"For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Timothy 6:10).
The original word is philarguria. It means according to Strong's Concordance: love of money, avarice, covetousness.
How can this lusting for money be the root of all kinds of evil? Let's see. Paul is teaching Timothy about false teachers that are really in it for gain and renown. He exhorts his pupil to teach sound doctrine while warning him of people teaching false doctrine.
This is the end of verse 5: "Imagining that godliness is a means of gain." He says that they distort sound doctrine to get wealth. Distorting doctrine misleads people and causes division. When people recognize a false teacher it causes some to lose faith and emboldens the ungodly to speak falsely against Christianity.
But in verse 6 he explains that being godly and content is the correct and bona fide source of tremendous gain.
The love of money or greediness causes people to murder, lie, cheat, and steal. It causes them to be jealous of other people and to envy them. These are sins and the Bible definitely states in many places that sin is against God's holiness. For instance:
"To you alone I have sinned and have committed wickedness before you because you shall be just in your word and you shall conquer in your judgment" (Psalm 54:1) (Aramaic Bible in Plain English).
Actually, people break the first commandment when they let something become more important to them than God because they make it an idol. Loving money and not just using it as a tool makes it an idol. Thus, an inordinate liking of money causes people to hurt others and to insult the holiness and righteousness of God our Father.
Also, people cause their own sorrow when they sin. They hurt themselves and if they don't repeat, they cause the ultimate harm to themselves, assigning themselves to hell.
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