Reference: Covetousness
Easton
a strong desire after the possession of worldly things (Col 3:5; Eph 5:5; Heb 13:5; 1Ti 6:9-10; Mt 6:20). It assumes sometimes the more aggravated form of avarice, which is the mark of cold-hearted worldliness.
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but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor canker spoil, and where thieves do not dig through and steal;
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, or impure person, or avaricious, who is an idolater, hath an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Mortify therefore your members which are on the earth, fornication, impurity, the vile passion, evil concupiscence, and insatiable desire, which is idolatry:
Let the tenor of your life be divested of the love of money; content with your present possessions: for he hath said, "I will in no wise leave thee, neither will I in any case forsake thee."
Hastings
In the Bible, covetousness is a crime. In the Ten Commandments it is put under the ban along with murder, adultery, theft, and slander (Ex 20:17; De 5:21). Achan was guilty of this crime, and was stoned to death (Jos 7:16-26). Every occurrence of the word or the thing in the OT is connected with a prohibition or a curse (Ps 10:3; 119:36; Pr 21:26; 28:16; Isa 57:17; Hab 2:9). In the NT adultery and covetousness are usually classed together (1Co 5:11; 6:9-10; Col 3:5; 2Pe 2:14). This conjunction of sensual sin and love of money probably rests upon the authority of Jesus (Mr 7:21-22). Jesus and the Apostles declared that the worshipper of Bacchus and the worshipper of Venus and the worshipper of Mammon belong to one and the same class. Grasping avarice is as incompatible with the spirit of self-sacrifice taught in the NT as is the selfish indulgence in drink or the grosser indulgence in vice. The Bible puts the covetous man in the same category with the murderer and the thief. The Christian Church needs to study anew the Bible teaching concerning covetousness, as found in Jer 22:17; Mic 2:2; Lu 12:15; Ro 7:7; Eph 5:3,6; 1Ti 6:10; Heb 13:5, and other passages. No covetous man has any inheritance in the Kingdom of God.
D. A. Hayes.
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For from within out of the heart of men proceed wicked reasonings, adulteries, whoredoms, murders, thefts, inordinate cravings, mischievous actions, knavery, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, folly:
Then said he to them, Beware, and be on your guard against covetousness; for a man's life doth not depend on the abundance of his possessions.
What then shall we say? Is the law sin? God forbid. Yea, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not even known concupiscence, unless the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
But now I have written unto you not to associate with him, if any man, professing to be a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such a one not even to eat.
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
But fornication and all impurity, or insatiable desire, let it not be mentioned among you, as becometh saints;
Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things, the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.
Mortify therefore your members which are on the earth, fornication, impurity, the vile passion, evil concupiscence, and insatiable desire, which is idolatry:
Let the tenor of your life be divested of the love of money; content with your present possessions: for he hath said, "I will in no wise leave thee, neither will I in any case forsake thee."