Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Job

[Kylo Ren]

Does Job 22:21 mean the prosperity gospel is true?

[jimwalton]

No, it doesn't. Eliphaz's speeches throughout the book are shown to be faulty theology (that's the point of the 3 friends in Job, though we discover through the book that Job's theology is faulty, also). Eliphaz is portrayed as a mystic who leans heavily on his experiences and observations, which are not always correct. His position is that Job's suffering is caused by sin, and to support that position he shares a private vision he had of God's holiness and man's sinfulness (Job 4). Suffering, he concludes, is justified because the root of suffering is in man himself. He subscribes to the retribution principle—that truly good people will be blessed in this life and that bad people (apparently like Job) get punished. But his reasoning and theology are not correct, which is what the book is about.