Nigeria presents a striking paradox: despite being one of the most Christian-populated countries in Africa, the nation continues to experience persistent economic underdevelopment, systemic corruption, deep inequality, and weak institutional accountability. This study interrogates this contradiction by examining the relationship between Christian ethics and economic development in Nigeria from a moral economy perspective. Employing a qualitative and hermeneutical approach, the paper critically engages core Christian ethical pedagogies—such as stewardship, justice, dignity of labour, integrity, and communal responsibility—and evaluates their relevance for shaping economic behaviour and development outcomes. Drawing analytically on Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the study explores how religious values may foster discipline, productivity, and ethical rationality within economic life, while also highlighting the contextual limitations of Weber’s thesis in Nigeria’s contemporary socio-economic environment. The analysis reveals that the challenge is not the absence of Christian ethical discourse, but its selective internalization, prosperity-oriented reinterpretations of faith, weak institutional mediation, and the constraining effects of structural and political-economic conditions. As a result, the coexistence of pervasive Christian moral rhetoric with ethically fragile economic practices produces a persistent moral paradox rather than sustainable development. The paper concludes that Christian ethics, when critically re-embedded within public institutions, economic governance, and communal life, can contribute meaningfully to a more inclusive, accountable, and morally grounded model of economic development in Nigeria.