3 John 1:2

Beloved, I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

Beloved ... "Three of the first eleven words with which the Epistle opens refer to love."[8]

That thou mayest prosper ... Here the apostle prayed for the prosperity of Gaius, and from this it is clearly not wrong for Christians to pray for prosperity; however, the qualifier should be carefully noted, "as thy soul prospereth!" The prosperity of the soul is paramount. Truly Christian people need prosperity that they may be able, as Gaius was, to dispense hospitality, aid good causes, and prevent themselves from becoming burdens upon the backs of other people. Beza translated the verse here as a prayer "for things temporal as well as for things spiritual."[9] "Prosper literally means to have a good journey."[10]

And be in health ... Good health is likewise a blessing which Christians are privileged to pray for; because, without good health, Christian service must necessarily be curtailed or abandoned, The apostles were, in no sense, health fadists, Paul even saying that "bodily exercise profiteth little (or for a little while)"; but, having due regard for the transitory nature of all earthly endowments, the child of God should nevertheless strive mightily for the maintenance and preservation of good health, the greatest of all physical blessings.

[8] John R. W. Stott, Tyndale New Testament Commentary, Vol. 19 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1964), p. 218.

[9] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 158.

[10] John R. W. Stott, op. cit., p. 218.