Last week we looked at the contrast between Old Testament and New Testament teaching on prosperity for believers. We saw that there is no promise for prosperity for believers under the new covenant.
You might be wondering why there is such a contrast between the old and new covenant in relation to material things. The answer lies in the two-phase nature of the kingdom of God. We are in phase one of the arrival of the kingdom of God, the time of the “already/not yet” or the time of “sowing and growing”. In phase two of the arrival we will have all the material blessings of the new Garden of Eden. We are material beings and God wants us to live richly in his new earth. But in phase one we embrace the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings (Phil. 3:10), we take up our Cross (Matt. 16:24), we live outside the camp because we have no city here (Heb. 13:13-14) and we share in his sufferings so we can share in his glory in the next age (Rom. 8:17).
Therefore, God does not promise prosperity to his followers in this age. However, he does give us general promises to provide for our needs. In Matthew 6 Jesus promises that our Father will provide for our food and clothing if we “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (Matt. 6:33, NIV). And this should be enough for us, for “if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (1 Tim. 6:8, ESV). And it is fine to ask God for blessing on our finances, as long as we do not presume that he is obligated by any promises. James has a helpful explanation of how we should approach our financial undertakings:
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16, ESV)
He allows that it is okay to pursue success in business. For example, when I owned a small business it was very important to myself and my employees that we make some profit so that we would have enough for growth in wages, improvements and unexpected expenses. However, with respect to the idea that faithful believers should expect to become wealthy, James labels this arrogant and evil. Such strong words should help us understand the gravity of matter.
Sadly, many ministers today all around the world teach that God promises prosperity to faithful followers and that believers should freely seek wealth beyond their needs. This appeals to the “lust of the eyes” (1 John 2:16), in other words, the materialism of the old self. They add that our tithing will lead God to bless us financially.
They point to 2 Corinthians 9:10-11: “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God” (ESV). Thus, Paul believed that God would bless the Corinthians financially so they could be generous to others. But this doesn’t mean that God was promising wealth to all the faithful. Rather, God may be promising to bless the Corinthians collectively so that they can be generous, but there is no indication that God was promising prosperity beyond needs for all the believers. Not only is this clear from other passages in the New Testament that we have quoted, but Paul had said earlier in the same letter to the Corinthians that some congregations have little and some have much (8:12). And he never teaches that their poverty is a result of lack of devotion; otherwise, he himself would be guilty of lacking devotion since he had poverty. This passage cannot be used to cancel out all the other passages regarding wealth.
