Does God Want All Believers to Be Rich?

Introduction: A Sentence You Hear Everywhere — "God Wants You Rich"

Among the most widespread sentences on prosperity television programmes and popular religious lectures today is this: «God wants you rich. God wants you to prosper. God wants you to live in abundance — because you are His child and He does not want His children poor.» These words are typically accompanied by verses torn from their context, a non-biblical definition of "prosperity," and emotional pressure that makes the listener feel that doubting this promise is doubting the love of God Himself.

But the question that must be asked is not "Do you want to be rich?" — for it is natural that people do. The foundational question is: Has God promised guaranteed material wealth to every believer in this present life? And does Kenneth Copeland's teaching in The Laws of Prosperity — when he declared: «You must realize that it is God's will for you to prosper» — actually represent what the Word of God has promised? Or does the Scripture correct this bold claim at its root?

This article does not oppose the varied grace of God, nor does it call for deliberate poverty. But it presents what the Bible actually says — not what people wish it said.

What Did the Apostle Paul Say Directly to Those Who Link Godliness to Financial Gain?

If you want to understand the biblical position on linking faith to material wealth, read these verses from First Timothy — for they came as a direct response to precisely this idea:

Note carefully: the apostle Paul speaks of people who suppose that "gain is godliness" — those who use religion as a means of accumulating wealth. And these teach "otherwise" — that is the apostolic verdict. But the apostle does not stop there; he immediately provides his biblical definition of true prosperity:

"Great gain" — but a gain precisely defined: godliness with contentment. Not godliness with a bank account. Not godliness with a private jet. Godliness with contentment — and contentment in the Greek (αὐτάρκεια) means a self-sufficiency that does not depend on external circumstances. This is the Bible's definition of prosperity — and it is the complete inversion of what the prosperity gospel teaches.

Then the apostle Paul continues with piercing logic:

Food and clothing — that is the biblical standard of "sufficiency." Not a private jet or a mansion or a million dollars. The prosperity teachers make material abundance a guaranteed divine right — and the apostle Paul makes food and clothing the measure of contentment. The gulf between the two teachings is an eternal one.

"The Love of Money Is the Root of All Evil" — The Warning the Prosperity Gospel Silences

The apostle Paul does not merely define true profit — he delivers an explicit warning about what happens when priorities are reversed:

This passage is the hammer on the anvil of the prosperity gospel. Note carefully: the apostle does not say "money itself is evil" — for money is not evil. But he says "they that will be rich" — those who make becoming wealthy their aim — fall into temptation and a snare. And the prosperity gospel teaches precisely everyone who hears it to "will to be rich" — indeed making this will an act of "faith" and "claiming the divine promises"!

He adds: "the love of money is the root of all evil" — not all evils themselves, but their root. And when faith is tied to the acquisition of money, the whole system is built on this corrupt root. "They have erred from the faith" — these are not words in a vacuum. They describe an outcome the apostle observed on the ground: true faith is lost when money becomes the goal.

The Apostle Paul Who Learned Contentment from Prison

The apostle Paul's teaching on wealth and poverty cannot be read in isolation from his personal biography. He did not write from a luxurious home or a media platform — he wrote these immortal words from inside a Roman prison in Rome:

But the verse with no equal in the matter of the prosperity gospel appears earlier in the same chapter:

"I have learned to be content" — he did not say "God automatically gave me contentment." He said "I have learned" — a verb pointing to a gradual process, successive experiences of hunger and fullness, want and plenty. The secret the apostle Paul learned was not "how to eliminate want and hunger from your life by faith" — but "how to stand firm in want and hunger by faith." And this fundamental distinction is the difference between the biblical Gospel and the prosperity gospel. The first gives you a faith that holds in hardship. The second promises absence of hardship — and when hardship comes, it accuses you of weak faith.

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself — Was He Rich?

What is most astonishing about the prosperity gospel is that it declares God wants His children rich — while the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the only begotten Son of God, lived a materially austere life and died without money or possessions.

When a scribe came to ask Him something, the Lord Jesus said to him:

When He was crucified, the soldiers gambled for His clothing — because it was His only possession. When He needed a coin for the temple tax, He sent Peter to find money in a fish's mouth — because He carried no money. When He was born, He was laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn. This is the "Son of God" — so how can it be claimed that God wants all His children rich when His only natural Son lived poor?

The Scripture's answer is not that God failed His Son, but that material wealth was never the divine promise for this present life. The apostle Paul declares this explicitly:

"He became poor though he was rich" — this describes the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, His leaving eternal glory and wealth to take the form of a servant. And "that ye through his poverty might be rich" points to spiritual and eternal wealth — the wealth of forgiveness, sonship, and eternal life — not to material wealth in this life. The context of 2 Corinthians 8 confirms this: the entire chapter addresses giving, sacrifice, and generosity — the opposite of what prosperity teachers claim when they quote this verse.

The Rich Man in the Gospel — Wealth and the Kingdom in the Lord's Teaching

The Lord Jesus Christ's teaching about money is clear and consistent, containing serious warnings about wealth rather than encouragements toward it:

When a young man asked how to inherit eternal life, the Lord Jesus told him to sell all he had and give to the poor — and he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. The Lord then commented:

"It is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" — can these possibly be the words of one who wants all His children rich? The biblical teaching does not say that wealth makes salvation impossible — but that wealth poses a serious danger to spiritual life, because money presents itself as an alternative to dependence on God. And this is precisely what the prosperity gospel does in reverse: it teaches people to depend on God for the purpose of obtaining money — so that money becomes the aim of dependence rather than its fruit.

Does Abraham, Job, or Solomon Prove a "Wealth Promise"?

The prosperity teachers appeal to wealthy figures in the Old Testament — especially Abraham, Job, and Solomon — to argue that wealth is a divine promise for believers. This argument is distorted for three reasons:

First: Abraham was indeed wealthy — but the Scripture never presents his wealth as a measure of divine sonship or depth of faith. Rather, it says "he believed, and it was counted to him for righteousness" — and that righteousness was counted before circumcision, before Isaac was given, and twenty-eight years before the final test. Faith — not wealth — is the defining trait.

Second: Job was wealthy, then lost everything — his family, his wealth, his health — at the peak of his faith, not its weakness. And God said of him: "there is none like him in all the earth" — and He said it while catastrophes were raining down on Job. If material prosperity is the sign of faith and blessing, how do we explain Job?

Third: Solomon — the wealthiest man who ever lived — wrote about the emptiness of wealth with words no poor man could write: "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). And in the same book: "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver" (Ecclesiastes 5:10). A wealthy man writing of the bankruptcy of wealth — this is a lesson no poor man can give. If wealth were a divine promise that yields happiness and perfection, why did its possessor — the wealthiest man in history — spend his life writing of its emptiness and vanity?

What Does Scripture Say to the Truly Wealthy?

The Bible does not forbid wealth or demand that all abandon it. But it places it in a framework entirely different from the prosperity gospel's. The apostle Paul says in the same passage:

Note the contrast with the prosperity gospel: Scripture warns the wealthy against "pride" and "trusting in riches" — while the prosperity gospel encourages everyone to "claim" wealth as a faith-right. Scripture directs wealth toward "good works and generosity" — while the prosperity gospel directs faith toward acquiring wealth. And Scripture defines "a good foundation for the future" as trust in God and generous giving — not in a bank balance or real estate. The true and unremovable wealth is this:

A Question the Believer Asks: "Does God Not Want What Is Good for Me?"

This is the most common and emotionally deepest objection: «I do not dispute that money is dangerous. But God loves me and wants what is good for me — does that love not mean He wants to give me health and money?»

The answer: yes, God loves you and wants what is good for you — but His definition of good does not necessarily align with ours. God wants for you what is deeper than physical health and more lasting than a bank balance. He may give you money, or He may not — but He gives you His presence, His grace, His Word, and eternal life where there is no sickness or death. These things — not money — are the great promises to His children.

One biblical example answers the question and settles the heart: the apostle Paul asked God three times to remove "the thorn in the flesh" — a painful illness or disability. And God did not remove it. His answer was:

"My grace is sufficient" — not "I will remove the thorn." This is God's answer to His finest apostle when he asked for relief from suffering. Not abandonment — but a declaration that the grace of God is more sufficient in hardship than perfect health without God. The prosperity gospel says this answer is evidence of the apostle's weak faith. The Scripture says it is a lesson learned only by those of deepest faith.

Scripture's Testimony through History: The Great Believers and Their Relationship to Money

If wealth is a sign of deep faith, how do we explain the greatest believers who have gone before? We read in Hebrews 11 of people whose faith the Scripture praised while they were suffering and afflicted. In the New Testament, the finest apostle — Paul — died by the sword in a Roman prison and never discovered the "seed" that would return his money multiplied. Rather, he wrote from prison something no prosperity teacher surrounded by private jets can say with the same honesty:

"All your need" — not "all your desires" or "all your financial goals." "According to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" — the true divine supply is of a spiritual and eternal nature. This verse is frequently used in the prosperity gospel as a promise of money — but its context is the apostle's gratitude to a church that sent him assistance while he was in prison. He promises them that God will supply their needs — not that they will become wealthy.

The book of Malachi reveals something profound: a people who saw the wicked prospering and the faithful suffering, and concluded: «It is vain to serve God! What profit is it that we have kept His ordinance?» And God's answer was not "I will make you rich" — but a word about the day of final judgment and separation. This present life is not always the place of material reward — eternity is.

The True Treasure: "Seek First the Kingdom of God"

The Lord Jesus Christ commanded His disciples not to be anxious about food and clothing as the Gentiles are, then said:

"Shall be added unto you" — not a promise of wealth, but assurance that God attends to the basic needs of those who genuinely seek the kingdom. The fundamental difference: the prosperity gospel makes "seeking the kingdom" a means of obtaining wealth. But the Lord Jesus makes material provision a secondary fruit that God administers — while the priority is a kingdom, not a bank.

The greatest promise in the Bible — repeated from its beginning to its end — is not a promise of money. It is the promise of God's abiding presence: "lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). No economic crisis, no bodily sickness, no earthly circumstance can strip this promise from a believer's hand. And this — not the bank account — is the inheritance God wills for His children.

A Prayer: "O God, Teach Us to Be Content"

Our Heavenly Father, we come to Thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Ghost. We thank Thee that in Thy Holy Scripture Thou hast given us not only promises about the future, but wisdom for the present — wisdom that teaches us to distinguish true wealth from passing wealth.

O Lord, guard our brothers and sisters in Arabic-speaking churches from a teaching that tells them to measure their faith by their bank balance and Thy love for them by the state of their bodies. Instruct them in Thy Word until they know that the apostle Paul learned contentment in prison, and that the Lord Jesus had nowhere to lay His head — and both were at the highest levels of enjoying Thy love.

Grant us the contentment that liberates, the satisfaction that cannot be purchased, and the certainty that Thy grace is sufficient for us in every state. And if Thou dost give us abundance, make it a means of giving and service, not an end in itself. We pray this to Thee, our Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Amen.

Conclusion: What Remains after Everything Else Has Gone

The Lord Jesus Christ tells us of a man whose land produced abundantly until he resolved to tear down his barns and build larger ones. He said to himself: "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." And God said to him:

"Thou fool" — not because he was productive, not because his production was abundant, but because his entire plan rested on one false assumption: that money guarantees continuity. The true divine promise is not "you will never be in want" — but "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). The presence of God — not the bank balance — is what cannot be taken.

This does not mean God forbids abundance. But it means material wealth is not the central promise of the Gospel. The biblical Gospel proclaims something deeper: reconciliation with God who has enriched us with an inexhaustible wealth when we "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). This wealth no bank balance can increase and no poverty can diminish.

Glory to God in our Lord Jesus Christ, for ever and ever and ever. Amen.

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