Prophets, prophecies, prophesying, modern-day
prophets...Many are asking us questions on these topics.
Here is my answer to a simple question which we were asked:
'Are There Prophets in Today's Church? A Growing Number Seem
to be Claiming to be Prophets!'
We witness a mushrooming of 'prophets' in
today's more charismatic congregations. One whole group of the
new prophets will be found within 'positive confession' (prosperity gospel) congregations, and another group in the older-style
'restorationist' (pentecostal/charismatic) congregations.
Some of these new prophets have made some quite amazing prophetic
statements and claims and - lamentably - cult watchers are already
filling books with failed prophecies. We could detail those here,
but I don't want to do that since others have done it. I simply
want to question the whole concept of modern-day prophets within
the Church. Let us do that.
The age of the great Old Testament Prophets has, of course, now
past. There are no Isaiahs, Jeremiahs or Ezekiels around today.
Hebrews 1:1-2 plainly tells us that we now live in a new
era:
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets
at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has
spoken to us by his Son whom he appointed heir of all things, and
through whom he made the universe. (NIV).
The age of the Prophets who were undoubtedly famous men within
their own societies has now past. The great Hebrew Prophets could
claim an audience before kings and princes and were undoubtedly
famous men indeed. And yet, Scriptures such as Romans 12:6, 1
Corinthians 12:10 and 14:29-32, show that a gift of prophecy can
be expected to be witnessed in the New Covenant Church of
God!
It seems quite plain from a consideration of Acts and 1
Corinthians 14:29-32 that the New Testament gift of prophecy is
quite different to the Old Testament conception of 'prophet' -
The new prophets can be expected to be active within church
congregations and not necessarily in any way famous beyond
that. One of the difficulties for us in understanding the
conception of prophet in our day is partly due to the fact that
the Greek word translated prophet (propheteis) is really much
broader than the English word 'prophet', which tends to have
quite a specific ring. Truthfully, the Greek word can - just as
easily - mean 'inspired speaker', or 'encouraging speaker', and
some of the New Testament references don't necessarily go beyond
that. Yet some Scriptures obviously speak of 'prophecy' in a
predictive sense. Scriptures to consider here are Acts 11:27-30,
Acts 13:1-3, Acts 15:32-34 and Acts 21:10-11. Moreover, the Holy
Spirit's action of warning Paul and his companions against
speaking in Asia may well have come through a congregation
prophet (Acts 16:6-7). The reference to the prophet Anna (Luke
2:36) does not need to be taken into our consideration of the New
Covenant office of prophet since Anna prophesied well before
Christ's sacrifice upon the cross making her one of the very last
Old Covenant prophets.
A consideration of these Scriptures quickly shows that these
congregational prophets were just that, that is, they prophesied
of conditions which would affect church congregations or leaders.
In Acts 11:27-30, Agabus prophesies that a famine would spread
over 'the entire Roman world' - this would obviously
affect congregations of Christians. The text clearly tells us
that this occurred 'during the reign of Claudius' (Verse
28).
In Acts 13:1-3, we again see prophets mentioned. At first this
might appear to be a looser use of 'prophet', but it seems they
are only mentioned here because a message to set apart Paul and
Barnabas is received (Verse 2).
When we come to Acts 15:32-34, there is mention of Judas and
Silas being prophets but the use here could well denote the
encourager and inspirer sense of prophet, since no predictive
prophecy is mentioned. Notice it:
Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to
encourage and strengthen the brothers
(Verse32)
In other words, this might mean little more than, 'Judas and
Silas who themselves were very encouraging and inspiring speakers
said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers'
We now come to Acts 21:10-11. Agabus is again involved here. He
utters a predictive prophecy regarding Paul. By the way, this was
probably around 15 years after the Acts 11:27-30 occasion.
So we can see that there were indeed New Covenant prophets, but
they bore little resemblance to the Old Testament Hebrew prophets
who had been national figures warning of various
national calamities which would befall Israel and Judah if
the people did not turn from their wicked ways!
But the New Testament office only appeared concerned with
Christian congregational life and with the protection of
Christian leaders.
We now need to look more closely at 1 Corinthians 14, which tells
us something about the use of both 'tongues' and prophecies in
first century congregational life.
First of all, a careful consideration of verses 27-33 reveals
that confusion was forbidden within the congregation. Two people
were never to speak at once! Regarding tongues (which we are not
discussing in this article), if there was to be no
interpretation, the one who might wish to speak was to be quiet
(verse 28). Corinth was a thriving seaport in which people of
several nationalities could be present; it would be natural for
some of these people to praise God in their native tongue, but
Paul points out that the edification of the whole
congregation was important. Then the text discusses prophets. Two
or three could speak but, again, never at the same time! -
maintaining orderly conduct without confusion was obviously
deemed very important (verse 33). Paul writes that,
The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of
prophets
(Verse 32).
In other words, prophets have no automatic right to go too far or
to go beyond their moment of inspiration! There seems little
doubt that this is a looser sense of prophet than the sense in
which Agabus was a prophet, since whatever a prophet said was to
be evaluated (verse 29), presumably such an evaluation
would come from the congregation's Elder (or, minister). These
people were obviously not allowed free reign to say whatever they
wanted without evaluation!! Paul obviously recognised that
prophecy could be a gift, but this is unquestionably a looser
sense of prophecy in which a Christian might receive a moment of
inspiration, rather than any sense that the early church was
simply filled with prophets of the stature of Agabus!
Yet Paul's quite stern warning against disorderliness and
confusion being allowed to occur, obviously shows that reports
had reached him of some confusion during services at Corinth!
Extreme charismatic churches should take warning!! Obviously
speaking primarily to those who occasionally spoke in tongues or
uttered prophecies, Paul goes as far as to say,
If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored
(Verse 38)
Again, these people were obviously not uttering prophecies like
Agabus' warning, through the Holy Spirit, that a famine would
effect the entire Mediterranean area.
So we surely have to conclude that this 1 Corinthians 14 sense of
'prophecy' is quite a loose sense (don't forget that the Greek
word for prophecy is rather broad), and may be closer to 'a
moment of inspiration which could be of divine origin' sense. My
own careful consideration of Romans 12:6 and 1 Corinthians
14:29-32 leads me to believe that 'prophesy' here means,
'to speak inspirational/encouraging words in public' deriving
from a conception of 'prophet' which (in these verses)
would mean, 'One able to speak inspiring, encouraging or
revelatory words to others in public' - we would now call this
'the gift of preaching'. It is particularly clear from 1
Corinthians 14:29-32 that Paul felt that these 'prophecies' might
emanate from any part of the congregation, amounting to
even three occasions during a service! But people like Agabus
whom the Holy Spirit directed to utter predictive warnings to the
Church were undoubtedly rare. Again, any careful evaluation of
Paul's words in these verses shows that he is not talking about
congregational prophets of the stature of Agabus! We must
ensure that we don't go beyond what the inspired text actually
says.
CONCLUSION
The great national prophets of Israel and Judah,
like Hosea and Isaiah have now gone; their mission concluded with
the arrival of the New Covenant (Hebrews 1:1-2).
The New Testament indicates the presence of, probably a very few,
Congregational Prophets. These prophets appear to have
been granted a gift of predictive prophecy in order to protect
Christian leaders and congregations.
But within the New Testament there are surely strong indications
that the words 'prophet' and 'prophecy' are not always used in
exactly the same way. Agabus was obviously a major
congregational prophet and there were undoubtedly a few
others. But Paul often does not use the word prophet in that
particular sense, for example in 1 Corinthians 12:10, 1
Corinthians 14:29-32 and Romans 12:6. Here without question a
looser sense of this broad Greek word was being employed, perhaps
more akin to 'moment of inspiration', or, 'encouraging and
inspiring speaker'.
My opinion, for what it is worth, is that we have no prophets
like Agabus in today's Church of God! But we may have very many
in the much looser sense of prophet. But even if we did have
people of the stature of Agabus, it seems clear to me that - in
this age of the Church - they would confine themselves to being
congregational prophets - and yet today's new breed of
(very often self-proclaimed) 'prophets' have been unabashed about
making the most amazing national predictions concerning countries
like America and Israel even though Hebrews 1:1-2 appears to tell
us that those kind of prophets have now simply gone!
But the New Testament does warn of false prophets who have
always been around. Consult Acts 13:6-10 and Revelation 2:20.
Also lets look at Matthew 7:
Watch out for false prophets. They shall come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By
their fruit you will recognise them...
(Matthew 7:15-16)
Occasionally, somebody E Mails me with great excitement about
some new prophet or prophetic prediction which can be found on
some website or other. I hope that this article explains why I am
invariably so cool on this whole topic!! Just taking the recent
Iraq war, some most amazing "prophecies" have floated
around the internet, just about every one now being exposed as a
false prophecy!! Might that not be one way in which we will know
them 'By their fruits'?
Museltof
2003