S. Did Christ Become Poor to Make Us Wealthy Christians on Earth?

Did Christ Become Poor to Make Us Wealthy Christians on Earth?

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9)

I think, today’s Christianity is confronting more heretical teachings than any in church history. Out of many false teachings that are abounding in Christianity, one such which is commonly widespread is prosperity gospel. Not only in the Western countries, it is also spreading like a wildfire in the urban cities of my nation, India. Many gullible folks are becoming victims of this dangerous teaching. Hence, I decided to address this issue in my blog.

There are many Scriptures which prosperity preachers use, perhaps it is proper to say abuse, to prove their doctrine that God wants all Christians to become wealthy. And 2 Corinthians 8:9 is one of the key foundational Scriptures for the champions of prosperity teaching. They claim that this Scripture speaks about Jesus giving up His riches to make us wealthy Christians on earth. So, for the time being, I would like to address this particular Scripture. Was Jesus Rich or Poor?

First, to say that Jesus became physically poor to make us materially rich goes right against their own teaching. What prosperity preachers actually argue is that Jesus was a wealthy person and had surplus goods. Listen to what one of the prominent proponents of this view asserts:

"The Bible says that He [Jesus] had a treasurer-a treasury (they called it "the bag"); that they had one man who was the treasurer, named Judas Iscariot; and the rascal was stealing out of the bag for three-and-a-half years and nobody knew that he was stealing. You know why? Because there was so much in it, He couldn’t tell. Nobody could tell that anything was missing..., if Jesus didn’t have anything, what do you need a treasury for? A treasury is for surplus. It’s not for that which you’re spending. It’s only for surplus-to hold it until you need to spend it. Therefore, He must have had a whole lot that needed to be held in advance that He wasn’t spending. So He must have had more than He was living on." [Fredrick K.C. Price, "Ever Increasing Faith" program on TBN [23 November 1990] <www.letusreason.org/wf15.htm>

If Jesus was wealthy, according to the prosperity preachers, how can they claim that He gave up His riches, becoming poor, to make us wealthy people, as per their interpretation of 2 Corinthians 8:9? To the one who is sane in his mind, doesn’t this prove to be a sheer contradiction?

Now to justify their stance, certain prosperity preachers subtly twist 2 Corinthians 8:9 to claim Jesus was rich before the cross and the only time He became poor was when He was taken to the cross. However, this doesn’t stand the test of biblical reason. The text doesn’t tell us that Jesus became poor when He was taken to the cross. It simply says, “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor.” This seems to speak about Christ’s incarnation, in which He left His heavenly glorious privileges and became poor, having being laid in a manger, taking up finite and weak body and walking around Palestine as an ordinary man but doing extraordinary things. Is not because Jesus was born in a simple family that His mother Mary had to offer a sacrifice consisting of a pair of doves or two young pigeons, which only those who cannot afford were supposed to offer such sacrifices? (Luke 2:22-24; cf. Leviticus 12:2-8) Did not Jesus say to one of the wishful followers, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head"? (Matthew 8:19-20) Of course, He had His earthly parents’ house, but he was constantly traveling from one place to another with no permanent home to lay his head.

Moreover, in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, did not Jesus have to borrow the colt from another man, sat on it and entered Jerusalem? (Mark 11:1-11) Even when Jesus died, He had no tomb of His own. A rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, asked for Jesus’ body and placed it in his own new tomb (Matthew 27:57-60). Finally, someone rightly points out that if Jesus was so rich, having Judas Iscariot as His treasurer, why should he betray Him for just thirty silver coins, which comes to about $15 or about INR800? (Matthew 27:3) <http://www.letusreason.org/wf15.htm>

What Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:9, wherein Christ became poor in His incarnation, goes in line with Php 2:6-7, “Who [Christ], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”

How clearly we are revealed to the fact that though Christ, being in very nature God, He left His heavenly riches and made Himself nothing, ordinary, poor, by taking the very nature of a servant! Although He was the King of Kings, He became a meek servant. (Matthew 20:25-28)

We have no clear evidence from the Holy Scripture that Jesus was rich before He went to the cross. Nevertheless, to justify their kingly lifestyle and to accumulate more wealth, prosperity preachers twist the Scriptures to make Jesus appear wealthy while He walked on earth, when in fact the Scripture plainly reveals that He became a humble servant and lived a simply life on earth.

Macedonian Churches

Second, if we go to the preceding verses of 2 Corinthians 8:9, Paul challenges the Corinthian church about generous giving by pointing out to the generosity of Macedonian churches. He writes, “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity” (2 Corinthians 8:1-2). Mark these words, “Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.”

Observe carefully, it doesn’t just say “poverty” but “extreme poverty.” It is also worth noting—the same Greek word “πτωχεία" [ptōcheia] is used when mentioning the poverty of Macedonian churches in verse 2 and the poverty of Christ in 2 Corinthians 8:9.

Now here is my question—if Jesus had become poor to make His people wealthy, why did the Macedonians churches have to give out of extreme poverty? They should have been wealthy, giving out of their riches of goods. But their greatness stands out, not because they gave out of abundance, but out of their inadequacy. Their poverty did not rob them of generosity.

Don’t you suppose, to claim 2 Corinthians 8:9 as speaking about worldly prosperity is to simply distort the context of the Scripture which actually speaks about the poverty of Macedonian churches? Indeed, 2 Corinthians 8:1-24 doesn’t prove the doctrine of prosperity but refutes it.

Needy Saints of Jerusalem

Third, it is important to understand the reason why Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 8:1-24; 2 Corinthians 9:1-15. Knowing its background would help us to stand against the misinterpretation of 2 Corinthians 8:9, which is widely propagated by prosperity preachers.

Paul was on a mission to raise funds to financially help the saints in Jerusalem. He writes in Romans 15:25-26, “Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.” I think, according to prosperity preachers, there shouldn’t be poor saints, but how come there were poor saints in Jerusalem for whom Paul was raising help from the churches?

He also writes in his first epistle to Corinthians, “Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem” (1 Corinthians 16:1-3). You see, Paul was encouraging the Corinthian church to set aside some money weekly as a collection for God’s people, so that it would be sent as a financial gift to the needy saints in Jerusalem. And then in 2 Corinthians, Paul reminds the Corinthians of their desire to help the poor saints in Jerusalem. He writes, “And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means” (2 Corinthians 10:1-18, 2 Corinthians 11:1-33). The Macedonian churches shared their contribution to the saints (v. 4) and Paul writes, “There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.” (2 Corinthians 9:10-11)

Observe carefully, Paul was not writing these words to raise money for his ministry, thereby living a prosperous life based on the contributions given to him. He was writing to raise money to help the needy believers of Christ, the very thing he was eager to do (Galatians 2:10). The fact that “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7) and “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6) were written in the context of helping the needy people of God. But don’t you see all these Scripture are used by prosperity preachers to motivate people to sow money in their ministry rather than giving much to help the needy people?

Well, here is my question—why was Paul striving to raise funds from various churches to help the needy saints at Jerusalem when these needy saints should have been rich and wealthy, according to the prosperity gospel interpretation of 2 Corinthians 8:9?

Even if the prosperity preachers use these Scriptures to motivate people towards generous giving, why are they unlike Paul who wrote these inspiring words to help the needy saints of Christ? This is the clear difference I see between Paul and today’s preachers of health and wealth gospel—Paul was passionate for the poor and needy saints, and the latter are zealous for prosperity.

Concluding Words The appropriate consideration of the context of 2 Corinthians 8:1-24; 2 Corinthians 9:1-15, and the rest of the Scriptures in connection to them, helps us to come to this plain interpretation of 2 Corinthians 8:9—Though Jesus was gloriously rich in heaven, for our sakes, He became physically poor on earth, taking the form of a servant, so that through His poverty we might become spiritually rich. And the reason Paul writes this is to motivate the Corinthians to imitate their Lord who gave Himself to benefit others so that they too would excel in the grace of giving (compare 2 Corinthians 8:9 with 2 Corinthians 8:7). Paul penned these words, not to propagate the doctrine of prosperity, but to spread out our hands out of generosity in order to help God’s people in adversity.

Similarly, Paul explains about the deity and the servanthood of Christ in Php 2:6-11, so that the Philippians too would possess the attitude as that of Christ Jesus, which is to look not only to one’s own interests, but also to the interests of others (Php 2:3-4).

O, how the prosperity preachers twist the Scriptures, manipulating people to give contributions to their own ministries while ignoring the poor and needy people of God! They are giving false hope of prosperity to people while they themselves are prospering on the money given to them. The Living God is going to judge them for their selfish ambitions, if they do not repent of their sin of self-indulgence and for misleading multitudes of naïve people by distorting the Holy Scripture of God. May the Lord’s people be awakened to flee from the disease of prosperity teaching and cling to the sound teachings of God’s word!

Related Articles:

Prince of the Poor vs Preachers of Prosperity How to Become Rich Forever?

Enquiries: cstephendavid@gmail.com (or) stephen@tents-india.org