Dealing with the “Prosperity Gospel” Verses of the Bible
There has been a huge reaction against the Prosperity Gospel pedaled by religious charlatans over TV and other media forms.
“We do not give to get!” is the response.
However, some uncomfortable passages of scripture seem to support Prosperity Gospel thinking, and it is appropriate for us to address them.
Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. (Proverbs 3:9-10)
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,” says the Lord of hosts; “And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 3:10-12)
Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6:38).
But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. (2 Corinthians 9:6).
Now, we can take several approaches. We can argue that the Old Testament passages do not apply to us, only to Israel. We can argue that the rewards of giving are eternal, not temporal, and apply that to the New Testament passages. Certainly, there is a special application of the Old Testament passages to Israel, but does that mean that God wanted Israelites to give with greedy hearts but not us? Or is there no temporal aspect to the blessings of giving? Proverbs, a book conveying general principles of life applicable to all generations has much to say about the temporal blessings of being generous.
Simply explain these passages away altogether because they might be used as some sort of support for Prosperity Theology does harm to the text and a disservice to believers.
Let me suggest an alternative by bringing up the two words that have driven businessmen and investors for millennia—greed and fear. These are not just emotions, they are emotionally charged ways of thinking that are both essentially godless.
Giving is an obedience thing. We give in obedience to the commands of scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The leading of the Holy Spirit is the will of God, and being disobedient to the Spirit is disobedience to God. God not only wants obedience, but He wants willing, cheerful obedience out of a heart of gratitude (2 Corinthians 9:7). God does not want grudging, sour obedience. He sees our hearts.
Giving out of greed is selfish and will not be honored.
It is giving out of a sinful heart. James addresses this in James 4:3. The world mocks Christians for this kind of thinking and yet it is prevalent among believers.
Janis Joplin, the drug-addicted, irreverent, rock star of the late 1960’s mocked selfish Christians with the words of this song.
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches I must make amends
I worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color tv?
Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me
I wait for delivery each day until three
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color tv?
The sad thing about this mocking song is that it strikes true with many who call themselves believers.
There is no way that God is appealing to the sinful greed of humanity when He emphasizes His own generosity. Instead, He wants to remind us how good He is, how much He loves us, and how fully we should depend upon Him to meet our needs. This idea leads us to that next keyword.
Fear is often an obstacle to giving.
“If I give now, I might not have enough for later!” This kind of fear easily thwarts our obedience to God in giving. These wonderful verses of promise regarding giving are intended, not to fuel our greed, but to allay our fears. We give because He has given to us. We give with hearts of thanksgiving out of our abundance. But we also give in faith trusting our good God to meet our needs as we walk in faithful, loving, obedience to Him.
Jesus illustrated this with a parable. The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) condemns the fearful steward who buried his talent and commends those who invested their trust in the service of their master. Jesus is not teaching the value of investing in the stock market. He is teaching the importance of using our resources for our Master in a way that honors Him rather than hoarding them out of fear.
These rich promises of God regarding giving are intended to encourage our obedience and generosity. They are not intended to appeal to our greed so that we can hoard up treasures for ourselves. It is just the opposite of that. They are intended to allay our fears so that we can live our lives in obedience to God trusting Him to meet our needs as we faithfully give in obedience to Him.
It is a joy to trust in Him and not in our stuff, no matter how much stuff we have.
Listen to the audio version of this article on the Proclaim & Defend podcast.