"Abundant life" is a term used to refer to Christian teachings on fullness of life. It is not an organized movement or a unique doctrine, but a name applied to the teachings and expectations of the groups and people who follow the teachings. Abundant life teachings may include expectations of prosperity and health, [1] but may also include other forms of fullness of life when faced with adverse circumstances. [2]
The term "abundant life" comes from the Bible verse John 10:10b, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." [2] "More abundantly" means to have a superabundance of a thing. "Abundant life" refers to life in its abounding fullness of joy and strength for spirit, soul and body. [3] "Abundant life" signifies a contrast to feelings of lack, emptiness, and dissatisfaction, and such feelings may motivate a person to seek for the meaning of life and a change in their life. [4]
Abundant life teachings, that God is a good God who wants to bless people spiritually, physically, and economically, were championed by Oral Roberts in the United States after World War II, [5] with his faith healing ministry having the most effect. [6] These teachings came at a time when many equated poverty with spirituality, and sickness with God's discipline and punishment. [7] He included the term Abundant Life in the name of many parts of his ministries, such as The Abundant Life television program, [8] the Abundant Life magazine, [9] [10] [11] the Abundant Life Prayer Group (ALPG), and the Abundant Life Building used as his world headquarters. [12] [13]
Abundant life for a person begins with a new birth, a new relationship with God, new motivations, and a new relationship with mankind. The process of Christian maturity for that person continues with learning to live abundantly, being cleansed from sin, and learning to fight spiritual battles. [14] [15] Christian salvation and maturity is not reliance on the self-efforts of rituals, devotion, meditation, good works, asceticism, and self-control over desires, but by believing in the redemption from sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24, 1 Cor 15:3–4). Through faith in divine agency, the working of the Holy Spirit, God transforms a person's desires to be more in conformity with God's will (Ephesians 2:8–10, Romans 12:1–2). [16]
Abundant life teaches prosperity and health for the total human being, including the body, mind, emotions, relationships, material needs, and eternal life. The Bible, the good news (Christianity), and salvation are essential elements of those teachings. Other elements are faith, prayer, evangelism, and concern for human worth in the areas of spiritual oppression, poverty, disease, hunger, injustice, and ignorance. In order for these teachings to affect a person's fullness of life, it is essential for that person to align their goals with God's goals. [17]
Abundant life teachings may include expectations of physical and material prosperity and good health and well-being, [1] but may also include other forms of fullness of life, including eternal life, when persecuted or suffering. [2] For a Christian, fullness of life is not measured in terms of "fun" and "living large", or in terms of wealth, prestige, position, and power, but measured by fulfilled lives of responsibility and self-restraint, and the rewards and blessings that accrue over a lifetime of pleasing God. According to the abundant life interpretation, the Bible has promises of wealth, health, and well-being, but these promises are conditional promises. According to James 1:17, God gives only good and perfect gifts, so God only gives gifts and blessings that are compatible with that person's abilities and God's goals for that person. [18] This interpretation raises serious issues and presents a condemning and discriminating view of poor or disabled Christians in the apostolic times and throughout history. [19]
The source of abundant life is identified as the Spirit of God in Galatians 5:22-23, "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance". A Christian is a person who has the Spirit of God (Romans 8:9) received according to the Biblical formula (Acts 2:38). Becoming a Christian means a change to a different way of life with a different purpose. Fulfilling this purpose and experiencing abundant life go together, as described by Matthew 6:33, "But seek you first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." [20]
These are terms closely related to abundant life teachings or lifestyles that include expectations of prosperity and health, but that may also include elements of a fulfilled life by responsibility and self-restraint.
The terms prosperity gospel and health and wealth gospel are used as derogatory terms for Word of Faith or Word-Faith, but the terms do not mean the same things. There are significant differences among these teachings. [6]
Oral Roberts laid the foundations of the prosperity gospel, [25] but his teachings on abundant life and seed-faith have important differences from teachers of the Faith Movement. Even though Roberts was often associated with the prosperity gospel and the faith movement because of his close doctrinal and personal ties with Word-Faith teachers, his abundant life teachings did not fully identify him with that movement. [26]
These are other terms relating to teachings or lifestyles that contrast to expectations of physical and material prosperity, but that may include elements of a fulfilled life by responsibility and self-restraint.
To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and separately caused by the operation of the Holy Spirit, and it occurs when one is baptized in water. It is a core doctrine of the denominations of the Anabaptist, Moravian, Methodist, Baptist, Plymouth Brethren and Pentecostal Churches along with all other evangelical Christian denominations. All of these Churches strongly believe Jesus's words in the Gospels: "You must be born again before you can see, or enter, the Kingdom of Heaven". Their doctrines also mandate that to be both "born again" and "saved", one must have a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
Christianity began as a movement within Second Temple Judaism, but the two religions gradually diverged over the first few centuries of the Christian era. Today, differences of opinion vary between denominations in both religions, but the most important distinction is Christian acceptance and Jewish non-acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition. Early Christianity distinguished itself by determining that observance of halakha was not necessary for non-Jewish converts to Christianity. Another major difference is the two religions' conceptions of God. Depending on the denomination followed, the Christian God is either believed to consist of three persons of one essence, with the doctrine of the incarnation of the Son in Jesus being of special importance, or like Judaism, believes in and emphasizes the Oneness of God. Judaism, however, rejects the Christian concept of God in human form. While Christianity recognizes the Hebrew Bible as part of its scriptural canon, Judaism does not recognize the Christian New Testament.
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.
A spiritual gift or charism is an extraordinary power given by the Holy Spirit. These are believed by followers to be supernatural graces that individual Christians need to fulfill the mission of the Church. In the narrowest sense, it is a theological term for the extraordinary graces given to individual Christians for the good of others and is distinguished from the graces given for personal sanctification, such as the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" of doctrine in the Church of Scotland and has been influential within Presbyterian churches worldwide.
Granville Oral Roberts was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity Gospel Theology. He was ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness Church until 1947 and in the United Methodist church briefly in the 1960’s. He is considered one of the forerunners of the charismatic movement, and at the height of his career was one of the most recognized preachers in the US. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.
Kenneth Erwin Hagin was an American preacher. He is known for pioneering the Word of Faith movement.
In Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God as chronicled in the Bible's New Testament, and in most Christian denominations he is held to be God the Son, a prosopon (Person) of the Trinity of God.
Christ Gospel Church ("CGC") is a fundamentalist, Pentecostal non-denominational church organization founded in the 1950s by Berniece Hicks in Louisville, Kentucky, after Hicks split from William Branham's congregation.
Word of Faith is a movement within charismatic Christianity which teaches that those who believe in Jesus' death and resurrection have the right to physical health, that words have power, and that true faith is more than simply mental knowledge, but is deeply held belief that cannot be shaken. The movement was founded by the American Kenneth Hagin in the 1960s, and has its roots in the teachings of E. W. Kenyon.
The means of grace in Christian theology are those things through which God gives grace. Just what this grace entails is interpreted in various ways: generally speaking, some see it as God blessing humankind so as to sustain and empower the Christian life; others see it as forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Prosperity theology is a religious belief among some Charismatic Christians that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one's material wealth. Material and especially financial success is seen as a sign of divine favor.
Smith Wigglesworth was a British evangelist who was influential in the early history of Pentecostalism.
Within Christianity, faith, in one sense, is often discussed in terms of believing God's promises, trusting in his faithfulness, and relying on God's character and faithfulness to act. Some denominations believe in the New Covenant and in the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. According to most Christian traditions and denominations, Christian faith requires a belief in the resurrection of Jesus, and the Agony in the Garden which Jesus states is the plan of God the Father.
The conditional preservation of the saints, or conditional perseverance of the saints, or commonly conditional security, is the Arminian Christian belief that believers are kept safe by God in their saving relationship with him upon the condition of a persevering faith in Christ. Arminians find the Scriptures describing both the initial act of faith in Christ, "whereby the relationship is effected", and the persevering faith in him "whereby the relationship is sustained." The relationship of "the believer to Christ is never a static relationship existing as the irrevocable consequence of a past decision, act, or experience." Rather, it is a living union "proceeding upon a living faith in a living Savior." This living union is captured in the simple command by Christ, "Remain in me, and I in you".
Robert Bunger Thieme, Jr. was pastor of Berachah Church, a nondenominational Christian church in Houston, Texas, from 1950 to 2003. Affectionately called "the Colonel" by his congregation, he was a dispensationalist theologian who wrote over a hundred books and conducted over 10,000 sermons on various theological topics during his 55 years as a pastor.
Free grace theology is a Christian soteriological view which holds that the only condition of salvation is faith, excluding good works and perseverance, holding to eternal security. Free grace advocates believe that good works are not necessary to merit, to maintain or to prove salvation, but rather are part of discipleship and the basis for receiving eternal rewards. This soteriological view distinguishes between salvation and discipleship – the call to believe in Christ as Savior and to receive the gift of eternal life, and the call to follow Christ and become an obedient disciple, respectively. Free grace theologians emphasize the absolute freeness of salvation and the possibility of full assurance that is not grounded upon personal performance. Norman Geisler has divided this view into a moderate form and a more radical form. The moderate form being associated with Charles Ryrie and the strong form with Zane Hodges.
The Gospel Halls are a group of independent Christian assemblies throughout the world that fellowship with each other through a set of shared Biblical doctrines and practices. Theologically, they are evangelical and dispensational. They are a conservative strand of the Open Brethren movement and tend to only collaborate with other assemblies when there is doctrinal agreement.
Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity and Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis, rational analysis and argument. Theologians may undertake the study of Christian theology for a variety of reasons, such as in order to:
Evangelical theology is the teaching and doctrine that relates to spiritual matters in evangelical Christianity and a Christian theology. The main points concern the place of the Bible, the Trinity, worship, Salvation, sanctification, charity, evangelism and the end of time.
...minister to the peoples of the world with the goal of seeing them made whole in mind, body and soul. ... God seeks to give men life – more abundant life – life in its abounding fullness of joy and strength. He is life itself and He seeks to share it with us.
God is a good God who wants to bless people spiritually, physically and economically.