I have criticized the so-called prosperity gospel in the past as being unbiblical. It is in fact a very Pharisaic idea.

The Pharisees believed that prosperity was evidence of God’s favor. After all, many of the most famous people in the Old Testament were successful and wealthy: Abraham,[1] Isaac,[2] Jacob,[3] Joseph,[4] King David,[5] King Solomon,[6] and others.  

Leviticus 26:3-5 promises prosperity for those who obey God’s laws and commandments:

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. Indeed, your threshing season will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. So you will eat your food to the full and live securely in your land.

Psalm 112:1-3 promises “wealth and riches” for the person who fears the Lord and obeys his commandments. Several proverbs are similar,[7] none more so than Proverbs 22:4:

The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord
Are riches, honor, and life.

Luke tells us that the Pharisees were “lovers of money.”[8] And they were convinced that their wealth showed that they had God’s favor and approval. God was on their side!

Jesus turned this idea upside down. He famously said, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”[9] His disciples reacted with astonishment and said, “Then who can be saved?”[10] They were astonished because they, like the Pharisees, believed wealth was a sign of God’s favor and approval. If even the rich could not be saved, what hope was there for everyone else?

Yet Jesus was not opposed to wealth per se. He had friends who were well off, like the women who supported his ministry,[11] and Zaccheus,[12] and probably Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, who could afford expensive perfume to anoint Jesus with.[13]

What Jesus opposed was hypocrisy and injustice. When he pronounced “woes” upon the Pharisees, he condemned them for many things, but not for merely being wealthy.[14]

1 Timothy 6:10 is a verse that is often misquoted. Have you ever heard someone say “money is the root of all evil”? What that verse actually says is: “the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.” (Emphasis added)

Jesus wants us to love him and love God more than anything and everything else—including money.

So it’s okay to have money, just as it’s okay if you don’t have much money. What matters is what’s in your heart.

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[1]. Genesis 13:2, 24:35

[2]. Genesis 26:12-14

[3]. Genesis 30:43

[4]. Genesis 41:38-45

[5]. For example, see 2 Samuel chapters 8 and 10 regarding David’s military triumphs. See also 2 Samuel 12:7-9.

[6]. 1 Kings 10:23

[7]. See Proverbs 10:22, 14:24, and 15:6.

[8]. Luke 16:14

[9]. Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25

[10]. Matthew 19:25, Mark 10:26, Luke 18:26

[11]. Luke 8:3

[12]. Luke 19:1-10

[13]. Compare Matthew 26:6-9, Mark 14:3-5, and John 12:1-5.

[14]. Matthew 23:13-36