Oneness - True Faith
wizanda
What is the true meaning of mammon Posted on: 2005/6/4 22:47
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2004/3/26 7:04
From Nottingham, UK
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Another mistranslation by many is that of mammon, mammon when translated in ancient Hebrew actually means chaos and when put in the perspective of what Christ said this makes logical sense. At present many believe it to means riches which makes no logical sense, when you look what Christ said.

Mat 6:24 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. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Here it could mean riches, as he was talking about not needing, yet when you look at what he said in Luke, here is where it shows you exactly what it means.

Luke 16:9 And I say to you, Make friends by the mammon of unrighteousness for yourselves, so that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting dwellings.

This is the most clear, if you exchange the word for either riches or chaos/chaotic, you will see it would only makes logical sense, that he meant and it means chaos or chaotic.

Luke 16:13 No servant 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. You cannot serve God and mammon.

So what Christ is saying is to serve God and not the ways of chaos, and that no matter whom you are with, if your heart is set on God make friends of mammon, so you can try and teach them to be good. Then if you have been faithful in this you can be trusted to enter heaven as stated before:

Luke 16:11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true riches to you?

They added riches as this is what mammon is presumed to be, as stated in the Strongs dictionary:

Of Chaldee origin (confidence, that is, figuratively wealth, personified); mammonas, that is, avarice (deified): - mammon.

Also in the Thayer's dictionary the same except, this time it says it is an Aramaic word:

1) Mammon
2) Treasure
3) Riches (where it is personified and opposed to God)

Most of the dictionaries in fact do the same, a clear example of the blind following the blind.
What it should correctly say in Luke 16:11 is this, as taken from the literal translation:

Luke 16:11 Then if you were not faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true to you?

This is closest to the Greek original and with out adding words, as I can see with my limited understanding of ancient Greek. So when this is understood it makes more sense of being a light unto all. Not like Paul said and not to mix with the dark, the light illuminates dark corners, not consumed by it.
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