Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 Jn 1:2.
Are material wealth and health part of the ‘blood-bought Christian package’ for our enjoyment now? Specifically, what does 3 John 1:2 tell us about John’s view on material prosperity? Did he mean by this that physical health and material wealth are must-have things for every Christian in this life?
This article seeks to respond to these questions.
A Caveat
Before delving into the text, a caveat is in order. Here is what this article is not doing: It doesn’t advocate for material lack or ill-health as a measure of godliness. To be godly is not subject to material measurements. Piety is not reflected in our monthly bank account statements. Neither material prosperity nor poverty makes anyone godly.
Also, the article is not claiming that it is in itself alien or wrong that we long for endless days and abundant living. It is not the desire for these that is problematic. Indeed, it is also true that in the beginning, God knit humanity with a longing for longevity and luxury. In creating Adam and Eve, God placed them in a garden of gold and precious stones, where they would freely eat ‘of every tree of the garden’ (Gen. 2:10-15). The ‘every tree’ included ‘the tree of life’ (2:9). Thus, from the onset, God placed man and woman in a plenteous environment with a potential for a long life.
As we will see, the problem lies in the boundless pursuit of pleasure which distorts the truth of God. Distortion and deception were central to Adam and Eve’s pursuit of satisfaction apart from God’s revealed will. They also lie at the heart of modern teachings that place material measures and pleasures at the centre of the meaning and identity of mankind.
The reality above lies behind this article because many today force their ‘prosperity’ opinions on God’s Word.
The Meaning of 3 John 1:2
To answer the questions posed at the beginning, I want to make two points about this text.
The first is a recognition that 3 John 1:2 is a classic Greek letter greeting, one akin to the Baganda’s Gyebale or the Banyankole’s buhooro gye. Robert W. Yarbrough notes thus:
Some form of remembrance (common in Paul’s Letters) or a health wish was common after the opening lines of secular letters of the era.
Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (BECNT).
For example, consider this letter, written by a certain Dromon to Zenon, about 260-250 before Christ:
Dromon to Zenon, greetings. I give thanks to all the gods if you are in good health yourself and everything else has been satisfactory. I too am well, and in accordance with what you wrote to me, I am taking the utmost care that no one troubles your people. When you are ready to sail up in good health, order one of your people to buy a cotyla of Attic honey; for I require it for my eyes by order of the god. Farewell.
Paola Ceccarelli, Ancient Greek Letter Writing: A Cultural History (600 BC–150 BC)
Paola Ceccarelli comments that standardized Greco-Roman letters (except letter-curses) began with the author and addressee. Following this and core to the epistle was an inquiry as to the health of the recipient. A request would follow, which would form the main body of the letter. And then finally, a standard ‘farewell’ wish-word. The letter above reveals such a structure.
3 John follows this standard Greco-Roman letter writing format. John begins by naming the author as the elder and the addressee as Gaius (1:1). Then follows a standard greeting and inquiry about the health of Gaius (1:2-3). From that, the main body of the letter is a request to Gaius (1:5-11). Finally, he concludes with a farewell and wishes to see him soon while also desiring peace for him (1:13-15).
John here takes the standard Greco-Roman letter-writing format, edits it for his purposes and message while leaving some ingredients unchanged. This is not to suggest that John could not do more with the formal greeting. It is that his greeting to Gaius was the standard one used by the secular Greco-Roman writers too. John in v2 is not telling Gaius what to expect as a Christian, but sending a common cultural greeting to his friend.
The second thing I would like to comment on is the word translated ‘prosper’ in 1:2. What does it mean to ‘prosper in all things’?
The infinitive translated as ‘to prosper’ or ‘to go well with’ (εὐοδοῦσθαι) occurs only in three verses in the New Testament. Other than 3 John 1:2, it appears elsewhere in Romans 1:10 and 1 Cor 16:2. In Romans 1:10, Paul prays that he may succeed or prosper in coming to the Christians in Rome. In 1 Cor 16:2, he asks each Corinthian to set aside an offertory ‘as he may prosper’ that is, as he can. Doing so will save him the labour of retaking offertory when, in a hurry, he passes by Corinth to Jerusalem.
From the above, one notices that the word ‘prosper’ which John uses is nowhere in the NT seen to speak of material abundance or what Christians are entitled to possess. Neither John nor Paul means by it that material wealth or physical health is a ‘Christian heritage’ as prosperity preachers (pro)claim.
The word connotes succeeding or attaining a given aim and does not necessarily refer to material or a financial windfall.
BECNT
John’s Main Point
In this epistle, John was principally concerned with love for and obedience to the truth of God. The word truth (ἀλήθεια) occurs five times in this short letter.
John loves Gaius ‘in truth’ (v1). Many testify of Gaius’ ‘truth’ in which he walks, causing John to rejoice (1:3). Indeed, nothing makes John happier than his ‘children’ walking in truth (v4). The reason is that John is a fellow worker for the truth, just as Gaius and certain ‘brothers’ to whom Gaius showed hospitality (v5-8).
And yet, a certain Diotrephes refuses to welcome these brothers, choosing instead to speak ‘wicked nonsense.’ Thus, he must be exposed rather than imitated (v9-11). Demetrius is the person worthy of imitation because he is a man with a good testimony even from the truth itself (v12).
Conclusion
On examination, 3 John 1:2 neither teaches material prosperity nor physical health. It is a standard Greco-Roman greeting. Besides, the word translated as ‘prosper’ is never used in the New Testament to mean guaranteed material possessions for Christians. It merely means succeeding in a given aim, just as Paul desired success in his plans to visit the Romans.
But preachers of the health and wealth Gospel do not interpret such texts in their context. As Satan led Adam and Eve to seek prosperity by distorting God’s truth, so these lead many away from God’s Word to worldliness.
It is true that Prosperity teaching thrives on the distortion of the truth of God and the mishandling of texts like 3 John 1:2. As such, its preachers imitate Diotrephes instead of Demetrius and are unworthy of being heeded.
I desire that our desire for long-life and luxury lines-up with the truth of God who predicated our potential immortality and pleasure on continual participation in Him through His Word.
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