Is life insurance biblical?

What Scripture says about providing for your family

These are the passages most often cited. Quotations are from the King James Version.

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.1 Timothy 5, verse 8

Paul wrote this in a passage about caring for widows. He expected families to support their own so that the church could care for widows who had no one. It is the verse most Christians think of first when they ask about life insurance.

A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children.Proverbs 13, verse 22

Proverbs treats leaving something behind as a mark of a good life, not a lack of trust.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.Proverbs 22, verse 3

Proverbs praises planning ahead for trouble you can see coming. Death is the one event every family can see coming.

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.Proverbs 6, verses 6 to 8

In Genesis 41, Joseph stored grain through seven years of plenty so that Egypt could survive seven years of famine. Christians often point to Joseph as a picture of faithful planning.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.James 1, verse 27

Scripture returns again and again to the care of widows and the fatherless. A life insurance benefit is one way a husband or wife can make sure their own family is not left in need.

The objections, and how teachers answer them

Doesn't buying insurance show a lack of faith?

This is the most common worry, usually drawn from Jesus' words in Matthew 6.

Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.Matthew 6, verse 26

Most teachers answer that Jesus was warning against anxiety, not against planning. The same Scripture praises the ant for gathering in summer and Joseph for storing grain. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association put it this way in answer to a reader who believed insurance was unnecessary for a Christian.

But what he has overlooked is that one of the ways God may provide for a needy family is through insurance.Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

The test most pastors suggest is the heart behind the purchase. Buying coverage out of fear, or as a substitute for trusting God, is a spiritual problem. Buying it as an act of love and stewardship is not.

Isn't insurance a form of gambling?

Gambling creates a risk that did not exist in order to win money. Insurance does the opposite. It takes a risk that already exists, the loss of a family's provider, and shares it across many families so that no one family carries it alone. That is closer to the mutual aid of the early church than to a wager.

Shouldn't the church take care of widows?

The church has always cared for widows, and still does. But Paul's instruction in 1 Timothy 5 was that families should care for their own first, so the church could help those who had no one. A policy that pays a family directly lets the church's help go further.

Is it wrong to profit from a death?

A life insurance benefit is not a profit. It replaces part of what a family loses when someone they depend on dies, such as income, care for children and the cost of a funeral.

How different Christian traditions see it

• Catholic. The Knights of Columbus was founded in 1882 partly to protect the widows and orphans of Catholic men, and it remains one of the largest life insurers in the country.
• Lutheran and other Protestant traditions. Thrivent grew out of Lutheran fraternal societies formed to protect members' families. One of the earliest life insurance organizations in America was a Presbyterian fund created in 1759 in Philadelphia for the widows and children of ministers.
• Anabaptist. Some Amish and conservative Mennonite communities avoid commercial insurance and rely instead on church mutual aid, where members share each other's losses directly. Others, served by organizations like Everence, use insurance within that tradition of mutual care.
• Evangelical. Some evangelical teachers favor term life and caution strongly against whole life as an investment. Others see permanent coverage as a sound way to leave a legacy. We cover that debate on our whole life page.

Practical stewardship

If you decide life insurance is right for your family, a few principles keep it in its place.

• Buy what you need, not what you fear. A common starting point is 10 times your yearly income while children are young.
• Keep it affordable. A policy you cannot keep paying protects no one. For most young families, term life gives the most protection for the money.
• Remember the funeral. The National Funeral Directors Association put the median cost of a funeral with viewing and burial at $8,300 in 2023, before the cemetery. A small whole life policy keeps that bill off your children and your church.
• Consider a gift. You can name a church or ministry as a beneficiary of all or part of a policy.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. The Holy Bible, King James Version (public domain).
2. Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Is it true the Bible teaches God will take care of us, making insurance unnecessary? billygraham.org
3. Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of Canada, Insurance can be part of wise planning for your future. billygraham.ca
4. Crown Financial Ministries, Is life insurance biblical? crown.org
5. Tontine Coffee-House, The Presbyterian Ministers' Fund. tontinecoffeehouse.com
6. National Funeral Directors Association, 2023 General Price List study. nfda.org