Covetousness Is Unbelief: The Fight Is for Contentment in God
John Piper argues that covetousness is loss of contentment in God, equating it with idolatry, and frames resisting it as a fight of faith rooted in confidence in Christ’s future grace.
Useful takeaways from this story.
Amazingly, of all sins, covetousness ranks high enough—or low enough—to be explicitly forbidden in the Ten Commandments: "You shall not covet" (Ex.
It speaks of "people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
Godliness with contentment is great gain." The word covetousness isn't used here but the reality is what this text is all about.
The useful part
Amazingly, of all sins, covetousness ranks high enough—or low enough—to be explicitly forbidden in the Ten Commandments: "You shall not covet" (Ex. It speaks of "people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. Godliness with contentment is great gain." The word covetousness isn't used here but the reality is what this text is all about.
How it works
- Let's be sure that we see how Paul understands this battle against covetousness.
- I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound" (Phil.
- When 1 Timothy 6:5 says that some are treating godliness as a means of gain, Paul responds in 1 Timothy 6:6 that "there is great gain in godliness with contentment" (RSV).
- Covetousness is desiring something so much that you lose your contentment in God.
What to take from it
Then out of that list, he picks "faith" for special attention and says, "Fight the good fight of the faith" (1 Tim. Not that I am speaking of being in need." In other words, "my joy in your giving is not because I have lost my contentment." On the contrary, "I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. So covetousness is desiring something so much that you lose your contentment in God or losing your contentment in God so that you start to seek it elsewhere.
Example or evidence
- Have you ever considered that the Ten Commandments begin and end with virtually the same commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex.
- Coveting is desiring anything other than God in a way that betrays a loss of contentment and satisfaction in him.
- Flee Covetousness, Fight for Faith In 1 Timothy 6:6–12, Paul is trying to persuade and empower people not to be covetous.
Details worth keeping
There's a good clue to its meaning in 1 Timothy 6:5–6. The opposite of covetousness is contentment in God. When contentment in God decreases, covetousness for gain increases.
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