belong to a false and base life." They eat luxurious dishes that a little later go to the dung heap. But we who seek the heavenly bread must rule the belly, which is beneath heaven, and even more the things pleasing to it, which God will destroy, 1 Corinthians 6:13, says the apostle, rightly cursing gl

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

And the source of all these evils was lust, which indeed broke out from contempt for true majesty. For not only did those who had more than enough fail to give a share to others, but they even seized other people's property, pulling everything toward their own profit. And things that formerly even individuals worked to obtain for the common use of mankind were now carried into the houses of a few. For, so that they might bring others under slavery, they especially began to take away and gather together the necessities of life, and to keep them tightly shut up, so that they might claim the gifts of heaven as their own. They did this not out of kindness, a feeling that did not exist in them, but so that they might gather up all the means of lust and greed. They also, under the name of justice, passed very unequal and unjust laws, by which they could defend their plunder and greed against the force of the crowd. Therefore they prevailed as much by authority as by strength, or resources, or malice. And since there was in them no trace of justice, whose duties are humanity, fairness, and pity, they now began to delight in proud and swollen inequality. They made themselves higher than ot

Tatian, Address to the Greeks Supporting witness

How, then, can I accept this birth according to Fate, when I see the ones who manage Fate? I do not want to be a king. I am not eager to be rich. I refuse military command. I hate sexual immorality. I am not driven by a never-ending love of money to go to sea. I do not compete for crowns. I am free from a wild thirst for fame. I despise death. I am above every kind of disease. Grief does not eat away at my soul. Am I a slave? I endure slavery. Am I free? I do not boast about my noble birth. I see that the same sun is for everyone, and one death comes to everyone, whether they live in pleasure or in poverty. The rich man sows, and the poor man shares in the same crop. The richest people die, and beggars have the same limit to their life. The rich lack many things, and are honored only because people think highly of them. But the poor man, and the man who has only moderate desires, since he seeks only the things suited to his condition, reaches his goal more easily. Why is it that you are fated to lie awake because of greed? Why are you fated to keep grabbing for things again and again, and again and again to die? Die to the world, rejecting the madness in it. Live to God, and by com

Victorinus, On the Creation of the World Supporting witness

... he also gave himself as an example of what he had written. Then, not without reason, he added that avarice is the root of all evils, in 1 Timothy 6:10, for it follows in the footsteps of luxury. Whatever luxury has wasted through vice, avarice restores through crime. So the cycle of crimes is walked again, in order that luxury may once more consume whatever avarice had piled up. Yet even among such matters there are some who, although they have claimed for themselves the name of Christian, provide examples and teachings of lack of self-control. Their vices have gone so far that, while fasting, they drink early in the morning. They do not think it Christian to drink after food, unless the wine poured into their empty and idle veins has gone down immediately after sleep. For they seem to enjoy what they drink less if food is mixed with the wine. So you may see such people in a new condition: still fasting, and already drunk; not running to the tavern, but carrying the tavern around with them. And if one of them offers a greeting, he gives not a kiss, but drinks a health. What can they do after food, when food finds them already drunk? Or in what condition does the setting sun lea

Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness

...eshly heart. You are the captive and slave of your money. You are tied with the chains and bonds of covetousness, and you, whom Christ had once set loose, are in chains once more. You keep your money, but when it is kept, it does not keep you. You pile up an inheritance that weighs you down with its burden, and you do not remember what God answered the rich man who boasted with foolish delight over the abundance of his overflowing harvest: "You fool," He said, "this night your soul is required of you; then whose will those things be which you have prepared?" Luke 12:20 Why do you sit alone watching over your riches? Why do you heap up the burden of your inheritance for your own punishment, so that, in the same measure as you are rich in this world, you may become poor toward God? Divide your income with the Lord your God. Share your profits with Christ. Make Christ a partner with you in your earthly possessions, so that He also may make you a fellow heir with Him in His heavenly kingdom.

Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians Direct teaching

...nderstands the position that was given to him in the Church. I urge you, therefore, to abstain from covetousness, and to be chaste and truthful. "Abstain from every form of evil." For if a person cannot control themselves in such matters, how can they instruct others in them? If a person does not keep themselves from covetousness, they will be defiled by idolatry and will be judged as one of the heathen. But who among us is ignorant of the judgment of the Lord? "Do we not know that the saints shall judge the world?" as Paul teaches. But I have neither seen nor heard of any such thing among you, among whom the blessed Paul labored, and who are commended at the beginning of his Epistle. For he boasts of you in all those Churches that alone then knew the Lord; but we [of Smyrna] had not yet known Him. I am deeply grieved, therefore, brothers, for him (Valens) and his wife; to whom may the Lord grant true repentance! And be moderate in regard to this matter, and "do not count them as enemies," but call them back as suffering and straying members, so that you may save your whole body. For by doing so, you will edify yourselves.

Peter of Alexandria, Canonical Epistle Supporting witness

...their money rather than their souls. In this way, they showed that they wanted to serve God and not mammon, that is, riches. He also brings forward the words of Scripture and the example found in the Acts of the Apostles, of the blessed apostle Paul and others. Now, when it is said that they "have been undisturbed by all evil," this should be understood in one of two ways. Either it means that they were left undisturbed as far as denying the faith is concerned, since denial of the faith is what brings in every evil. Or he means the sufferings of persecutions.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

Exodus 20:17 for all coveting of these things is from the evil one.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

...uble them. They heap up plenty of money for themselves, lend at harsh interest, and care only about mammon, whose money bag is their god. They put eating and drinking before all virtue, saying, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." They value these things as though they were lasting and not perishing. For she who gives herself to nothing but talk about money worships mammon instead of God. That is, she is a servant to gain, but cannot be pleasing to God or devoted to His worship. She is not able to intercede with Him continually, because her mind and disposition run after money. For where the treasure is, there the heart will be also. In her mind she is thinking about where she may go to receive something, or that a certain woman, her friend, has forgotten her, and she has something to say to her. A woman who thinks about such things will no longer pay attention to her prayers, but to that thought which comes to her. So even if at times she would pray for someone, she will not be heard, because she does not offer her petition to the Lord with her whole heart, but with a divided mind. But she who gives attention to God will stay inside and care for the things of the Lord d

Colossians 3:5 Background

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book IV Direct teaching

For he will be found carrying about property not belonging to him, and coveting goods which are not his.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

Let a bishop not be greedy for shameful gain, especially before the Gentiles. Instead, let him suffer wrong rather than do wrong. Let him not be covetous or grasping, not a thief, not one who admires the rich or hates the poor, not a slanderer or a false witness, not easily angered, not quarrelsome, not entangled in the affairs of this life, not a guarantor for anyone, and not an accuser in money disputes. Let him not be ambitious, double-minded, or double-tongued. Let him not be quick to listen to slander or evil-speaking, not a hypocrite, not devoted to heathen festivals, not given to empty deceptions, not eager for worldly things, and not a lover of money. For all these things are opposed to God and pleasing to demons. Let the bishop earnestly command all these teachings to the laity also, persuading them to imitate his conduct. For He says, "Make the children of Israel pious," Leviticus 15:31. Let him be prudent, humble, and able to admonish with the Lord's instructions. Let him be kind, one who has renounced all the wicked schemes of this world and all heathen desires. Let him be orderly, sharp in noticing the wicked and taking care against them, yet a friend to all, just, and

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness

...oliness, whether he loves widows, strangers, the poor, and the brothers, whether he is not given to filthy lucre, whether he is not extravagant or wasteful, whether he is sober and free from luxury, or instead a drunkard or a glutton, and whether he is compassionate and charitable.

Didache, Connection to Luke 16:9 Supporting witness

Give to every one that asks you, and ask it not back; for the Father wills that to all should be given of our own blessings.

Proverbs 15:27 Background

He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, But he who hates bribes will live.

Tobit 5:18 Background

Be not greedy to add money to money: but let it be as refuse in respect of our child.