The Prosperity Gospel: An Aberration to Watch out for

The Prosperity Gospel:  An Aberration to Watch out for

Central to the task of any pastor or leader in the church is to be vigilant and attentive to various aberrations of the gospel which are common in our own day.  Some of the best theology from the New Testament and later patristic period are writings which are responses to various ways the gospel was being distorted in their own day.  This is a perennial task for all faithful ministers of the gospel.  The decline of orthodox teaching is always the “canary in the mine” which inevitably leads to the demise of a denomination.  I thought it would be helpful to write several blogs on a few common aberrations in our own day.  This blog will focus on the so-called “prosperity gospel.”

What is the “prosperity” gospel?  This is a teaching which has considerable variations across the world.  However, one of the common denominators is that it teaches that financial blessings and physical health are always God’s will for His people, here and now.  This is generally linked to the idea that if we have sufficient faith, then these blessings will be ours, and if we are not experiencing them, then it is a sign of our corresponding lack of faith.  The basic problem with this theology is that it takes certain verses from the Bible, separates them from the larger biblical context, and then uses these verses as individual promises universally applicable at all times, for all believers, in the present.

Here are a few guidelines or “words of advice” if you encounter someone espousing this doctrine.

First, remember the great phrase from the 16^th Century Reformation:  “Scripture interprets Scripture.”  This phrase means that Scripture is its own best interpreter.  Therefore, unclear passages are made clear by clear passages, and all of Scripture must be duly considered before taking a single verse out of the Bible and trying to use it independently from other verses in the Bible.  Scripture often speaks in different directions, depending on the context.  Paul and James, for example, seem to be saying two different things about the relationship between faith and works.  James writes, “a person is justified by works, and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).  Whereas, Paul writes, “a person is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Rom. 3:28).  It seems, on the surface, contradictory.  But a deeper analysis of the two contexts James and Paul are writing to reveals that various groups of Christians tend to drift in different directions and need different kinds of admonitions.  We have all observed this in our day-to-day lives.  In the same way, the Bible speaks regularly about both blessing as well as suffering as the inheritance of the believer.  Compare, for example, John 16:33 and 2 Tim. 3:12 with Luke 6:38 and Phil. 4:19.  These verses must all be understood within the larger context of Scripture and neither should be isolated in a way which obscures the role of both blessing and suffering in our lives.

Second, we are frequently unable to perceive what is the “good” which we long for.  In short, we have a very limited and narrow view of ‘blessings.”  St. Thomas Aquinas, the great 13^th century doctor of the church, once defined love as “willing the good of the other.”  When we say “God loves us”, it means that God always wills our good. That is a bedrock truth you can build your life upon.  But (and this is the problem) we are not always able to discern how that “good” manifests itself in our lives.

My wife and I have been married 41 years.  During our time together we have experienced three major crises, where things we had hoped for, prayed for, longed for, just didn’t happen or turn out the way we wanted.   At the time, we could only see it as a chapter of sadness, pain and, at times, even feeling abandoned by God.   But, as time rolled on, we look back on each of those periods of trial and see the amazing hand of God “willing the good” for us and using even painful experiences to move us into a deeper, more trusting walk with Him, and to bring us to new opportunities which would not have happened had we not gone through that painful chapter.  It is hard to admit it, but we must have the spiritual maturity to recognize that sometimes what we regard as a “curse” might very well turn out to be God blessing us.  God always “willing our good” means that even when God says “no” to our prayers, it is actually, and always, God’s deeper “yes” to us.

Third, Christians live with an expanded understanding of time.  One of the many ways the Christian faith is distinctive from unbelievers is our view of time.  We live in both the reality of the “now” as well as the reality of the “future.”  We live in “this world” even as we anticipate “the world to come” (Matt. 12:32).  The prosperity gospel points out, quite correctly, that our healing has been fully purchased and provided for through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  But the timing of when that healing unfolds is not always known to us.  God heals some people instantly (Mark 1:41, 42).  Some are healed gradually (Mark 8:22-25) over some period of time.  All are healed in the resurrection at the end of time (Rev. 21:4).  There will be no “resurrected bodies” with cancer, or any other malady.  We are all raised with our full resurrection body, and we all together fully share in the inheritance of Jesus Christ.  It is an aberration, therefore, for the prosperity gospel to insist that genuine faith will produce healing right now, in this instant. It is wrong to impose our timing on the unfolding of God’s final purposes and plans.

In conclusion, some of the core beliefs of the “health-wealth” or “prosperity gospel” are aberrations of the teachings of the New Testament.  However, in many of our churches, even if this doctrine is not taught, we can also be guilty of propagating a “bait and switch” form of Christianity.  We “hook” someone into Christianity by promising them how much they will be blessed, but then, upon entering the Christian faith, they come face to face with the real cost of discipleship.  This is why Jesus, from the start, tells those seeking to following him, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 16:24, 25).

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