06 · Words of Jesus

God and Mammon

Matthew 6:24

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Jesus teaches about God and mammon while people around him listen and material wealth is suggested in the scene without dominating the image.

Jesus says no one can serve God and mammon.

What does it mean to serve mammon?

Choose a perspective

There is no score – choose the perspective you find closest and discuss why.

Discuss: When does money go from a tool to something you serve?

After your discussion: compare with our assessment

Our assessment

We consider options A and C together to be closest to the main sense of the passage. A captures that Jesus does not formulate a general prohibition against owning money. His image concerns service and loyalty: mammon can claim a place that competes with God. C develops the same image by recognizing how wealth can function as a master. Money is then no longer merely something a person uses but something that begins to govern priorities, security, and decisions. Together, A and C take seriously both possessions and loyalty without making the amount of money itself the only issue.

06 · Matthew 6:24

Go deeper

Text & context

Full translation

24 No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Translated from the Greek text – SBLGNT

What is happening here?
Matthew 6:24 stands within a section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus speaks about treasure, human vision, and loyalty. Just before this verse, he tells his hearers not to store up treasures on earth but treasures in heaven and says that where a person's treasure is, there the heart will be also. Jesus then describes the situation through the image of two masters. A servant cannot simultaneously belong to two masters whose claims compete with one another. Within this image, God and mammon are placed in opposition. The question is therefore not merely how much a person owns, but what actually commands that person's loyalty and shapes their priorities. Immediately after verse 24, Jesus begins speaking about anxiety over food, drink, and clothing. This connects wealth with questions of security, need, and trust.
Notice this

Jesus does not say: “You cannot have God and money.” He says: “You cannot serve God and mammon.” The distinction matters. The focus is on mastery and loyalty, not merely possession. Also notice the context. Before verse 24 Jesus speaks about where people store their treasure and where their heart is. Immediately afterward he speaks about anxiety over food, drink, and clothing. Mammon therefore concerns more than luxury. Material wealth and security can shape both human desire and human fear.

Language & translation

From the Greek

δουλεύειν – douleuein

serve / be enslaved to The verb douleuō is stronger than the ordinary idea of simply “working for” someone. It is associated with service and slavery and describes being under a master's authority. This makes Jesus' image more demanding than saying a person cannot merely “work with” God and mammon at the same time.

κυρίοις – kyriois

masters The plural of kyrios, master or lord. The image depends on two masters making competing claims on the same servant.

ἀνθέξεται – anthexetai

be devoted to / hold fast to The verb can express holding to or clinging to someone. The contrast therefore concerns not only emotion but competing directions of loyalty.

καταφρονήσει – kataphronēsei

despise / look down on The verb expresses despising or treating something as of lesser value. It strengthens the sharp contrast in Jesus' image.

μαμωνᾷ – mamōna

mammon / wealth Mamōnas is a Semitic loanword referring to wealth or material possessions. We retain “mammon” in the main translation because Jesus places mammon alongside God as a competing master. The deeper study explains that the term refers to wealth and possessions.

Translation note

Independent English translation from the Greek text, using SBLGNT as the primary Greek edition.

Compare for yourself

Read Matthew 6:19–34 in another Bible translation. Pay particular attention to how these expressions are rendered:

  • douleuein
  • kyriois
  • anthexetai
  • kataphronēsei
  • mamōnas

Compare especially whether mamōnas is rendered as “mammon,” “money,” or “wealth.” Does the choice change how you understand Jesus' image of two competing masters?

Continue the conversation

Discuss further
  1. How can you tell when money has begun to exercise too much power over your decisions?
  2. Is the main issue how much a person owns, or the significance possessions have in that person's life?
  3. Can both the pursuit of wealth and the fear of not having enough turn money into a master?
  4. What would a life look like in which money truly functions as a tool rather than a master?
Parallel passages
  • Matthew 6:19–23
  • Matthew 6:25–34
  • Luke 16:13
Sources
  • The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition (SBLGNT), Matthew 6:24
  • Matthew 6:19–34
  • Standard Greek lexical resources for douleuō, kyrios, antechomai, kataphroneō, and mamōnas