{
  "id": "dict_000473",
  "term": "Avarice",
  "slug": "avarice",
  "letter": "A",
  "entry_type": "theological_term",
  "entry_family": "theological_term",
  "depth_profile": "standard",
  "short_definition": "Avarice is greedy love of money or possessions. Scripture treats it as a sinful form of covetousness that can draw the heart away from God.",
  "simple_one_line": "Avarice is sinful greed for wealth or possessions.",
  "tooltip_text": "Avarice is disordered desire for money or possessions, closely related to greed and covetousness.",
  "aliases": [],
  "scripture_references": [],
  "original_language_terms": [],
  "related_entries": [
    "covetousness",
    "greed",
    "contentment",
    "idolatry",
    "money",
    "stewardship",
    "generosity"
  ],
  "see_also": [
    "Mammon",
    "wealth",
    "possessions",
    "generosity",
    "covetousness",
    "greed"
  ],
  "lede_intro": "Avarice is the sinful craving for wealth, possessions, or material security. In biblical teaching it is closely related to greed and covetousness and is condemned because it competes with trust in God, love for neighbor, and contentment.",
  "at_a_glance_definition": "Avarice is excessive, sinful desire for money or possessions.",
  "at_a_glance_key_points": [
    "It overlaps with covetousness and greed.",
    "Scripture warns that it can become idolatry.",
    "It can lead to hoarding, dishonesty, exploitation, and anxiety.",
    "The biblical remedy is contentment, generosity, and trust in God."
  ],
  "description_academic_short": "Avarice is excessive desire for wealth, gain, or material security. In biblical terms it overlaps with covetousness and greed, which Scripture condemns because they compete with trust in God, love for neighbor, and contentment. The Bible warns that love of money can become a form of idolatry.",
  "description_academic_full": "Avarice is the sinful greed that craves money, possessions, or material advantage beyond what is right. Although the word itself is more common in later Christian moral teaching than in many Bible translations, the idea is clearly biblical. Scripture warns against covetousness, greed, and the love of money, not because possessions are evil in themselves, but because disordered desire can master the heart, distort judgment, harm others, and replace devotion to God with trust in wealth. Avarice therefore names a heart-level sin that may show itself in hoarding, exploitation, envy, dishonesty, or refusal to be generous. The biblical remedy includes repentance, contentment, generosity, and renewed trust in God’s provision.",
  "background_biblical_context": "In the Bible, the issue is not possessions as such but the heart’s attachment to them. The Tenth Commandment forbids coveting what belongs to another, and Jesus warns that a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. The New Testament repeatedly treats greed as spiritually dangerous because it can function like idolatry.",
  "background_historical_context": "Avarice is a classic term in Christian moral theology, especially in older theological and pastoral writing. It names one of the traditional capital vices, though Scripture itself more often speaks in terms of greed, covetousness, or love of money. The term remains useful as a summary label for a familiar biblical pattern of sin.",
  "background_jewish_ancient_context": "In the Old Testament and wider Jewish ethical tradition, greed is seen as a matter of the heart that can lead to injustice, oppression, and distrust of God. Wisdom literature often contrasts the greedy person with the one who fears the Lord and is content with what God provides.",
  "key_texts_primary": [
    "Exodus 20:17",
    "Luke 12:15",
    "Ephesians 5:3, 5",
    "Colossians 3:5",
    "1 Timothy 6:9-10",
    "Hebrews 13:5"
  ],
  "key_texts_secondary": [
    "Proverbs 28:22",
    "Ecclesiastes 5:10",
    "Matthew 6:19-24",
    "Luke 16:13",
    "James 5:1-6"
  ],
  "original_language_note": "Biblical language for this sin includes Hebrew terms for coveting and Greek words such as pleonexia (greed, covetousness) and philargyria (love of money). Avarice is a later theological term that summarizes these related ideas rather than a distinct biblical keyword.",
  "theological_significance": "Avarice exposes the spiritual danger of misplaced desire. It is not merely bad financial behavior but a heart problem that can become idolatry, because wealth can be treated as a source of security, identity, or power. Scripture calls believers to contentment, stewardship, and generosity under God’s lordship.",
  "philosophical_explanation": "In moral terms, avarice is disordered love: the good of material things is sought in a way that gives them too much weight. Instead of using possessions as tools for stewardship and service, the avaricious heart treats them as ultimate goods. That distortion produces anxiety, injustice, and spiritual bondage.",
  "interpretive_cautions": "Avarice should not be confused with ordinary provision, careful stewardship, or legitimate saving. Scripture condemns the love of money, not money itself. The term is also broader than a single act of taking; it describes an entrenched desire that can shape motives, choices, and relationships.",
  "major_views_note": "Christians generally agree that greed and covetousness are sinful. The main difference is terminological: some traditions prefer the older moral-theology label avarice, while Bible-focused teaching more often uses greed or covetousness. The underlying biblical warning is the same.",
  "doctrinal_boundaries": "This entry addresses moral sin, not the legitimacy of property, work, saving, or stewardship. It should not be used to imply that all wealth is evil or that poverty is automatically virtuous. Scripture condemns disordered desire, not responsible possession.",
  "practical_significance": "The remedy for avarice includes repentance, gratitude, generosity, simplicity, and trust in God’s care. Bible readers are warned to examine what they rely on for security and to resist the pull of possessions to rule the heart.",
  "meta_description": "Avarice is sinful greed for money or possessions, closely related to covetousness and condemned in Scripture as a rival to trust in God.",
  "public_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/avarice/",
  "json_url": "/companion-bible-dictionary/data/dictionary/avarice.json",
  "final_disposition": "PUBLISH_CANONICAL"
}