Tithe & Offerings

Matthew records Christ telling us to make no friends of mammon, while the Luke
reference indicates that Christ’s instruction is to make friends of mammon. The first
question is, what is mammon? The word comes from the Aramaic, mam and nos,
meaning prosperity.
Those speaking Syraic Aramaic believed that mammon was the god of riches and wealth.
According to some scholars, the word is akin to the Hebrew word for being steadfast and
firm. A well-known Hebrew word a-men or amen is a word we say that means, “So be
it;” but amen is also a word used to indicate that the word spoken can be trusted. The
Gesenius Lexicon points out that the word mammon is derived from the word for
treasure.
For example, in Genesis 43:23, the word treasure is matmown, which is similar to the
word mammon. In the setting of Luke 16, verses 1-8 teach of a steward who is
overseeing his master’s finances, and the emphasis is on not wasting the master’s
money. In verses 19-31 is the story of a rich man who did not care for a sick, poor man
who was begging at the gates of his home. That entire chapter covers the subject of
making right decisions with your possessions and finances. It is between these
two stories that Christ inserted the statement, “make friends of mammon.” Thus
the apparent contradiction is that on one hand, you cannot serve God and
The Significance of the Giving Life mammon, and on the other hand, you are to make
friends of mammon. To glean further insight from this statement, look at various
translations of verse 9: I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so
that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. (NIV) And I say to
you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that
when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings. (NASB) And I tell you,
make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money,