“oh, you’re one of those ‘prosperity gospel’ churches.”
A year ago, I was having a lighthearted conversation with a friend of mine. We were joking about how the Catholic church cannot be calculated. They are by far the wealthiest organization in the history of the world. The value of just the real estate and art that they own is impossible to measure. Yet, many Catholic priests take vows of poverty. It seems like more of them take a vow of prosperity. That sparked two thoughts:
Where did the vow of poverty come from?
What does the Bible – and therefore God – really say about prosperity.
My friend and I both grew up in churches that would be seen as “prosperity gospel” churches. And went to school at THE prosperity gospel university. Oral Roberts University.
”I know where this is going” some of you just said.
My sophomore year at ORU was 2007. Anyone remember what happened at ORU that year? I felt drawn to reformed theology as a response to the insanity that was happening at the core of prosperity gospel country.
A lot of reformed theology is just good theology. But reformed, arminians and everything in between have it wrong when they start preaching their interpretation as the Word itself. I love what John MacArthur said, “I’m wrong in my theology, I just don’t know where.” We’re all probably wrong in some way.
So with that said, what follows is my best attempt to explore Biblical prosperity in a “middle” way. I don’t know if I can truly say unbiased, but let’s say both sides of the argument are often wrong in their own ways.
I really want to understand what the Bible and therefore God says about prosperity. I also want to understand church history and what got us to this point.
It is said that Socrates would start his talks with a definition of terms. So that when arguments were made for/against it, people would know what they were actually arguing about.
“Prosperity gospel” is one of those things. Its come to mean a lot of different things. Mostly, it means “big church” “charismatic pastor” “light on sin” “non-reformed” “preaching centered around money” “churches that take offerings” “pastors who quote any other source than the bible” and any combination of these as well as other unlisted characteristics.
I want to talk about the prosperity gospel. But its two words. Let’s define the first word first.
What is prosperity?
If God had a plan for your money, what would it be?
Less than enough
Enough
More than enough
I’ve heard this question asked by a lot of different people, and I think its a good start. But money can make people uncomfortable to talk about, so let’s ask the question in another way.
If God had a plan for your mental, emotional, or physical health, what would it be? Does God want you to not be healthy? Be just healthy enough? Or be at a peak state of health?
Your answer to this question will tell you a lot. It will tell you what you think you are capable of. It will also tell you what you think God is capable of and/or willing to do in your life. It will also tell you what your level of biblical literacy is.
The great thing about this question is that we can find God’s answer written in scripture. Let’s look at the Old and New Testament.
If you want to skip this part I understand. So here’s the ELI5: Much of what churches of all traditions have taught about both prosperity and poverty is not accurate.
What is prosperity in the Old Testament?
There are four primary words used in the OT to describe prosperity. To get these definitions, I am primarily using the Theological Dictionary of the Old and New Testament. Pretty much the gold standard of defining biblical words.
טוֹבָה (tovah) – 852 times
Good in five general areas:
1) practical, economic, or material good, 2) abstract goodness such as desirability, pleasantness, and beauty, 3) quality or expense, 4) moral goodness, and 5) philosophical good.
Genesis 50:20, Exodus 18:9, Deuteronomy 28:11, 1 Samuel 25:30, 2 Samuel 7:28, 1 Kings 8:66, 2 Kings 20:19, Nehemiah 9:25, Psalm 23:6, Psalm 31:19
חַ֫יִל (hayil) – 242 times
Physical wealth, strength and influence to have and grow your dominion.
Exodus 18:21, Deuteronomy 8:18, Joshua 6:2, Judges 6:12, Ruth 2:1, 1 Samuel 14:48, 1 Kings 11:28, 1 Chronicles 12:8, 2 Chronicles 26:11, Proverbs 31:10
בְּרָכָה (berakah) – 71 times
To endue with power for success, prosperity, fertility, fruitfulness, and longevity
Genesis 12:2-3, 17:6-8, 24:35, 26:12, Exodus 23:25, Leviticus 26:3-13, Deuteronomy 7:13-15, 28:1-14, 30:9, Joel 2:24, Haggai 2:19, Malachi 3:10, Ezekiel 34:26
צָלַח (tsalach) – 68 times
To thrive, to be well, to accomplish satisfactorily all the good that was intended. To succeed because of God’s favor
Genesis 24:21, Genesis 24:40, Genesis 39:2, Genesis 39:3, Genesis 39:23, Joshua 1:8, Judges 14:6, Judges 14:19, Judges 15:14, 1 Samuel 10:6
Substack doesn’t allow me to easily upload tables to the site, but here’s an image of how often those words are mentioned as well as what they mean in Scripture.
What is prosperity in the New Testament?
εὐλογία (eulogia) – 58 times
Good fortune, and all that is necessary for your well being
Romans 15:29, 1 Corinthians 10:16, 2 Corinthians 9:5, Galatians 3:14, Ephesians 1:3, Hebrews 6:7, Hebrews 12:17, 1 Peter 3:9, Luke 24:53, Acts 3:25
μακάριος (makarios) – 50 times
To have no needs, to be transcendently happy. Those who are above normal cares and worries
Matthew 5:3-11, Luke 11:28, John 20:29, Acts 20:35, Romans 4:7, James 1:12, Revelation 1:3, Revelation 14:13, Revelation 16:15, Revelation 19:9
πλοῦτος (ploutos) – 27 times
To make someone rich both materially and spiritually. To be granted abundance (more than you need in every area of life)
Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:19, Luke 12:15, Romans 2:4, Romans 11:33, 2 Corinthians 8:2, Ephesians 1:7, Philippians 4:19, Colossians 2:2, 1 Timothy 6:17
That’s how the Bible defines prosperity. Got it.
Biblical prosperity is obviously an all-encompassing type of prosperity that includes both the temporal and eternal.
Everyone has opinions on how this gets expressed. But the Bible is clear on how God defines prosperity. Most often the problem we have with prosperity is not about God’s definition. It is about ours, or someone else’s. And that’s where the problem arises, because most “christians” don’t really read the Bible. If they do read the Bible, they don’t apply it to their life. According to a 2023 survey, only 4% of christians have a biblical worldview. How can this be possible? Because, like most people, christians are happy to allow their worldview to be shaped by the opinions they like the most, not the ones that are true.
I’ve written a lot about this type of thing. So let’s just say a lack of biblical understanding is common for 96% of those who claim to be Christian.
Our definition of prosperity, and our definition of everything else relating to God is a mix of two things: the truth and opinion. the truth of Scripture + opinions (yours, your pastors, some random person on the internet, etc) = definition. For most people, opinions hold massively more weight than even Scripture. They wouldn’t admit this. But they don’t have to. The proof is in how these people live and express “truth” in their life. The Pharisees did this better than almost anyone. And Jesus talked about it in Mark 7:
6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Think about what Jesus is saying here. Its just as true today as it was 2000 years ago. People teach their own doctrines and traditions as if they are the laws of God. While at the same time finding excuses and reasons around the actual commands of God.
That’s the first sign of a Pharisee. If they teach opinion as the word of God. And they sidestep the word of God where they prefer their opinion. As powerful as that thought is, that’s actually the secondary point of what I’m trying to illustrate. What is most relevant to our interpretation of prosperity is verse 13…”thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.”
Jesus is basically saying”:
The only thing more powerful than the word of God is what we think about it.
Our interpretation, our thinking matters.
“Its not the truth that sets you free. Its the truth you know that sets you free.” // Keith Craft
Nothing in our lives is more powerful than our thinking. So,
If God had a plan for your money, what would it be?