Selling Jesus

Conley Owens takes the affirmative position, and Jonathan Melin takes the negative in this debate hosted by #doreancon 2025 on "The Stewardship of Scripture" at Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church in Sunnyvale, CA."For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:17...

This sermon was preached by Kyle Fitzgerald on 10/12/2025 at Bethany Baptist Church in Stockton, California. ⁠⁠ sellingjesus.org ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  |  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ thedoreanprinciple.org ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  |  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ copy.church

Read the article. The Bible is replete with commands regarding the intersection of money and ministry: “Freely give” ( Matt 10:8 ), don’t be “peddlers of God’s Word” ( 2 Cor 2:17 ), “you cannot serve God and money” ( Matt 6:24 ), etc. Clearly, ministry is a task fraught with danger; it is no wonder James warns that not many should become teachers ( James 3:1 ). Given these concerns, how are those...

Read the article. While there are a number of gray areas, it's clear that God has forbidden finance-based partiality in giving access to biblical teaching. This is precisely what is done when tickets to Christian conferences are sold. ⁠ sellingjesus.org ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  |  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ thedoreanprinciple.org ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  |  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ copy.church ⁠

In conversations about charging for ministry, 1 Corinthians 9 often comes up, and for good reason. It’s the longest passage we have that talks about supporting those in ministry. But people often come away with the wrong message when they read it. In this video, I want to lay our cards on the table and show you exactly how and why we interpret 1 Corinthians 9 to be consistent with our position tha...

On Thursday, June 26th, 2025, Conley Owens debated "Hazard's Ghost" (on x.com as @WhosDude) about charging for Christian conferences. sellingjesus.org ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  |  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ thedoreanprinciple.org ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  |  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ copy.church

Read the article. 2 Corinthians is replete with remarks regarding sincerity. It would be rightly said that the theme of the whole book is  The Sincerity of the Kingdom of God . This underlying concern flows from the first chapter where Paul responds to suspicions about his motives ( 2 Cor. 1:17 ), to his appeal for the Corinthians’ sincere love ( 2 Cor. 6:11 ), to his denunciation of the integrity...

Read the article. If selling Jesus is a sin, is buying Jesus a sin? Often, people are convinced by the biblical arguments that Christian teaching should not be sold but then want to know whether Christian teaching may be bought. How does this apply to a Christian who wants to go to a seminary that charges tuition, read an e-book that costs money, etc.? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ sellingjesus.org ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | ...

Allow me to introduce you to an article by Karl Fogel titled The Surprising History of Copyright and The Promise of a Post-Copyright World . Although the author is not concerned with the monetization of ministry, the arguments are compelling, setting an example for all Christians on how to think critically and historically about intellectual property. Although the author does not argue his points...

Read the article. One of the common misconceptions about the  King James Version  (KJV) of the Bible is that it is a  universally  public domain work—something many tout as a feature of its superiority to modern copyrighted translations. But most don’t realize that  it is still under a special perpetual copyright of the Crown in the United Kingdom . Unlike the KJV, some modern translations such as...

We love to highlight ministries that are freely giving, not only so that others can see that it’s possible, but also to encourage them and help you know how to pray for them. So in this episode we’re putting the spotlight on Lingua Deo Gloria. Learn more at linguadeogloria.com . Learn more about communicative language teaching . ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ sellingjesus.org ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  |  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ thedoreanprinci...

Read the article. When someone needs a blood transfusion, should you sell your blood to them, or give it freely? How much is blood worth? What is the price of human life? These are questions most haven’t thought much about, but the landmark 1970 book  The Gift Relationship: From Human Blood to Social Policy  explores them deeply. The author, British sociologist Richard Titmuss, carefully considers...

In this episode (which is the audio of the video version ) we will see that while Christians should glorify God in all aspects of life, not all work can be classified as ministry. We’ll look at how misinterpretations of biblical passages often lead to the misconception that “everything is ministry.” From a careful examination of Scripture we’ll show that Christian ministry should be understood as...

Read the article. For those interested in disseminating ministry materials at no cost, Creative Commons licenses have provided a standard alternative to full copyright. Any license in this suite of licenses ensures that material may be distributed to anyone without royalties. In particular, the  Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA)  has been a favorite among many. Unlike many...

This episode discusses how the sin of Judas has a modern-day parallel in the practice of selling Christian teaching for profit. Those who trade the things of God for material gain are committing a sin akin to Judas's betrayal. Despite the good intentions behind selling Christian teaching, Conley warns that it is a serious sin with grave spiritual consequences, urging repentance and a return to...

Eric is the leader of a prominent publisher of valuable resources in the field of biblical studies. He loves God with all his heart, and wants to see the Church edified and grow in the knowledge of Christ through the amazing things he publishes. In spite of knowing the Bible better than just about anyone, he still has not considered whether commercializing the truth of Scripture is something God c...

Here at  Selling Jesus , we advocate that ministries  release their content into the public domain . Among other reasons, we believe this to be  the most consistent approach  to Jesus’s command to “freely give” in Matthew 10:8. However, a question occasionally arises at this point:  Couldn’t another party republish that content and claim it as their own?  Further, couldn’t they then take legal act...

This episode offers practical guidance and wisdom on how to share the principle of freely giving, along with its implications and applications. It can be a sensitive topic, and people often avoid sharing it with others out of fear of offending someone. Our goal is to encourage you to spread the biblical truth that ministry should be supported but not sold, so that individuals and churches can see...

This series on " ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ " takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Julia is a well-known Christian YouTuber and blogger. Her mission is to leverage the reach of the internet to edify believers with God-centered, Christ-exalting content. She’s particularly ca...

Many feel intimidated when it comes to making their book available free of cost or hindrance. And if you’ve listened to our conversation about Joe the Author , you may have lots of practical questions about where to start. This guide is for you. A common misconception is that you need a legacy publisher to typeset, format, and publish your book in order for it to be successful, beautiful, and prof...

In this episode ( which you can read on sellingJesus.org ) Jon explores how the Christian music industry exploits church worship for commercial gain, despite religious exemptions for churches. Churches are required to pay annual licensing fees to use modern worship songs in their services, and most of the money goes to a select few artists who charge exorbitant fees and have questionable practices...

This series on " ⁠⁠⁠⁠Christians Who Sell Jesus⁠⁠⁠⁠ " takes profiles that represent real-world scenarios wherein well-meaning individuals are actively engaged in the Jesus trade, often unwittingly. Mandy is an Old Testament scholar and the author of some of the best commentaries on Job and Amos. Both are published by Zondervan and don’t cost more than other commentaries. She’s also employ...

What do you do when you've invested years working for a particular ministry that's part of the Jesus Trade, but then become convicted that selling ministry is wrong? We received an email from a listener along these lines. She finds herself in a dilemma. She wants to give Christian teaching freely and reach more people, but the organization she works under requires her to charge people a se...

Our guest in this episode, ⁠Joseph Jacowitz⁠ , has been the pastor of Christ Bible Church, in Pleasanton, CA since 1990. He and his wife Sherry have been married since 1978 and have five children and eight grandchildren. Most importantly, for this podcast, Joe is the president of ⁠FirstLove Ministries⁠ , which is one of the few ministries that truly lives out the ⁠Dorean Principle⁠ of freely givin...

"When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money. 'Give me this power as well,' he said, 'so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit'" (Acts 8:18-19). The sale of religious instruction is rightly labeled simony. As such, it should be readily condemned. The contemporary church is saturate...