The Myths Behind the Prosperity Gospel

In April 2006, Christianity Today invited three Pentecostal leaders to grade the
status of the movement. Derrick Hutchins, Lee Grady, and Russell Spittler discussed the
state of modern Pentecostalism, including the movement’s relationship to prosperity
teaching.
Lee Grady indicated that not every Pentecostal/charismatic accepts the prosperity
message. Mr. Grady notes, “Some people think all charismatics are into prosperity
preaching; that’s absolutely not true,” [Christianity Today, April 2006, 41]. Russell
Spittler added, “The ‘prosperity gospel’ is a corruption of the gospel. I cannot accept that
God wants me to be rich,” [Ibid.].
This series of articles seeks to support Mr. Spittler”s assessment. In so doing, we
offer an exegetical critique of a major advocate of prosperity teaching, Mr. Kenneth
Copeland. Mr. Copeland is chosen for two reasons. First, to his credit, he openly
publishes his views, and is fairly consistent in what he affirms. Second, Mr. Copeland is
an extremely prominent advocate, owing to his media presence.
We need not belabor Mr. Copeland's insistence that it is God’s will that his people
prosper financially. Indeed, Mr. Copeland affirms, “the greatest prosperity preacher of all
was the Lord Himself,” [The Gospel to the Poor, 1]. Mr. Copeland bases this claim on
his reading of our Lord’s use of Isaiah 61 in his preaching in the synagogue in Nazareth
[Luke 4:17-19]. Citing our Lord’s allusion to preaching the “gospel to the poor,” Mr.
Copeland writes that we assume “it means that He preached new birth to them. But,
that’s not what’s really being said there [emphasis mine],” [Ibid.]. Rather, Mr. Copeland
counters, “He was telling them they didn’t have to be poor anymore! [Emphasis mine].”
In this series of articles, we shall use Mr. Copeland’s book, The Laws of
Prosperity, to lift out principle support for his version of the prosperity message.
Specifically, we offer exegetical critique of four pillars of the prosperity message: [1] law
governs everything; [2] faith is a power that works by spiritual law; [3] laws governing
covenant determine everything God does; and [4] there is a heavenly account into which
one makes deposits and withdrawals. These laws of prosperity constitute the mythology
behind the prosperity gospel.
In this initial article, we consider an idea that sustains the prosperity message
throughout: the notion that law governs everything. For advocates of the prosperity
gospel, God has woven into the fabric of the universe a more or less rigid cause and
effect nexus. Everything we do has a built in consequence. This mechanical association
of deed and outcome means that good attitudes and actions lead to good outcomes, while
bad attitudes and acts lead to bad outcomes. To say that law governs everything implies
that God has set up his world in such a way that unyielding laws are in operation and God
is committed to them.
In this first article, we rebut this idea by looking at the single most sustained
argument concerning this mechanical cause and effect nexus – the book of Job in the
Hebrew Bible. Once we consider Job’s disconfirming evidence, we shall see that

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something other than law governs everything, and Job tells us what it is. In addition to
Job, attention is given to a key supporting text for Mr. Copeland, Romans 8.
The First Myth: Law Governs Everything
Mr. Copeland’s statement of this law. A major premise of prosperity
teaching is that law governs everything. Mr. Copeland writes, “we must understand that
there are laws governing everything in existence [emphasis mine],” [The Laws of
Prosperity, 14]. Just as there are laws governing the physical universe, so there are laws
that govern spiritual matters also. Accordingly, “when God speaks, His words become
law in the world of the spirit,” [Ibid., 15].
To understand how spiritual law works, one can think analogously of physical
law. For, spiritual law and physical law work in much the same way. Mr. Copeland
writes, “It is the force of gravity that makes the law of gravity work. In the same way
[emphasis mine], spiritual law would be useless if the force of faith were not a real force,
but faith is a real force,” [Ibid., 14]. The net effect is that there is an almost mechanical
association between faith and the outcomes of spiritual law. This is the order of things set
up by God, since, when God speaks, his words become law. Ultimately, this ideology
holds that one who uses the laws of God the way God set them up can do so with an
almost mathematical certitude. As we shall see, Mr. Copeland outlines a fairly automatic
correlation between faith and prosperity.
Biblical support for how spiritual law works, including the power of faith, is
drawn from a number of sources. Mr. Copeland utilizes Matthew 4:4, 1 Peter 1:25, and
Romans 8:2. Of these, the Romans passage has pride of place since the apostle Paul
mentions “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ” [8:2]. For Mr. Copeland, this is “the
master law [emphasis mine] under which we operate as children of God,” [Ibid., 15].
This master law means that “there are certain elements which, when combined, will bring
for the result God intends,” [Ibid.]. Moreover, this master law operates on the basis of an
exact correspondence between faith and outcome. For, Mr. Copeland writes that spiritual
laws “will work when they are put to work, and they will stop working when the force of
faith is stopped,” [Ibid.].
Naturally, these spiritual laws work in the realm of material prosperity. In a
general sense, Mr. Copeland avers, “there are certain laws [emphasis mine] governing
prosperity revealed in God’s Word,” [Ibid.]. With even greater optimism, Mr. Copeland
affirms, “the success formulas [emphasis mine] in the Word of God produce results when
used as directed,” [Ibid., 16]. The net effect is that the laws governing prosperity operate
like success formulae, producing abundance when used according to script.
Mr. Copeland offers an example of the laws of prosperity at work, or nearly so.
The parable of the rich young ruler in Mark 10 has been misunderstood, according to Mr.
Copeland. Owing to the laws of prosperity, this youth had an opportunity to gain much
more than he ever had, but walked away from it.
We all know the story of the young man who was counseled by Jesus to give all
he had to the poor and embark on a life of discipleship with Jesus [Mark 10:17-23]. But,
Kenneth Copeland reads the import of the parable in terms of prosperity. He writes that
Jesus invites this youth to give to the poor in order “to give the rich young ruler a

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hundred times what he had!” [Ibid., 64]. Mr. Copeland then writes, “Do you want a
hundred fold return on your money? Give and let God give it back to you. No bank in the
world offers this kind of return,” [Ibid.]. Finally, Mr. Copeland teases out an interesting
implication of Mark 10:29-30, writing that “every man who invests in the gospel has a
right to expect the staggering return of one hundredfold,” [Ibid., 85].
Summary. The prosperity message works in a universe governed by law.
Accordingly, one may expect that those who are righteous will be materially blessed and
the wicked may expect material impoverishment. Material blessing rests on the
foundation of God’s word, which is law. Working much the same way the law of gravity
works, the law of the Spirit of life brings forth the results God intends, when this law is
put to work. In the realm of material abundance, when the laws governing prosperity are
put into action, these success formulae yield wealth when used as directed. In the final
analysis, so categorical is the rule of law that one has a right to expect a return when one
gives.
A Rebuttal of the Myth that Law Governs Everything. As we have seen,
Kenneth Copeland affirms a moral order in the universe whereby one is entitled to expect
successful outcomes when the law of the Spirit of life is put to work. This viewpoint
amounts to the law of reciprocity.
The law of reciprocity affirms a mechanical relationship between good spiritual
acts leading to a good result. The law of reciprocity assumes that every act has a built in
consequence for the actor, and that these consequences are always predictable along lines
of good or evil. God has set things up in the universe with a moral calculus amounting to
an unyielding law. The upshot, in terms of the prosperity message, is that the right use of
God’s success formulae entitles one to material abundance. Accordingly, we offer the
evidence of the book of Job in the Hebrew Bible as disconfirming the law of reciprocity.
We also offer a reading of Romans 8 that is more in line with Paul’s subject matter in that
epistle.
Before we offer this two-part rebuttal, we should consider the hermeneutics
involved in reading the Bible. Two topics in this regard are implicit in this rebuttal: the
context of the Bible and the immediate context of a single passage.
Concerning the biblical context, this rebuttal affirms that the Bible is the product
of a Single Mind, evidencing unity within diversity. Because of the Bible’s essential
unity, the Bible provides literary context for principles drawn from it, such as the law of
reciprocity. This rebuttal assumes and affirms the consistency of the Bible in what it
affirms, including the viewpoint at hand. As Klein, Blomberg, and Hubbard affirm, “due
to the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of the entire Bible, we posit that the correct meaning of
every portion of Scripture will be consistent with the rest of the teaching of the Bible on
that subject,” [William Klein, Craig Blomberg, and Robert Hubbard, Jr., Introduction to
Biblical Interpretation (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1993), 169]. This interpretive principle
governs our critique of reciprocity to the effect that there are severe limitations one must
place on reciprocity. As we shall see, law does not govern everything.
Concerning the immediate context of a single passage, the rebuttal affirms that a
text, such as Romans 8:2, must be read in terms of its immediate literary context. As
Klein, Blomberg and Hubbard write, “Before listing any verse in support of a position,

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we should first check the literary context to insure that the passage is about the same
subject [emphasis mine] and really does have the meaning that proves the point,” [Ibid.,
161]. In terms of the rebuttal, we affirm that Romans 8:2 is not about a master law that
produces expected material outcomes.
When we turn to the book of Job, we see that law does not govern everything.
The storyline in the book of Job turns on this claim: the law of reciprocity is quite limited
in scope. There are other factors that trump the law of reciprocity.
The book of Job does not negate the moral order in the universe as God has
organized it; indeed, Job and his friends assume this moral order. In general terms,
blessing does flow out of righteous living and suffering does follow upon wickedness.
Indeed, this is precisely Job’s dilemma: He is suffering but not wicked. This dilemma is
part of the storyline in Job.
The book of Job differentiates between the general pattern of God’s justice and
the anomalies we encounter, such as we see in Job [or maybe our own lives; bad things
still happen to good people!]. Accordingly, there is hardly a more sustained rebuttal to
the myth that law governs everything than the book of Job. The almost mathematical
certainty in Mr. Copeland’s moral universe is soundly rebutted in Job. For, in Job’s life,
the mechanical myth of reciprocity is marginalized, being set aside as not quite the whole
truth as regards how God runs his universe. Job’s discovery, in chapter 42, is that there
are limitations on human understanding of how God oversees his world. Job also
discovers that the law of reciprocity simply does not entitle one to guaranteed outcomes.
The book of Job opens in apparent support of the notion that piety produces
material prosperity. In Job 1:1, Job’s faith is portrayed followed by a statement of his
considerable material prosperity, 1:2-3. By all accounts, Job is a poster child for the
faith-prosperity nexus.
In 1:1, we read of Job that he was “a man of integrity, also upright, one who fears
God and turns from following evil,” [all translations are the author’s]. When the author
of Job describes the man in terms of integrity, the Hebrew term implies that there was no
disconnect between the inner man and the outer man. What humanity saw of Job
publicly mirrored the private side of the man. Moreover, we are told that Job was
upright. That is, Job was loyal to Yahweh, living a life of faithfulness and obedience.
Then, we are told that Job feared God. In simple terms, he who fears God lives as if what
Yahweh thinks and wants really matters. The attendant circumstance includes turning
from evil. Obviously, Job’s direction in life was governed by what God wanted, not by
evil. The upshot of this description is that Job’s character meets the standard of a man of
faith.
Not only does the narrator describe Job this way, Yahweh also sees Job as a man
of unparalleled faith. In 1:8, Yahweh says, “There is absolutely no one like him on
earth.” There are two points to appreciate here. In the first place, the words, “no one like
him,” are normally reserved for Yahweh alone [Exodus 8:6; 9:14; 1 Sam 10:24; 2 Sam
7:22; Psalm 86:8]. The force of this endorsement is to underline the unparalleled
character of Job’s faith. Then, in the second place, Yahweh never revokes this
endorsement of Job; to the end, there is no one like Job! One can assume that, as far as

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Mr. Copeland is concerned, here is a man whose faith has real force. Accordingly, Job
reaps the considerable material benefits of such a faith.
Reciprocity seems to be alive and well in the life of Job. This man of unequaled
faith enjoys material abundance. In Job 1:2-3, the narrator describes Job’s material
wealth using the numbers seven, three, and ten, all of which are probably symbols of
completeness. By the laws of prosperity, Job had it all. But, then, Yahweh intervenes.
In one tragic moment, all is lost [Job 1:13-19]. The upshot of this is that the law
of reciprocity is overturned. The moment Yahweh decides to remove Job’s wealth, the
notion that “the success formulas in the Word of God produce results when used as
directed” [The Laws of Prosperity, 16] is effectively terminated. For, the most pious and
faithful man on the earth, a man of whom Yahweh uses His own self-description to
characterize, a man with material abundance as a result, is now one of this world’s most
wretched creatures. This reversal of fortune is designed by the narrator, and by Yahweh,
to sabotage the mechanics of reciprocity. Law does not govern everything. In fact, Job
testifies to this very fact.
In Job 1:21, Job testifies to what Yahweh has done, “Yahweh gives and Yahweh
deprives; the name of Yahweh be blessed.” We should not miss the import of this as
rebuttal to Mr. Copeland’s notion that a man has a right to expect certain outcomes. Job
affirms that he has no inherent right to what Yahweh gives him. Indeed, Job claims that
Yahweh may choose, for reasons of his own, to deprive of wealth.
The net effect is that Job’s reversal of fortune shows that law does not govern
everything. Moreover, the fact that Yahweh can both give and deprive shows that Job has
no inherent right to material abundance. But, Job does come to grips with what does
govern how Yahweh operates in his universe.
In Job 42:2, Job understands what does trump the law of reciprocity. Job
addresses Yahweh and says, “No purpose of Yours can ever be withheld.” The word Job
chooses for purpose figures prominently in the Hebrew Wisdom literature. Job’s insight
is that all that happens in Yahweh’s universe is governed by divine wisdom and purpose.
It is divine purpose, shaped by and infused with love and mercy, that governs everything,
not unyielding law.
Before turning to the Romans passage, just what does the book of Job tell us
about law governing everything?
To begin with, Job cautions us against viewing the universe as everywhere
governed by law. Mr. Copeland’s seminal claim that “there are laws governing
everything in existence” [The Laws of Prosperity, 14] is rebutted by the events in the life
of Job. The more or less inexorable connection between good attitudes and actions
leading to blessed outcomes is marginalized in Job.
Moreover, if ever there was a disconfirming case of the notion that there are
“success formulas” [Ibid., 16] implicit in the Word of God, the book of Job is that case.
Indeed, Job affirms that Yahweh both gives and deprives. Additionally, one is hard
pressed to see in Job any expectation that one has a right to expect a return on one’s piety.
Finally, the book of Job calls into serious question these ideas of rights and
success formulae in another way. That is, Job makes it clear that those who are either

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antagonistic or out and out in denial of God still enjoy material prosperity. Job himself
takes note of this when reminds his friends that the wicked live long and prosperous lives
[21:7-16]. Job even points out that these very same wicked people actually tell God to
get out of their lives, since they see no point in serving Him, and still they prosper [Job
21:14-15]. At the end of the day, Job concludes that it is not the case that law governs
everything [21:17-21].
The upshot is that the idea of law governing everything is a myth. The book of
Job is disconfirming evidence of a set of spiritual laws carved into the stonework of the
universe, available for use when faith is applied. The book of Job calls into serious
question the idea that good faith and personal piety inexorably lead to prosperous
outcomes. Job seems to deny the existence of success formulae in the Bible. Finally, Job
himself disconfirms the assertion that one has a right to expect a return on the faith-
prosperity nexus. In the final analysis, Job denies that law governs everything.
We now turn to rebut the use of Romans 8:2 in support of the prosperity message.
It is Mr. Copeland’s claim that Romans 8:2 is the “master law under which we operate as
children of God,” [Ibid., 14]. This master law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,
means that, when used with the force of faith, the results God intends are brought forth.
All of this is in the service of material prosperity, since Romans 8:2 is among the “laws
governing prosperity revealed in God’s Word,” [Ibid., 15]. The question is: Does
Romans 8:2 concern itself with laws governing prosperity?
We affirm that “the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus” is not about a master law
governing material prosperity, a success formula that will produce results when used as
directed. The basis for this denial on our part is the place of Romans 8:2 in its literary
context.
Romans 8:1 affirms the removal of condemnation, that is, the Law’s power to
condemn. Thus, 8:1 returns to a theme begun in 7:1-6, indicating that we are set free of
the law’s power to condemn. This removal of condemnation is what Romans 8:1ff is
about; the literary context concerns our freedom in Christ, not a master law governing
prosperity that will yield results when used as directed. Accordingly, Romans 8:2 does
refer to authority that the Holy Spirit brings, but this authority has nothing to do with
material prosperity.
Romans 8:2 is introduced by a coordinating conjunction, usually translated “for.”
In fact, this conjunction signals an explanation of “in Christ Jesus” in 8:1. The net effect
is that “in Christ Jesus” in 8:1 is now more fully explained in 8:2.
This explanation is teased out in terms of the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus.” There are some details of translation that need to be noted in this verse. The first
concerns the way we translate “law.” Paul uses this word in a variety of ways in Romans
[see the standard lexicons]. In 8:2, some such gloss as authority or constraint seems to
work best. The next issue concerns the way one treats the genitives in of the Spirit of life.
Admittedly, there are no hard and fast rules in the translation of genitive constructions.
We have options that are tested within literary contexts. In this case, the genitive
construction, the authority of the Spirit, may be taken as a genitive of cause [on this
point, see A Grammar of New Testament Greek, ed. James Hope Moulton, vol. III,
Syntax, Nigel Turner (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1963), 211]. Accordingly, we may gloss

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the authority that the Spirit brings. This leaves us with the final genitive relationship, of
life. Again, there are no hard and fast rules here, but context supports an appositional
reading [Ibid., 214], perhaps consisting in life in Christ Jesus.
Now, putting all of the above together, we have Romans 8:2 teasing out what no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus looks like. That is, there is an authority
that the Holy Spirit brings, consisting in life in Christ Jesus. This life in Christ Jesus is
discussed in the remainder of the context. The net effect is that in 8:12-16, Paul affirms
that it is the authority or constraint of the Holy Spirit in our lives that enables us to live a
life that is fully pleasing to the Father, thus fulfilling the law [8:4].
Accordingly, Romans 8 is about our freedom in Christ to live out fully the
righteous requirements of God’s holy law. In terms of prosperity Gospel, there is
absolutely nothing here that even remotely concerns material prosperity as subject
matter.
Summary. As we have noted, in Mr. Copeland’s world, law governs everything.
Owing to the success formulae woven into the Word of God, one may inexorably use
these laws as directed with predictable financial success.
However, Job is central in rebutting the myth that law governs everything. The
book of Job questions a rigid application of the law of reciprocity; bad things happen to
this very good and decent man. Rather than law governing everything, Job comes to see
that Yahweh’s wise purposes govern everything. Indeed, Job himself questions his own
inherent right to material success based on his piety. Job admits that Yahweh both gives
and deprives, thus eschewing any inalienable right to expect certain outcomes based on
faith.
Finally, there is no master law entitling one to prosperity based on Romans 8:2.
Rather, this context goes to the heart of the argument of Romans; we are free from the
law’s power to condemn and free to live a life fully pleasing to God.