5 Mistakes in the Prosperity Gospel

Over a century ago, addressing one of the largest congregations in the Christian world, Charles Spurgeon observed:

«I believe it is an unchristian and unspiritual life for a Christian to live for the purpose of accumulating wealth. You say, «Shouldn’t we strive to get as much money as possible?» You may do so. I have no doubt that by doing so you may serve the cause of God. But I said that to live for the purpose of accumulating wealth is an unchristian life.»

However, over the years, the message preached in some of the world's largest churches has changed—many churches today teach a new gospel. This gospel has been given many names, such as "proclaim and you shall receive," "speak and possess," "health and wealth gospel," "prosperity gospel," and "positive confession theology.".

No matter what name is used, the essence of this new gospel remains the same. Simply put, it is a self-centered «prosperity gospel» that teaches that God wants believers to be physically healthy, materially wealthy, and personally happy. Here is what Robert Tilton, one of the most prominent representatives of the prosperity gospel, says:

«"I believe God's will is prosperity for all because I see it in the Word, not because it worked so well for someone else. I don't focus on people, but on God, who gives me the power to gain wealth.".

Prosperity gospel teachers encourage their followers to pray for material prosperity and even demand it from God.

Five Theological Errors of the Prosperity Gospel

Russell Woodbridge and I recently wrote a book called Health, Wealth, and Happiness to examine the claims of the prosperity gospel. While our book covers many topics, in this article I would like to examine five doctrines that we discuss in our book—doctrines where prosperity gospel proponents are mistaken. By identifying these errors in key doctrines, I hope that readers of this article will see clearly the dangers of the prosperity gospel. The doctrines I will examine are the Abrahamic covenant, the atonement, sacrifice, faith, and prayer.

1. The Abrahamic covenant as a means of material privilege.

The first error we will examine is that the prosperity gospel sees the Abrahamic covenant as a means of material privilege.

The Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 12, 15, 17, 22) is one of the theological foundations of the prosperity gospel. It is good that prosperity theologians recognize that much of Scripture is a record of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, but it is bad that they do not adhere to the orthodox understanding of this covenant. They have a wrong understanding of the beginning of the covenant and, more importantly, a wrong understanding of its application.

Edward Pousson best expressed the prosperity preacher’s view of the application of the Abrahamic covenant when he wrote:

«Christians are the spiritual children of Abraham and heirs to the blessings of faith. . . . This Abrahamic inheritance is viewed primarily in terms of material privilege.».

In other words, the prosperity gospel teaches that the primary purpose of the Abrahamic covenant was for God to bless Abraham materially. Because believers are now spiritual children of Abraham, they inherit these financial blessings.

Prosperity teacher Kenneth Copeland wrote:

«"Since God's covenant has been established, and prosperity is a blessing of that covenant, you need to understand that prosperity is yours now!"»

To support this claim, prosperity teachers cite Galatians 3:14, which says «that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.» Interestingly, however, in their references to Galatians 3:14, prosperity teachers ignore the second half of the verse, which says, «…that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.» In this verse, Paul is clearly reminding the Galatians of the spiritual blessing of salvation, not the material blessing of wealth.

2. Jesus' redemption covers the "sin" of material poverty.

The second theological error of the prosperity gospel is a misunderstanding of redemption.

Theologian Ken Sarles notes that «the prosperity gospel claims that both physical healing and financial prosperity were provided through the atonement.» This seems like an accurate observation given Kenneth Copeland’s comment that «the fundamental principle of the Christian life is to know that God placed our sin, sickness, disease, sorrow, grief, and poverty on Jesus at Calvary.» This misunderstanding of the scope of the atonement stems from two errors that prosperity gospel proponents make.

First, many who adhere to prosperity theology have a fundamentally flawed understanding of the life of Christ. For example, teacher John Avanzini has proclaimed, «Jesus had a nice house, a big house,» «Jesus managed large finances,» and even «wore designer clothes.» It is easy to see how such a distorted view of the life of Christ could lead to a distorted understanding of His death.

The second error that leads to a misunderstanding of redemption is the misinterpretation of 2 Corinthians 8:9, which says, «For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.».

While a superficial reading of this verse might lead one to believe that Paul is teaching about increasing material wealth, a contextual reading shows that Paul is actually teaching the exact opposite principle. Indeed, Paul was teaching the Corinthians that since Christ had accomplished so much for them through the redemption, they should give of their wealth to the Savior’s service. That is why just five short verses later, Paul urged the Corinthians to give of their wealth to their needy brothers, writing, «At this present time your abundance may supply their need» (2 Cor. 8:14).

3. Christians sacrifice to receive material compensation from God.

The third error of the prosperity gospel is the claim that Christians must sacrifice to receive material compensation from God.

One of the most striking characteristics of prosperity theologians is their seeming obsession with the act of giving. Students of the prosperity gospel are urged to give generously and are confronted with such pious statements as «True prosperity is the ability to use God’s power to meet the needs of humanity in every area of life» and «We are called to finance the gospel to the world.».

While these statements sound laudable, the emphasis on giving is based on motives that are far from philanthropic. The main driving force behind this teaching on sacrifice is what prosperity teacher Robert Tilton called «The Law of Compensation.» According to this law, which is supposedly based on Mark 10:30, Christians should give generously to others because when they do, God gives more in return. This, in turn, leads to a cycle of ever-increasing prosperity.

As Gloria Copeland has noted, «Give $10 and get $1,000; give $1,000 and get $100,000…in short, Mark 10:30 is a very good deal.» This understanding of the prosperity gospel approach to giving demonstrates motives far removed from those preached by Jesus. While Jesus taught his disciples to «give without expecting anything in return» (Luke 6:35), prosperity theologians teach their followers to give with the promise of significant material rewards.

4. Faith is a self-generated spiritual force that leads to prosperity.

The fourth error of prosperity theology is the teaching that faith is a self-generated spiritual force that leads to prosperity. While orthodox Christianity understands faith as trust in the person of Jesus Christ, prosperity theologians promote a very different doctrine. In his book The Laws of Prosperity, Kenneth Copeland writes:

«Faith is a spiritual force, a spiritual energy, a spiritual power. It is the power of faith that causes the laws of the spiritual world to operate… There are certain laws that govern prosperity, revealed in the Word of God. Faith causes them to function.».

This is certainly a false, and perhaps even heretical, understanding of faith.

According to prosperity theology, faith is not an act of the will, given and directed toward God. Instead, it is a human spiritual force directed toward God. Indeed, any theology that views faith merely as a means to material gain rather than justification before God must be considered false and inadequate.

5. Prayer is a tool to compel God to grant prosperity.

Finally, the prosperity gospel sees prayer as a tool for compelling God to grant prosperity. Prosperity gospel preachers often point out that we «have not, because we ask not» (James 4:2). Proponents of this gospel encourage believers to pray for personal success in all areas of life. Creflo Dollar writes:

«"When we pray believing that we have already received what we are praying for, God has no choice but to answer our prayers… This is the key to getting results as a Christian.".

Of course, praying for personal blessings is not inherently wrong, but the excessive focus on the person in the prosperity gospel turns prayer into a tool that believers can use to force God to grant their desires.

Within prosperity theology, man, not God, becomes the center of prayer. Surprisingly, prosperity preachers often ignore the second part of James« teaching on prayer, which says, »You ask and do not receive, because you do not ask as a right thing, but to spend it on your lusts” (James 4:3). God does not answer selfish requests that do not glorify His name.

Of course, all our requests should be known to God (cf. Phil. 4:6), but the prosperity gospel places so much emphasis on human desires that it can lead to selfish, superficial prayers that do not bring glory to God. Moreover, when this teaching is combined with the doctrine of prosperity faith, it can lead people to try to manipulate God to get what they want—a foolish thing to do. This is a far cry from praying for God’s will to be done.

The false GOSPEL

In light of Scripture, the prosperity gospel is fundamentally distorted. At its core, the prosperity gospel is actually false because of its false understanding of the relationship between God and man. Simply put, if the prosperity gospel is true, then grace becomes superfluous, God becomes irrelevant, and man becomes the measure of all things.

Whether it is the Abrahamic covenant, redemption, sacrifice, faith, or prayer, prosperity preachers turn the relationship between God and man into a contract: «service for service» or «You to me, I to you.» As James R. Goff has pointed out, God becomes like a «universal footman» who caters to the needs and desires of his creation. This is a completely inadequate and unbiblical view of the relationship between God and man.