Mfonobong Inyang: Jesus Didn’t Die So You Could Get Rich

The Gospel of Jesus is so simple that it takes deliberate efforts to misconstrue its fundamental tenets; unfortunately, the expertise of religion is to misrepresent God. Whenever there is a plethora of opinions on certain topics, the safest bet is to consult the Pauline Epistles. Paul of Tarsus is a very important figure when it comes to the exposition and expounding of the mind of God. His famous admonition to his protégé, Timothy, captures this very point: “Rightly dividing the word of truth.” As one who communicated out of the abundance of his revelations, Paul is quite the resource for aligning our perspectives to the inerrant truths of the Gospel. In his words: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him having been crucified.”

Prosperity Gospel?

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures”. In the first instalment of his letter to the ecclesia in Corinth, Paul lays out in unmistakable terms the chief reason why Jesus incarnated, walked the earth and died. Jesus didn’t die so that we would buy cars, acquire private jets, build sprawling edifices and have a ton of money in our numerous bank accounts – you don’t need Jesus to achieve all that! People were already stacking up the silver and gold before Jesus ever showed up, so for Jesus to have left the balustrade of heaven for the Via Dolorosa (the arduous route from the Praetorium where he was condemned to death by governor Pontius Pilate to Golgotha where he was ultimately crucified by Roman soldiers) – it had to be for something more than gold! The laws of the earth that govern prosperity are agnostic to anyone’s faith. Whether or not you believe in Jesus, if you plant a seed of mango in the ground under the right conditions, you will get a mango tree at the appointed time. More than half of the people on the Forbes Billionaire List don’t believe in Jesus, and that didn’t stop them from amassing such wealth, so to reduce what Jesus did on the Cross to helping people make more money is a travesty.

If Paul were to write to us, I imagine he would start his letter with a phrase like this: “To the church in Nigeria, na wa for una!” I have seen people boldly reduce the gospel to materialism, as though the proof of salvation is financial prosperity. To be clear, God has absolutely nothing against you having wealth – rather, he has everything against wealth having you to the point of it becoming an idol. When Jesus said, “It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”, he wasn’t attacking wealth but emphasising how the attachment to it can pose a threat to eternal life. By the way, the parables of Jesus are not to be taken literally but understood as metaphors. The eye of the needle was actually a security gate in medieval times that required the unloading or detachment of merchandise from a camel’s back for it to successfully pass through. This is why Jesus tested a rich man by asking him to sell (detach himself from) his possessions, but he couldn’t because he was so attached to his possessions. Notice, when Jesus talked about serving two masters, he never equated God and the devil, instead, he talked about God and mammon (the spirit of materialism or the worship of wealth).

This is why most communities of faith struggle to export this contorted gospel to certain demographics and regions. For example, what do you tell a multi-billionaire that will make him accept Jesus? That he will be blessed with a new house? What gospel will you preach in a country where citizens have a functional government? That they should pray when they can call emergency services, who will arrive at their doorsteps in two minutes? There is no gospel for poor people and another gospel for rich people, anywhere you see a difference – somebody is being clever by half. This is Sunday Service on a roll: from the rich to the poor – all are welcome through the door. Salvation is a complete package; the same message applies to everyone, and it addresses everything. In summary, anything that a person can do for you or you can do for yourself cannot be why Jesus died!

Jesus Is No Longer The Only Begotten Son Of God

In a previous piece, I explained in great detail the meaning of the appellation Son of God – it’s not to be taken literally to mean that Jesus is the offspring of God, but that he spoke and acted in the stead of God. Before Jesus died on the Cross, it is said that God so loved the world that he gave his “only begotten”. There is a subtle progression in the relationship Jesus had with his disciples: from servants to friends, to siblings. One time he told them, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends”. However, after Jesus died, was buried and resurrected, he shared an important update with Mary Magdalene for his crew, “go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father” – in other words, we gather dey.

Paul puts it this way in his letter to the Romans, “For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers”. The word first there doesn’t mean position but model, Jesus is the Prototokos – the Greek word for prototype. One of the reasons Jesus died was to democratize the Christos so that it’s no longer exclusive to him, that’s the Holy Spirit’s gig now – hence Paul writes that, “ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” What religion does is try to reprise a model of exclusivity that Jesus had retired by tearing the veil and allowing “whosoever believes” to have unfettered access to God. Wherever you see an attempt to privatise God, that’s religion in full swing. That explains why some people are always annoyed whenever God uses someone that is not in their circle, e shock them.

Celebrate Grace!

Another narrative out there suggests that in trying to make God more acceptable in the culture, we have watered down the righteousness of God – nothing could be further from the truth. First, grace is not just a concept, it’s who Jesus is. John describes Jesus as being “full of grace and truth”. Jesus is the perfect picture of God and the only God we will ever know, so to know how God thinks, we pay attention to Jesus. From Jesus’ parables, we learnt that God always makes the first move – it was the Father of the prodigal son who made the first move to reach out to his long-lost son. Jesus taught us God Maths by showing how, instead of counting his losses, God, being the Good Shepherd, would risk everything to get that one lost sheep because he’s not willing for any to perish.

Remember the woman caught a woman in the very act? Understand that Jesus is known as the Word, so when he speaks, he’s intentional. If you found yourself at a crime scene and law enforcement officers call you in for an interview, you are expected to narrate your version of events as an eyewitness. Jesus, however, is a grace enforcement officer. So instead of asking the woman, “Where are those witnesses?” Jesus asked her, “Where are those accusers?” In legalese, those are two completely different questions. Does this mean that Jesus endorsed her actions? No. Paul also asks and answers that same question: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” So where the Pharisees were expecting an allocutus from her as a condemned defendant, here comes Jesus as her legal counsel to make the case for her full pardon and declare that she is discharged and acquitted. John renders this in legal terms: “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”. It’s simple terms, you cannot condemn anyone in the presence of Jesus, who is grace personified – hence Jesus’ response to her, “neither do I condemn you”. Paul once again, further annotates this: “now there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus”.

Religious folks have this hubris that Jesus died for only Christians; again, nothing could be further from the truth – Jesus died for the world. They also frown at people whom God loves that they don’t approve of, especially when they know the person’s flaws. So when you hear that some people are called “fake”, just know it’s code for people who the powers that be in their self-righteous minds don’t think are qualified. Some people believe that they are so special, but the rest of us have to do gymnastics before God co-signs us. What they cannot grasp is the promiscuous nature of God’s love and grace that has appeared to everyone.

In Christ

Another of Paul’s signatures is the “In Christ” realities; amongst other this speaks to identity as a new creature. This emphasises the principle of one: Adam wasn’t just a man, he was a model – it was by his disobedience, everyone fumbled the bag. It took another Adam, the man-Christ Jesus, to act as a substitute. Hence, by his own obedience, he took care of business for everyone. This is because Sin is primarily a nature before it is an act (sins); in the same vein, righteousness is first a nature, ever before it’s something you do, belief before behaviour. This is why, despite his wanton behaviour, there was no parable about the Prodigal Slave but the Prodigal Son (‘son’ there speaks to his identity, not gender) – in other words, he might act out of character, but that DNA cannot be wished away.

One of the most consequential but underrated verses of scripture was from Paul to the Romans: “God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The simple question then becomes, what did we do that made Jesus die for us? Was it how well we prayed? Fasted? Gave “sacrificially?” Were we on our best behaviour? There is nothing wrong with doing good, but the truth is that no amount of good you do can make God love you more, and nothing bad you do can make God love you less. You don’t behave well, then come to God. You believe right, then watch your behaviour change. Jesus died once and for all. The only thing you can do to please God is to believe in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

Jesus Walks

Finally, when Paul says to those in Corinth, “follow me as I follow Christ”, – this is both an admonition and a disclaimer. The best of human beings are exactly that, human beings. Only God can be followed with complete reverence; every other person is subject to scrutiny, else we will have a cult of personality – it was what the Berean believers learnt very quickly. When it comes to doctrine or socio-political issues like the persecution of communities of faith, don’t outsource your thinking to anyone or try to be politically correct just to show you are loyal. Silence never appeases evil; James was killed, but nobody said anything – it was when Peter came on the cusp of death that the ecclesia woke up and spoke up. Agnes Iroh, in her 1992 smash hit song, puts it succinctly, “Our Lord Jesus is the Ladder – follow the Ladder!”