---
title: Matthew 6:24
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-6-24/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-6-24.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 6:24
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 6:24

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

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

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "No one can slave for two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stick to the one and despise the other. You cannot slave for God and for Riches."

## JW Usage

The Watchtower applies Matthew 6:24 to materialism and the pursuit of wealth — Witnesses are warned against letting career, possessions, or pleasure-seeking compete with Kingdom service. The verse is read as an exhortation to financial simplicity and Kingdom-first priorities. The deeper application — to the divided allegiance a Witness faces between the Watchtower's instructions and Scripture — is not entertained.

## Protestant Usage

Affirm what the Witness already affirms: the prosperity gospel is a real scandal, and Reformed Christianity has been saying so for decades. Then apply Jesus's principle consistently. The Watchtower has accumulated billions in real estate (the Warwick complex, the pre-sale Bethel Brooklyn properties), and publications regularly encourage members to leave estates to the organisation, donate "surplus" funds, and consider naming the Watchtower in wills. James 5:1-6 is a warning to anyone accumulating wealth through the labour of others while claiming to serve God. Kenneth Copeland has private jets; Beth Sarim was a 1929 mansion built with donor funds for "ancient worthies" who never came. Jesus's verb here is starkly binary: you cannot be slaves to God and to Riches. The structural test cuts through every claim of religious motive — including the Watchtower's.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Prosperity Gospel Is a Scandal — and Confessional Protestantism Has Always Said So](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/prosperity-gospel-acknowledgment.md) — 1 Timothy 6:10 — the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil [Practice]