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Philippians 4:11–12
“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”
Today we take up the first of the false teachings that we will examine over the next two weeks. The prosperity gospel is among the most widespread of the false teachings in the modern world, broadcast across Africa, Asia, and the Americas through television, radio, and online ministries.
The prosperity gospel teaches that genuine faith in Christ secures physical healing, material prosperity, and financial abundance in this life. Its leading voices today include Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, and Joyce Meyer. Their teaching typically rests on four claims: that Jesus’ death purchased not only forgiveness of sins but complete physical healing and financial blessing in this life; that the inheritance that God promised to Abraham was a present-day inheritance of material wealth available to all who believe; that giving generously to such ministries activates a divine principle by which the giver receives back in greater measure; and that faith spoken in confident words has the power to bring physical and material blessings into being, while doubt or “negative confession” can hinder God’s work.
Each of these claims is a fundamental distortion of the biblical gospel. Jesus secured everlasting blessings for His people by His death, including the eventual resurrection of the body free from all sickness, but the full possession of these blessings awaits the world to come. The Abrahamic inheritance is the inheritance of the world that all believers will receive in the resurrection (Rom. 4:13; Heb. 11:39–40). Christian giving is to be generous, but it is not primarily an investment in expected returns. And the words of believing prayer do not compel God; they appeal to His good and sovereign will.
The Apostle Paul, who endured beatings, imprisonments, hunger, and shipwreck, testifies in today’s passage to a very different gospel. He learned to be content in plenty and in want, abounding and brought low (Phil. 4:11–12). His secret was not the activation of faith for prosperity but the strength of Christ that sustained him in every circumstance (v. 13). He prayed three times for the removal of his thorn in the flesh, only to be told that the grace of Christ was sufficient and that divine power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:7–9).
The prosperity gospel does not merely add a wrong emphasis to the Christian life. It exchanges the gospel for another gospel, replacing the eternal hope of glory with the fleeting promise of present comfort.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The promise of health and wealth as the immediate reward of faith is no part of the Christian message. May we examine our own hearts for any version of this teaching that has crept in without our realizing it, and may we set our hope on the eternal inheritance reserved in heaven for us (Eph. 1:11).
For further study
- Matthew 6:31–34
- Luke 12:13–21
- 1 Timothy 6:6–10
- Hebrews 13:5–6
The bible in a year
- Proverbs 31–Ecclesiastes 2
- 2 Corinthians 10