The false gospel of health and wealth

God does want us to be healthy; God does want us to be wealthy. It's just, when?

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Why is the health and wealth gospel unbiblical? Dr. Richard Belcher explains the purpose of Proverbs and how the health and wealth gospel takes Scripture out of context.

The health and wealth gospel basically says God wants you to be healthy and wealthy, and if you just had enough faith, you would be blessed by God with health and wealth. Part of the health and wealth gospel is based on the use of certain proverbs, such as Proverbs 12:21, which says, “No ill befalls the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble.” So if you’re experiencing trouble, you must be wicked. Or consider a proverb like 10:22: “The blessing of the Lord makes rich; he adds no sorrow with it.” How do you know if you’re being blessed by God? Well, doesn’t this proverb say that the blessing of the Lord makes you rich, and that you know you’re being blessed by God if you’re wealthy? And if you’re not wealthy? Then you must not be blessed by God.

Wisdom is understanding life situations and applying God’s truth to them.

Rightly Applying God’s Wisdom (The false gospel of health and wealth)

Now, this actually is a misunderstanding of how proverbs work. Proverbs, these short individual sayings, are not meant to be universalized. They’re not meant to apply to every situation in life. These individual sayings are situation-specific. They provide a glimpse into everyday life. They’re meant to be applied to different situations of life. That’s what wisdom is about: to understand life, to understand situations of life, and to be able to apply God’s wisdom.

Therefore, we have a proverb or a couple of proverbs, like in 26:4–5, that says, “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself,” or “Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.” So, do you answer a fool? Depends on the situation. Wisdom is understanding life situations and applying God’s truth to them.

This concept is expressed in 22:17–18: “Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.”

Wealth cannot be used as a standard to judge our relationship with God. 

Understanding Health and Wealth in Proverbs

Use proverbs in life situations; they are not meant to be universalized. There are some proverbs in the Book of Proverbs that sort of tell us this. A proverb like 16:8 states, “Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice.” Now notice what this proverb says: it’s better to be poor walking the way of righteousness, walking the way of wisdom, than to have a lot of money if it comes through injustice. There are several of these “better-than” sayings in the Book of Proverbs. What these teach us is that wealth cannot be used as a standard to judge a person’s life. Wealth cannot be used as a standard to judge our relationship with God.

So what do we do with these proverbs that we looked at earlier? Well, here’s the way you can approach them. Proverbs are dependently true now—they depend on extenuating circumstances; they’re meant to be applied to life situations—but they are ultimately true for the believer. In other words, if you look at these proverbs again, Proverbs 10:22, “The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it,” there’s coming a day when I will experience all of the blessings that God has for me, including wealth. I will have no needs whatsoever, all taken care of.

Now we know that that day will not come until Jesus Christ comes again. So until now, we may experience difficulty, suffering, and poverty because we’re followers of Christ, but we have the promise that there’s coming a day when we will experience all of these blessings. We should understand these proverbs this way: God wants us to be healthy and wealthy; it’s just a question of when. It’s when Christ comes that we will experience the fullness of his blessings. (The false gospel of health and wealth)

Article by Dr. Richard P. Belcher, Jr.

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Richard Belcher (Ph.D., Westminster Theological Seminary) is the John D. and Frances M. Gwin Professor of Old Testament at RTS Charlotte and the Academic Dean at the RTS Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston campuses. He is an ordained minister in the PCA and pastored an urban nondenominational church in Rochester, NY, for ten years before pursuing the Ph.D.

Excerpt from article by Timothy Andrew

From the health and wealth gospel that equates faith with material prosperity to other false teachings that add works or worldly success to salvation, these distortions turn eyes from Christ’s sufficiency to human striving. This teaching contrasts the true Gospel of grace with an imitation, revealing how only the Finished Work of Christ saves—and how every other message, no matter how appealing, ultimately leads away from the Cross.

The New Testament frequently highlights the important role of suffering in the Christian life, which the Health and Wealth Gospel neglects. See Philippians 1:29: “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.”" This Scripture shows that suffering is an integral part of the Christian life, often used by God to refine and strengthen believers’ faith. See Psalms 119:50, 67, 71, and 75:

• Psalms 119:50: “This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.”

• Psalms 119:67: “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.”

• Psalms 119:71: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”

• Psalms 119:75: “I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.”

The Apostle Paul’s experiences also provide a counterpoint to the false promises of the prosperity gospel in 2 Corinthians 11:27: “In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” Paul’s life exemplifies that apostolic faith can coincide with material lack and physical suffering, disproving the claim that faith always results in health and wealth.

Tim is the founder of Lord's Library. He believes the Bible commands us to minister "as of the ability which God giveth" (1 Peter 4:11). Tim aspires to be the Lord's mouth by "taking forth the precious from the vile" (Jeremiah 15:19) and witnessing the Gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) to the whole world.