It's a reference to Ecclesiastes (5:10) and Diogenes (Lives of Eminent Philosophers, VI.2 stanza 50), both probably well known by Timothy and the jews he was evangelising among. I'm not sure whether Diogenes used the word philargyria and can't be bothered to try and dig it up, but I think it's a rather literal translation of Ecclesiastes which has something like 'o-heb kesep', 'he who loves silver'.
Hebrew and aramaic doesn't have a word that directly translates to greed, but the meaning of philargyria is related to money rather than the metal and Ecclesiastes obviously describes 'love of silver' as a form of addiction and that's what Paul (or whoever actually wrote the epistle) had in mind when he wrote to Timothy and the jews he hung around with.
Thanks. I knew about the Old Testament reference, but not the Diogenes one. New Testament references to extra-scriptural texts are fascinating, and (in my experience, at least) mostly ignored in exegeses by biblical scholars within religious traditions.
Hebrew and aramaic doesn't have a word that directly translates to greed, but the meaning of philargyria is related to money rather than the metal and Ecclesiastes obviously describes 'love of silver' as a form of addiction and that's what Paul (or whoever actually wrote the epistle) had in mind when he wrote to Timothy and the jews he hung around with.