What is the prosperity gospel?

from the old testament

• Perhaps the main “proof text” of the prosperity gospel is found in Deuteronomy 28. There God told the Israelites that, depending on their faithfulness, they would either receive blessings or curses. What they miss is that this had a specific context. This passage is not prescriptive (for all people, for all time) but descriptive. God was speaking to His covenant people (e.g., Deuteronomy 29:1), to whom He had specifically promised to be a nation with a specific land. A covenant is a contract between two parties, in which both parties are usually obligated to do something to fulfill the contract. In this book, Moses reiterated the Law they received at Mount Sinai when the covenant was established and the terms of said covenant. God promised to bless them as a nation (His side of the covenant) if they held up their end of the contract, which was to obey Him (Exodus 19:5). God has not made this covenant with any other people. Therefore, it’s wrong to transfer its promises to Christians today.
• Also, in contrast to prosperity teaching, the righteous sometimes suffer even when they are not doing anything wrong. Job is a key example of this: God explicitly singled Him out to show that his righteousness and faithfulness were not conditional—not based on receiving blessings—but would persist even when faced with great suffering (cf. Job 1–2).
• Another warning against the prosperity gospel is that Scripture also warns against wealth as a potential spiritual trap. For example, Deuteronomy 8:11–14 reads, “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” When one has great well-being, there is a risk of forgetting God.
• One of the writers of Proverbs had a telling prayer: “Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God” (Proverbs 30:8–9). He understood that while poverty could strain one spiritually, so could riches.
• Indeed, Asaph once bemoaned the fact that it seems that the ones God blesses the most in this life are also the most wicked: “For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth” (Psalm 73:3–9). While not everyone wealthy and healthy is evil, many who are so are not because they are believers or faithful. Some are entirely wicked, making material prosperity a poor indicator of one’s spiritual state.
• However, Asaph did not despair. Rather, He reminded himself of what His relationship to God meant: “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works” (Psalm 73:23–28). He understood that one’s blessings now do not mean eternal blessing, but that the faithful who may not be blessed now will be near God, blessed eternally.

from the new testament

• Jesus was perfectly righteous. He never did anything sinful (Hebrews 4:15), and always did what His Father willed (John 5:30). Yet, of Himself, He said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). Despite being the Son of God, He was impoverished while on earth and known as a man of suffering (cf. Isaiah 53:3).
• Believers will share in His inheritance in the life to come (Romans 8:17a) but currently share in His sufferings (Romans 8:17b). This doesn’t mean believers are all to be impoverished like Jesus, but that humility and suffering are commonplace for believers. Paul, who was used mightily by God yet also greatly acquainted with suffering (2 Corinthians 11:23–27), in his final letter warned Timothy that “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). He was alluding to what Jesus had said: “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20a).
• Indeed, God uses suffering to help believers grow more like Christ. Regarding this, James said, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4). Suffering is not to be seen as God’s displeasure, but when one suffers for being righteous (cf. 1 Peter 3:14), that is God strengthening their character and faithfulness.
• The author of Hebrews also said that, since believers are not sinless, there will be times when God disciplines them. However, that’s a sign of His love because He desires their holiness. He both encouraged and warned, saying, “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Hebrews 12:7–8). He continued: “For [earthly fathers] disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but [God] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:10–11). Discipline, like suffering, trains the believer.
• Some New Testament verses that prosperity gospel proponents cite as supporting their view are John 10:10 and 3 John 2. However, both of these are talking about eternal blessings. John 10:10 reads, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Contextually, He’s talking about those sheep who are His versus false sheep. The abundant life refers to the eternal life and eternal blessings that His sheep (believers) receive. In 3 John 2, John says, “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.” First, he’s simply wishing Gaius well when he refers to his health. Second, his focus is on the health of Gaius’ soul, praising him for holding the truth (3 John 2:3) while encouraging him not to be swayed by Diotrephes and to continue doing good (3 John 2:11). This is a focus on Gaius’ spiritual state, not a general promise that Gaius, or anyone else, will have material prosperity.
• The biblical gospel is far more humble than the prosperity one. While the prosperity gospel seeks to elevate one’s status in the name of godliness, the biblical gospel acknowledges that one is spiritually bankrupt and in need of salvation. Regarding those who desired to follow Him, Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23–24). The gospel isn’t what we get in this life after we’re saved, but about receiving eternal life through Jesus (John 3:16).
• While the prosperity gospel emphasizes blessings in this life, Scripture teaches that everything in this life is passing away. Notice that John says, “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17). The focus is not on getting the best life now, but on obeying God in contrast to loving the things of the world (cf. 1 John 2:15–16).
• Paul was concerned about the love of the world the Corinthians were exhibiting. At one point, he said, “This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:29–31). He was not saying that wives were bad or material goods were bad. But he was saying that this life is fleeting and eternal things were more important. It was a shift of priorities from what one has now to what effect on eternity one’s actions now will have.

implications for today

The prosperity gospel can be appealing because it promises the things our hearts naturally want: comfort, success, security, and an easy life. But Jesus never promised His followers a life free from hardship. He promised to be with them through it.

When difficulties come, we should not assume God is distant or that we have failed spiritually; instead, we can trust that He often uses trials to deepen our faith, strengthen our character, and make us more like Christ. Rather than measuring God’s goodness by our circumstances, we should measure it by the cross, where Jesus gave us the greatest blessing we could ever receive: forgiveness and eternal life. This is what secured us an abundant life. When our hope is anchored in Christ, we can experience true abundance—not because life is always easy but because we know the One who is with us through every season and promises a greater reward that will never fade.

If you are caught in the lies of the prosperity gospel, striving to have enough faith and measuring your spirituality by the number of blessings you receive, reconsider where your hope is placed. Jesus may bless you with comfort and abundance in this life, but He also warned that His followers would face difficulties and trials (Acts 14:22). Our ultimate hope is not found in avoiding suffering or gaining earthly success but in Christ Himself. A believer’s true home is not here; it is with Jesus, where every temporary struggle will give way to an eternal glory that can never be taken away.