“Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”
– Luke 7:39 NKJV
Misconceptions abound when it comes to prophetic ministry and prophets. The reference above illustrates this perfectly. Jesus is interacting with a woman and a religious leader has a preconceived idea as to what a “real” prophet would be doing or saying. It becomes even more interesting as the religious leader is a supposed expert in what we would call “biblical knowledge” and the accusation is made towards Jesus who would epitomize the ultimate prophetic expression. I also think this story opens up the very real consideration that Old Testament prophetic activity may not exactly be replicated under a new covenant. In other words, an Old Testament prophet may not transition through the Cross in exactly the same way to be a New Testament prophet. (We will open that can in an upcoming post.)
The point at hand before we answer any question about how a prophet today might function is whether or not prophets even exist today? Is that a possibility? Could it even be a reality?
My short answer is, “Yes”. Not simply because I want the possibility to be true, but rather the Bible tells me it’s true. Let’s take the strongest references I can find.
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;”
– Ephesians 4:11-13 NKJV
Paul gives us 3 reasons why prophets (and the other 4 offices listed) are still around. The reasons revolve around the equipping and building-up of the saints UNTIL we reach certain spiritual benchmarks. These marks include:
- Unity of the faith. (Has the Body of Christ experienced this yet? I don’t believe so.)
- Knowledge of Jesus to a perfect or “complete” person. (Has the Body of Christ manifested any sense of completion? I think not.)
- A stature of existence which manifests the fullness of Christ’s qualities. (Has this in any way been demonstrated on a wide scale expression? Of course not.)
Therefore, according to Paul’s perspective and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, prophets are still amongst us.
“And in those days, prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch.”
– Acts 11:27 NKJV
The prophets (please notice the plural) were recognized ministers with the resident gift of prophet. Their ministry included the ability to foretell future events, and they played a vital role in guiding and edifying the church. They were part of the foundational gifts God gave to the church, as mentioned in Ephesians 4:11. In this instance, the prophet Agabus correctly predicted a famine that would affect the entire Roman world, which occurred during the reign of Claudius (41-54 AD). This prediction was corroborated by the Roman historian, Josephus. The presence of prophets in Antioch demonstrates how the early church was led by both apostles and prophets, who provided divine insight and direction for the community to prepare for future events. This was all taking place as the Old Testament scriptures were highly esteemed and viewed authoritatively in the church.
Again, there is no reason to assume that this template ceased to exist.
“And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.”
– I Corinthians 12:28 NKJV
As Paul restores order in the Church at Corinth, he clearly authenticates the existence of “prophets” alongside the unquestionable office of teacher. It is unlikely that he, much less the working of the Holy Spirit in inspiration, would leave such a gap for us without greater explanation.
At the end of the day, there is no indicator in Scripture that this office no longer exists. In fact we find in the New Testament the exact opposite. Each of these persons are directly linked to a prophetic ministry or office.
Agabus
Anna
John the Baptist
John (Patmos)
Judas Barsabbas
Lucius of Cyrene
Manaen
Phillip
Phillips daughters
Silas
Simeon Niger
Again, as we refer back to the opening scripture that records Jesus breaking some kind of preconceived notion from the religious that existed about prophets, it becomes a springboard for a more in-depth look at how the prophetic ministry changed from the Old Testament into the New Testament.
Stay tuned, at least 5 more posts dealing with how this transition took place.
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