Sex and Money

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” - James 1:27

When we isolate this verse in James, reading it without any context, it has the potential to become a bit of a Rorschach test, revealing the filter we’re bringing (often that we’ve been taught to bring) to the text. Purity… pollution by the world… clearly this passage is about sex!

And here’s another well-known passage with similar themes:

“I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.” - 1 Timothy 2:9-10

Now here’s the twist… neither James nor Paul in this letter to Timothy were writing about sex or modesty. James goes on in the next verses in ch. 2 to be very clear that the worldliness that concerns him here is economic; it’s the kind that tramples on widows and orphans. Similarly, Paul’s instructions aren’t about cleavage or hemlines, but about using money selfishly and indulgently rather than generously. As Rachel Held Evans put it:

Writers in both the Old Testament and New Testament express grave concern when the people of God flaunt their wealth by buying expensive clothes and jewelry while many of their neighbors suffered in poverty. (Ironically, I’ve heard dozens of sermons about keeping my legs and my cleavage out of sight, but not one about ensuring my jewelry was not acquired through unjust or exploitive trade practices—which would be much more in keeping with biblical teachings on modesty.)

I can’t help but wonder if we’ve been ducking the financial questions - the ones about financial modesty, generosity and justice. What if we start to change that today, with just one small step? Take just a few minutes to talk with Jesus about what money means to you - how you feel when you get it, when you spend it, save it, or give it away. Does money hold polluting power in your inner life or in your web of relationships? Trust Jesus to hold your thoughts and questions with you.

Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

- Psalm 139:23-24