Is Financial Blessing Promised to Us? What 3 John 2-3 Says
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth (Third John 2-3).
A group of men had come to John to tell him about the problems in the church, and they also mentioned Gaius.
He was a well-known, financially blessed businessman and a stabilizing force for the church. He had learned and applied the word of God to his personal life and business and was still involved in the church.
From this verse, it seems Gaius was going through a financial and/or health problem. John’s admonition to him would be his admonition to us also. Stay with God’s Word. The power that brings financial and physical blessings, which is available to us all, should be maintained. The first reaction to a physical problem or financial setback is usually, “I must have done something wrong.” My response to this is: It is fine to examine yourself, but if you really did something wrong, you would know it when you did it. Financial setbacks and health flare-ups are normal in the Christian life. Living in health and abundance doesn’t mean we are exempt from the setbacks of life. From time to time, we get knocked down and blindsided by the events of life. But we get back up (2 Corinthians 4:7–9). Faith and patience combined enable us to outlast our problems. The Scriptures that brought our salvation, our health, and our financial blessings are still available and will never fail to produce when we walk in them. The old expression “Dance with the one that brung ya” applies here.
The good news these men brought to John was that Gaius’s problems had not turned his eyes away from God’s Word. God’s promises, which were in his heart, were still growing as Gaius daily studied and used them. Gaius was not only an inspiration to John but also a model to the congregation. Gaius was a walking testimony to the teaching the people had received from John. They had probably seen Gaius and his family prosper through the years by putting the preaching of John to work in their lives. What caused John to rejoice over Gaius would make him rejoice over everyone who attended the church.
Some people have used this verse to teach that financial blessing is not really promised to us. These teachers claim this verse was only a form of greeting and a wish from John to Gaius. But it was more than a wish. John desired that Gaius’s financial blessing and health would increase as his soul prospered. The increase naturally was tied to Gaius’s increase of spiritual growth. Maturity was the source of Gaius’s increase of health and material goods. How is that any different from what we have as New Testament believers today? John was not telling Gaius anything he had not learned from the word. David taught that financial prosperity and spiritual maturity walk hand in hand in the psalms, and Solomon taught it in Proverbs.
If John meant this verse about prosperity and health to apply to Gaius only, then we have to interpret verse 5 and 11 the same way. It seems to me, if verses 5 and 11 are true for us all, then so is verse 2. Your increase in health and financial blessing is tied to prosperity of the soul, your growth in scriptural understanding.
