Twisting the Word: The Error of Promised Blessings for Good Behavior
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
This reflection warns against misinterpreting Scripture to promote an “if-then” theology—doing good to get good. Citing Job, Psalms, and New Testament examples, it emphasizes that we cannot fully know God’s mind or assign specific blessings or trials to specific actions. God’s purposes are sovereign, mysterious, and beyond human judgment. We should be cautious not to claim such insight ourselves.
Many ‘teachers’ who twist God’s word teach an ‘if-then’ relationship. Now before we go further, let me say that I know in the Old Testament in the covenantal statements such as Exodus 19:5-6 God said IF the Israelites do this, THEN…
I also know the NT has a sowing and reaping concept such as Galatians 6:7. However, the issue is, we can’t specifically claim to KNOW when it’s a specific blessing from a specific action. That is part of what the book of Job was all about. We know that Ananias and Sapphira were killed for lying because Peter told them (and us). And we know some Corinthians were killed or sickened for abusing the Lord’s table because Paul told them (and us).
We also know that Job was not enduring tragedy because of some secret sin, as his friends insisted. His troubles were not causally related to anything in his life, but only to what was going on in heaven. In these days, we do not know. To claim otherwise is to claim to know God’s mind.
BibleHub summary of Job’s troubles: “And God said to Job, “The Lord asks, “Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?” to reveal three truths: He alone is qualified to interpret suffering, His counsel stands unmoved even when we cannot see it, and human speech must be grounded in humble, God-given understanding. The verse calls every reader to step back, acknowledge limited vision, and trust the perfect wisdom of the Almighty whose plans never fail.”
To assign a particular blessing (or discipline) to a specific action is claiming to know God’s mind. God gave blessing to Job before the event and again after it was concluded, not BECAUSE Job was obedient but because God wanted to. Evil people reap common grace blessings every day. Asaph asked in Psalm 73 why do the wicked prosper? Wicked people are certainly not enjoying ‘good things’ as Joyce Meyer promises because the wicked are obedient to God. They’re not obedient.
And what are the ‘good things’ these prosperity preachers promise, anyway? Salvation? We’ve got that. Adoption into God’s family? We’ve got that. Promise of a glorious inheritance? Got it. Eternal security? Yup. We already have the good things, because we have the BEST thing, the person of Jesus Christ.
Thankfully, we do NOT always reap what we sow. Prior to salvation, we reap much evil continually, and many people who would have deserved it, like myself, are not killed on the spot for it. Sometimes even after salvation, when we do wrong, we receive mercy, not discipline. Or sometimes we reap the good or what seems to be the good but it is only a situation designed to tempt us or grow us later after a fall.
We should always be careful not to make claims about this or that circumstance, event, movement as a direct indication from God that He is pleased or displeased with a specific person or action. We do not know God’s mind. When the AIDS/HIV plague came upon us in the 1980s many people pronounced it a judgment against homosexuals from God. It was, but only in the sense that the Bible already told us in Romans 1 that homosexuals will receive the due penalty for their error. A ‘natural’ consequence of homosexuality – and all sexual promiscuity – is the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, including gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, herpes, and the rest.
Anyway, what are ‘good’ things that Meyer claims? Many people come out the other side of cancer saying it was a good thing they contracted it because it drew them closer to God. A friend who is a paraplegic said if he was asked now, he would not trade the moment he broke his neck because he has received much grace since then. The good was the grace, but the immediate circumstances hid that ‘good’ for a while until he grew in sanctification. Was his broken neck the result of a sowing to the bad? No. It seemed bad at the time but turned out to be good. His godly example has resonated to multiple congregants and through decades of generations, which glorified God and is the ultimate good.
Anyway, we already have ‘good things’. We are justified, that is a ‘good thing!’ Sanctified! Adopted! Inheritors! Grace! The indwelling Holy Spirit! We already have the ‘good things’ because we have the best thing, the Person ofJesus Christ.
Our finite minds cannot judge ‘good’ and ‘bad things’ done to us or for us in the moment, or like Job, for a long while or ever. Only God knows.
Avoid celebrity teachers and preachers who claim to know God’s mind and who twist the Bible. God is not a heavenly butler delivering stickers and prizes to the obedient children. He is God, inscrutable and majestic. Read your Bible to learn its doctrines, but refrain from assigning human and finite ideas to concepts of ‘good’ and ‘bad’. Value Christ above all.
