! About CRI " Contact # Connect $ App % Speaking Canada ' Feed ( 0 items - $ 0.

00

Custom Search

Home Broadcast Magazine ArBcles Shop Donate

Joseph Prince: Unmerited Favor

ArBcle ID: JAF5362 | By: Warren Nozaki

* + , + .
This arBcle Rrst appeared in CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 36, number 02 (2013). The full
text of this arBcle in PDF format can be obtained by clicking here. For further informaBon or to
subscribe to the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL go to: h\p://www.equip.org/chrisBan-research-
journal/

Joseph Prince, senior pastor of New CreaBon Church Singapore, purports that in 1997 he
received a commission from God to preach grace even more radically.1 During a vacaBon in the
Swiss Alps, God allegedly told him, Son, you are not preaching graceYou a\empt to balance
grace with law and the moment you balance grace, you neutralize it.If you dont preach grace
radically, peoples lives will never be radically blessed and radically transformed. He obeyed the
voice and his church grew exponenBally.2 Today, Princes ministry has a global presence through
the Des/ned to Reign television broadcast, books, videos, and speaking engagements. Did Prince
receive a message from the Lord? On closer examinaBon, one Rnds his message of grace is a
twisted mix of truth and error.
 PRINCES PROSPERITY GOSPEL

Much of Princes teaching is a repackaging of concepts from the Word of Faith movement.3 He
writes, I give thanks to God for my roots in the Word of Faith teachings. It is truly on the
shoulders of great men of God like Brother Kenneth E. Hagin that we are able to see further into
the Word of God today.4 Just as Hagin taught what the individual says, that shall he receive,5
so Prince recapitulates, God says to you, you have an edge, your edge is your mouth. You are
righteous by faith, so speak. Gods favor is all over my businesswhatever I do prospers!6 Now
Prince admits, I would preach, The reason you are sick is that there is something wrong with
you, unBl one day God supposedly told him, Stop disqualifying My people! My blood has
already qualiRed them.7

Nevertheless he has not completely reformed from his old ways. For example, he sBll thinks
poor and sick believers cannot bless anyone, and maintains, Religion will tell you that God
wants you sick to teach you character and paBence. Religion will tell you that God wants you
poor, so that you will learn humility. It sounds noble, doesnt it? But these are LIES from the pit
of hell!8

Prince also uses the Word of Faith tacBc of twisBng Scripture to bu\ress the claim that God
guarantees unlimited health and wealth this side of eternity. He teaches, for example, that Isaiah
53:5 means, Sickness and diseases are not from God. On the cross, Jesus bore not just our sins,
but also our sicknesses, diseases and inRrmiBes, and by His stripes we are healed!9 Isaiah 53:5,
however, speaks of spiritual healing, as Peter makes clear, when he writes that Christ bore our
sins on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by His wounds you
were healed (1 Pet. 2:25).10

Prince likewise teaches that 2 Corinthians 8:9 means, On the cross, Jesus bore the curse of
poverty!11 However, this passage is not teaching ChrisBans are guaranteed wealth; instead,
Paul is encouraging Corinthians to be generous, as the other churches of Macedonia were
generous despite their poverty (2 Cor. 8:16). The ChrisBan is not promised perfect health and
unlimited wealth this side of eternity. God promises incorrupBble riches instead, including peace
that surpasses all understanding and knowledge of Christ and the power of His resurrecBon
(Ma\. 6:1921; Phil. 3:811; 4:67).
 PRINCES ANTINOMIANISM

Nothing in Princes teachings suggests that the Law, such as the Ten Commandments, has a
pracBcal use for the ChrisBan life beyond conversion. He writes, God gave the law for one
purpose, and that is by the law, the world would have the knowledge of sin, and recognize their
Savior.12

According to Prince, God wrote the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone and the Devil
armed himself with the law to accuse and condemn man (emphasis in original), but when God
nailed the law to the cross, He made a public spectacle of the devil and all the powers of
darkness. Aqer the cross the law no longer had the power to condemn man as long as he
believed on Jesus.13 If you insist on being under the law, warns Prince, you are actually
arming the devil again14 and the devil is the one using the law to bring about death and
condemnaBon and to put believers under oppression!15

Prince makes the qualiRcaBon, Anyone who is living in sin is not under grace and has not
experienced the giq of no condemnaBon;16 however, he rejects disBnguishing between the
ceremonial laws as no longer binding from the Ten Commandments or enduring universal moral
law as sBll relevant for believers.17 It is in his understanding that while Gods law is holy, just
and good, it was not meant for man to keep. Man has no ability to keep it.18 He goes so far as to
say, The law is not for you the believer, who has been made righteous in Christ! The law is not
applicable to someone who is under the new covenant of grace (emphasis in original).19

Prince Rnds the believer is unable to have a relaBonship with the law, that is with two cold
tablets of stone, but only a living relaBonship with Jesus, who will put His laws upon our
minds and write them on our hearts, causing us to walk in His ways that lead to life.20

Princes teaching on the Law is essenBally a variety of anBnomianism. It is the idea that though
the moral law can and does lead one to repentance, it has no relevance to the life of the
repentant believer aqerward.21

Now Prince rejects the charge of anBnomianism, saying, I have been accused of beingan
anBnomian (someone who is against the law of Moses). The truth is that I have the highest
regard for the law (emphasis in original).22 The problem, however, is that anBnomianism is more
than being against the law of Moses. The Laws purpose is threefold: it restrains sin and
promotes righteousness in society, it leads people to the convicBon of sin and tutors them to
Christ, and it serves as an ethical rule of life for believers.23 It is, therefore, the rejecBon of the
third use of the law that makes Prince guilty of anBnomianism.

PRINCES REJECTION OF CONFESSION

Princes unbiblical view of grace leads him to reject the ChrisBan pracBce of confessing sin. He
writes, In that very instance when you prayed the prayer of salvaBon all the sins that you would
commit for your enBre life were forgiven once and for all.Let me say this plainly: You do not
need to confess your sins again and again to be forgiven (emphasis in original).24 He reasons
Paul did not write about confessing sins,25 and 1 John 1:9 does not apply to ChrisBans but to
GnosBcs who did not believe sin existed.26

Christs death is surcient for making atonement for all the sins of the repentant, but when
ChrisBans stumble, confession of sin is the norm. James instructs believers to confess your sins
to one another (James 1:16; cf. Luke 11:4).

Paul may not have explicitly given instrucBons to confess sin, but he does not condemn the
pracBce. In fact, the statement, If anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual,
restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness (Gal. 6:1) implies the fallen brothers confession.

The idea that 1 John 1:9 applies to GnosBcs but not to ChrisBans has no basis in reality. Rather
than denying sins existence, GnosBcs believed ma\er is evil.27 Moreover, 1 John 1 is not
addressing a GnosBc error, but broadly deRning darkness and light. Those in darkness say they
have no sin (v. 8), but those in light confess their sin (v. 9). The idea is this: The proper ChrisBan
astude to sin is not to deny it but to admit it, and then to receive the forgiveness which God
has made possible and promises to us.28

Joseph Prince is savvy about the errors of the prosperity gospel and anBnomianism, and he even
makes unambiguous statements denouncing them; nevertheless, he sBll conBnues to teach the
same errors only under a diterent light. Compounding the problem is his rejecBon of ChrisBan
confession. In this sense, his distorted grace message is to be rejected.

Warren Nozaki is a researcher at the ChrisBan Research InsBtute.

NOTES

1. New CreaBon Church, History, h\p://www.newcreaBon.org.sg/about-us/history.

2. Joseph Prince, Des/ned to Reign: The Secret to E8ortless Success, Wholeness, and Victorious
 2. Joseph Prince, Des/ned to Reign: The Secret to E8ortless Success, Wholeness, and Victorious
Living (Tulsa, OK: Harrison House Publisher, 2007), viii.
3. For a full-orbed treatment of the Word of Faith movement, see Hank Hanegraat,
Chris/anity in Crisis 21st Century (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009).
4. Prince, DesBned to Reign, 271.
5. Kenneth Hagin, How to Write Your Own Ticket with God (Tulsa: Kenneth Hagin Ministries,
1979), 6.
6. Joseph Prince, ChrisBan Television Network, November 18, 2009.
7. Ibid.
8. Joseph Prince, Unmerited Favor: Your Supernatural Advantage for a Successful Life (Lake
Mary, FL: Charisma House, 2010), 30.
9. Prince, Unmerited Favor, 29.
10. All Scripture quotaBons are from the New American Standard Bible.
11. Prince, Unmerited Favor, 29.
12. Prince, Des/ned to Reign,16.
13. Ibid., 15.
14. Ibid., 16.
15. Ibid., 121.
16. Ibid., 166.
17. Ibid., 118
18. Ibid., 125
19. Prince, Unmerited Favor, 100.
20. Ibid., 38; cf. Prince, Des/ned to Reign, 12.
21. Terry Miethe, The Compact Dic/onary of Doctrinal Words (Minneapolis: Bethany House
Publishers, 1988), 30.
22. Prince, Des/ned to Reign, 122.
23. See Louis Berkhof, Systema/c Theology (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1938), 61415.
24. Prince, Unmerited Favor, 191.
25. Ibid., 18687.
26. Ibid., 189.
27. Miethe, 98.
28. John Sto\, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, vol. 19 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans,
2000), 82.
 ChrisIan Research InsItute
Our Mission: To provide ChrisBans worldwide with carefully researched informaBon and well-

reasoned answers that encourage them in their faith and equip them to intelligently represent it to

people inuuenced by ideas and teachings that assault or undermine orthodox, biblical ChrisBanity.

Do you like what you are seeing? Your partnership is essenIal. Support
CRI ...because Truth MaNers.

Subscribe to ChrisIan Research Journal | Visit CRI Book Store | Make a DonaIon

December 6th, 2014 by ChrisBan Research InsBtute | Type: Standard

Filed Under: ChrisBan ArBcles

The Enduring Value of a ChrisBan Liberal Arts EducaBon

The New TheisBc EvoluBonists: BioLogos and the Rush to Embrace the Consensus

Does James 1:5 Teach about Praying for a TesBmony?

Morality, Therefore God: An EvangelisBc Strategy

Discerning the Times: Why We Lost the Culture War and How to Make a Comeback

A Case Not Made AborBon: Stories Women Tell

Have I Leq the ChrisBan Faith?

ArIcles

ApologeBcs: SBll Relevant Today?

Biblical History: The Faulty CriBcism of Biblical Historicity

Biblical Archaeology: Factual Evidence to Support the Historicity of the Bible

 Shop
Premium: Joe Dallas Books

The Very First Christmas-Soqcover

Premium: Counterfeit Revival

Bible Answer Man

Giving To and Through CRI, and Q&A

Embryos, Personality, Personhood and Q&A

Male-Female-X, Gender Fluidity, and Q&A

Videos

The Bible Answer Man Hank Hanegraat discusses his cancer diagnosis and faith in the Lord

Hank Hanegraat on his personal prayer life and the NaBonal Day of Prayer

Hank Hanegraat opens up about his health and his hope for the future.

Ask Hank: 1-888-ASK-HANK | Contact CRI: 1-888-7000-CRI | Connect with CRI

P.O. Box 8500 Charlo\e, NC 28271
2017 ChrisBan Research InsBtute | Terms & Privacy