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-
THE
OFFICE
OF
THE
PROPHET
IN
NEW
TESTAMENT
TIMES
JAMES
L.
BOYER
Head of
the
Department of
Greek
Grace
College
The
subject
of this study has its primary
reference
to
a
specific
aspect,
namely,
the
office
of
prophet
in
the
New
Testament
church.
However, tor
the
sake of thoroughness,
and
in
order
to
see
this
particular
office
in its proper
light,
we
need
first to look
generally
at
the
whole
teaching
of
the
New
Testament
regarding
prophecy. Accordingly, I shall
divide
this study into two parts: first,
generally,
the
office
and function of
prophecy
in the
New
Testament;
and
second,
specifically,
the
office
and
function
of
prophecy
in
the
Ne~
Testament
church.
I
have
attempted
to
study
and
to
include
every
reference
to prophets or prophecy or
to
pro-
phesying in
the
entire
New
Testament, with
the
exception
of those many passages where the
re-
ference
is obviously to
the
prophets of
the
Old
Testament.
Not
all
of these
references
will
be
cited,
but
it
has been
my
purpose
not
to omit
from
consideration a
single
scripture
pertaining
to
the
subject.
I.
Prophets
and
Prophecy in
the
New
Testament.
A.
Meaning
of terms.
To
begin
with,
prophecy
in
the
New
Testament is
the
same as prophecy in
the
Old
Testa-
ment;
it
is a
continuation
of
the
same
office
and
function.
Evidence
of this
is
to
be
seen in
that
the
expressions
are
used as
well-known
terms without
any
need
to
explain
them or
any
effort
to
alter
them. The
New
Testament opens with
John
the Baptist
preaching
to multitudes who
have
gone
out to
hear
one who
they
thought was a prophet.
By
far
the
majority of
the
references
in
the
New
Testament to
the
words
prophet,
prophecy,
or
to
prophesy,
are
direct
references
to
the
Old
Testa-
ment prophets
or
to
their
words or
writings.
Isaiah,
Jeremiah,
Jonah,
Daniel,
Enoch,
Samuel,
Elijah,
and
Zachariah
are
referred
to as
prophets,
and
one
of
the commonest expressions in
the
Gospels
calls
attention
to
the
ways in which Christ fulfills the words or writings of
the
Old
Testa-
ment
prophets.
Thus,
the
paper
which has
preceded
this one is
actually
the
foundation on which this
or
any
study
of
New
Testament
prophecy
mu~t
be
built.
(Note:
See
article
by
S.
H. Bess.)
B.
Prophetic
function
not
lost in Gospel
period.
When
the
New
Testament
period
opens,
the
prophetic
function was
not
entirely
lost
or
forgotten.
The years
between
the
close of
the
Old
Testament
and
the
opening
of
the
New
are
of-
ten
referred
to as
the
si
lent
years,
when
the
voi
ce
of
the
prophet
was no longer
heard
in
Israel.
And
there
is a sense in which this is
true,
for from
Malachi
until
John
no one is
to
be
found who
ranks with those who bore
the
title
in
the
Old
Testament.
But
there were those who
were
called
prophets,
and
the
ideal
of
prophecy
was still a
part
of
the
expectations
and
even
the
language
of
the
people
of
Jesus'
day.
This
article
was
read
before
the
National
Fellowshipof
Brethren
Ministers,
Winona Lake,
Indiana,
August
19,
1959.
13
14
GRACE
JOURNAL
When John the Baptist began preaching in
the
wilderness a
delegation
of
officials
chal-
lenged him with
the
question,
"Who
are
you?
•.
Are you
Elijah?
••
Are you That
Prophet?
II
(John
1:21,25).
Again
and
again
we
are
told
that
the people
he~d
John
to be a
prophet.
And Jesus
too
was
greeted
with the same
expectation.
Perhaps
even
more
clearly
this consciousness of prophecy on the
part
of the
people
in
Gospel times can be seen
in
some of the expressions and
vocabulary
used. Jesus seems to be
quot-
ing a proverb when he says,
"A
prophet
is
not
without honor save in his own country" (Matt. 13:57).
Pharisees push
aside
the claims
of
Christ with the
observation,
"Out
of
Galilee
ariseth no Prophet"
(John
7:52).
The
Lord
speaks
of
professing followers who will in the
day
of
judgment
say,
"Have
we not prophesied in thy name?1I
(Matt.
7:22),
and
He promises,
IIHe
that
receiveth
a prophet in
the name
of
a prophet shall
receive
a prophet's reward
ll
(Matt.
10:41). Such expressions show
at
least
that
the
idea
of prophets and prophecy was not
completely
lost in Israel in
New
Testament
times.
Also, there were those who
are
specifically
called
prophets
or
were said
to
prophesy.
John's
father,
Zacharias,
II
was
filled
with the Holy
Ghost,
and
prophesied" (Luke
1:67).
Anna,
a prophetess,
is
mentioned in connection with the presentation
of
the infant Jesus in the Temple
(Luke
2:36).
And
John
the Gospel writer tells
us
that
Caiaphas,
the
wicked
high-priest
who
par-
ticipated
in the trial of
Jesus,
had unconsciously prophesied when
he
said
it
was
expedient
for one
man to
die
rather
than
the
whole nation (John 11:51).
C.
Title
especially
used of two persons.
In
the Gospels the
prophetic
office
is
particularly
ascribed
to two
individuals,
John
the
Baptist
and
Jesus
Christ.
Reference has
already
been made to the
often-repeated
fact
that
the
people
believed
John
to
be a
prophet.
But
more than
that,
at
the time of his birth his
father,
speaking by
prophecy,
said,
IIThou,
child,
shalt be
called
the prophet of the Highest
ll
(Luke 1:76).
Jesus asks concerning
John,
IIWhat went ye out for to
see?
A
prophet?
Yea,
I say unto
you,
and
more than a prophetll
(Matt.
11:9) and goes
on,
"Among those
that
are
born of women there
is
not
a
greater
prophet than John the Baptist
ll
(Luke
7:28).
And the ministry
of
John
was in
every
re-
spect a true example of the
Old
Testament prophetic
office.
Jesus
also
was considered a prophet by many
of
the
people
of his
day.
When He asked
his disciples
what
men were saying
about
Him
they
answered,
IIS
ome
say
that
thou
art
John
the
Baptist; some, Elias; and others
Jeremias,
or one
of
the prophets"
(Matt.
16: 14). Similar estimates
of his person were made by Herod the tetrarch when he heard about-Jesus and his works (Luke 9:8),
by the Samaritan woman (John
4:19),
and by the man born blind (John
9:17).
When Jesus rode
into Jerusalem jn his triumphal
entry
the multitude
said,
"This
is
Jesus the prophet
of
Nazareth
of
Galilee
ll
(Matt.
21: 11), and the rulers feared to lay hands upon
Him
because
the
multitude took
him for a prophet
(Matt.
21:46).
But
more important than his reputation among men
is
the
actual
claim
of
Christ himself.
On
at
least two occasions Jesus referred to himself as a
prophet.
In
the synagogue
at
Nazareth,
when
they
rejected
his
claim,
He
said,
"A prophet
is
not without honor save in his own country
and in his own house"
(Matt.
13:57). And when He was warned
that
Herod would kill
Him
He
replied,
lilt
cannot be
that
q prophet perish
out
of Jerusalem
ll
(Luke 13:33). Thus
the
early
Christians rightly took the prophecy of Moses in Deuteronomy 18:
15,
18
and
applied
it
to
Christ:
THE
OFFICE OF
THE
PROPHET
IN
NEW
TESTAMENT
TIMES
15
"A prophet shall the
Lord
your
God
raise up unto you
of
your
brethren,
like unto me" (Acts
3:22).
Christ too exercised
all
the .functions
of
the
prophetic
office.
D.
Passages
relating
to
the
future.
Leaving the period
of
the
Gospels,
the
New
Testament speaks of a future
exercise
of
the
prophetic
function.
In
Acts
2:17-18
the
prophecy
of
Joel
(2:28)
that
in the golden
age
to come
God
would pour
out
of
his
Spirit
upon
all
flesh,
"and
your sons
and
your daughters shall prophesy"
is
given
a limited
application
to the
experience
of Pentecost, but still
the
primary
reference
to the
future kingdom
of
the
Messiah
is
not
impaired.
In
the book of Revelation the two witnesses who
stand up for
God
in Jerusalem
against
the
beast
are
said to "prophesy a thousand two hundred
and
three-score
days" (Rev.
11:3,6).
It is
clear
that
these
references
to
future propheti c
activity
are
in full harmony with
the
prophetic
function in
the
Old
Testament and
the
Gospels.
E. Summary: The
nature
of
the
prophetic
function.
In
summarizing the
nature
of
the
prophetic
function as
it
is
seen in
the
Gospels,
at
least
four elements make up
the
work
of
the
prophet.
The first
of
these,
and
probably
the
one
we most commonly
associate
with
the
word, is
the
predictive
element.
Prophecy
foretells
the
future.
This
certainly
was
an
element
of
Old
Tes:'ament prophecy
and
appears
also in
the
New.
John
the Baptist came with the prediction:
"There comes
one
after
me
•••
".and prophesies
the
coming of
the
Messiah
and
the-day
of judgment.
Jesus was exercising
the
prophetic
office
when
he
foretold
the
destruction of
Jerusalem,
the
end
of
the
age,
and
his own second coming.
The
second,
and
perhaps more important, is the hortatory
element
in
prophecy.
The
pro-
phet
not
only
foretells,
but forth tel Is. He speaks for
God.
He
voices
the
judgments and message
of
God
for the
people
of his
day.
This
even
in the
Old
Testament was
the
primary function
of
the
prophet,
and
the same
is
true in the
New.
John
preached
repentance
for
the
sins of his
day
as
well as
announcing
the
advent
of
the
Messiah,
and
it
was this
preaching
which
earned
him the
re-
putation
of
a prophet with
the
people.
The two Emmaus disciples
called
Jesus a
prophet
because
of his mighty deeds
and
words (Luke 24: 19)
rather
than
because
of
his
predictions,
for
at
the time
they
seem
actually
to
have
disbelieved
his
predictions.
While the
above
two
aspects
are
the ones usually
mentioned,
I
believe
that
there
are
two
others which
in
the
New
Testament
are
clearly
associated
with
the
prophetic
function,
at
least in
the
thinking of the
people.
A third
element
seems
to
be
the
.possession of supernatural
knowledge.
The Samaritan
wanan
said,
"I
perceive
that
thou
art
a prophet" (John
4:
19)
when Jesus surprised
her
with his
knowledge
about
herfive
past husbands
and
her
present
affair
with a man who was
not
her
husband.
It
was this supernatural knowledge which made her think
that
Jesus was a
prophet.
So also
the
Pharisee in whose house Jesus was dining
concluded,
"This
man,
if
he were a
prophet,
would
have
known who and
what
manner
of
woman this
is
that
toucheth him: for she is a sinner" (Luke
7:39).
And when the soldiers were mocking
Him
they
spit in his
face,
and
buffeted
Him
and
smote
Him
with the palms
of
their
hands,
saying,
"Prophesy unto us, thou
Christ,
who
is
he
that
smote
thee?'
(Matt.
26:68).
The possession of such knowledge would
have
been the mark
of
a
prophet,
and
the
telling
of
such hidden information would
have
been prophesying.
16
GRACE
JOURNAL
A fourth
element
is
the
pdNer
to
perform miracles
and
wonders.
Certainly
this had
been
true of many of
the
Old
Testament prophets, such as Moses,
Samuel,
Elijah,
Elisha,
and
Isaiah.
It seems
that
this,
more than
anything
else,
led the
people
of
Jesus'
day
to
call
Him
a
prophet.
When He raised to life the son of
the
widow of
Nain
the
people
IIglorified
God,
saying,
That a
great
prophet
is risen up among us"
(Lu
:
<e
7:
16). When Herod
heard
of
all
the miracles Jesus was
doing,
·
he
thought
that
John
the
Baptist was risen from the
dead,
or
that
Elijah or one of
the
pro-
phets was risen
again
(Luke
9:
7,8).
The man born
bl
ind was asked to
explain
who he thought the
man was who
had
opened
his
eyes
and
he
said,
II
He
is a prophet" (John
9:
17). Thus
again,
in
the
thinking
of
the
people
at
least,
the
power to work miracles seems to
have
been
associated
with
the
propheti c offi
ce.
II. The Offj
ce
of Prophet in
the
New
Testament
church.
I shall first survey
the
Scripture
passages
involved,
then
attempt
a summary of
the
New
Testa-
ment
teaching
on
the
subject,
and
finally
seek to
relate
it
to our
present-day
and
present-church
life.
.
A.
Survey of passages
involved.
The first
Scripture
referring
specifically
to
prophecy
in the
New
Testament church comes
from
the
very
first
day
of
the
existence
of the church (Acts
2:
17-18).
Peter,
in
explaining
the
strange phenomena of
that
Pentecostal
experience,
quotes the
prophecy
of
Joel
(2:28)
concerning
the
last days when
God
would "pour
out
of his
Spirit
on
all
flesh,
and
your sons
and
daughters
shall prophesy.
II
Whi Ie
the
prophecy
in its
context
and
primary appli-cation unquestionably looks
to
the
Messianic future
age,
the
Millenium,
Peter sees in
it
some
relationship
to
the
event
then
transpiring,
the
pouring
outof
the
Holy
Spirit
upon the
believersat
Pentecost
and
the
accompany-
ing phenomena of tongues of fire
and
the
witnessing in tongues understood by
the
different
nation-
alities
represented.
These men were not drunk;
they
were
prophesying by
the
power
of
the
Holy
Spirit poured
out
on
them.
And
there
is nothing strange
that
this
prophecy
of
the
sti
II-future
Kingdom of
the
Messiah should
be
experienced
by
the
believers
in this
age
of
the
church,
for
even
now we
are
translated
out of
the
kingdom
of
darkness
into
the
kingdom of His
dear
Son (Col. 1:13),
and many aspects of
that
future kingdom
are
already
applicable
to
us.
Thus, prophesying is
one
of the results of
the
outpouring of the
Spirit,
whether
in
the
Messianic kingdom of the future or
in those who in this church
age
enter
into
that
Kingdom.
More
directly,
there
are
many persons who
are
called
prophets or who
are
said to
pro-
phesy in the
New
Testament
church.
In
Acts 11:27, 28 we
read
that
prophets
went
down from
Jerusalem to Antioch,
one
of whom was named
Agabus,
who foretold
that
a
great
famine was
com-
ing.
This same Agabus
later
(Acts 21:
10)
foretold
Paul's
arrest
and
imprisonment in
Jerusalem.
In
Acts
13:1
we read of
certain
prophets
and
teachers
in
the
church
at
Antioch,
among whom were
listed Barnabas
and
Saul.
Again in Acts 15:32
the
two men
sent
forth by
the
Jerusalem
council to
carry its deicsion to
the
Gentile
congregations,
Judas
and
Silas,
are
also
called
prophets.
In
Acts 19:6 the
twelve
Ephesians who bel
ieved
Paul's
message
were
baptized,
the
Holy
Spirit
came
upon them,
"and
they
spake with tongues
and
prophesied.
II
In
Acts 21:9 we
are
told of four
vir-
gin daughters of Philip
the
evangelist
who prophesied. Thus in
the
early
church
there
was a group
of persons who
were
called
prophets or
were
said to prophesy.
Still
other
New
Testament
references
speak in a
general
way
about
this
prophetic
func-
tion in
the
church.
James
5:
10
calls
attention
to lithe prophets who
have
spoken in the name of
THE
OFFICE OF
THE
PROPHET
IN
NEW
TESTAMENT
TIMES
17
the Lord" as examples of suffering and
patience.
Timothy
received
his
gift
II
by prophecy, with the
laying on of the hands of
th~
presbytery"
(I
Tim. 4:14; cf. 1:18). The Thessalonians were exhorted
not
to
despise prophesyings
(I
Thess.
5:20).
Paul mentions in
connection
with his
treatment
of
women's
head-coverings
that
"every man praying or prophesying having his
head
covered dishonor-
eth his
head,
but
every
woman
that
prayeth or prophesieth with her
head
uncovered dishonoreth
her head"
(I
Cor.
11:4,5).
Again,
these
references
witness
to
the
existence
in
the
New
Testament
church
of
those
called
prophets
and
of
the,
exercise
of
the
prophetic
function.
More important for our consideration
are
a few
specific
references
to
the
gift
of prophecy
in
the
New
Testament
church.
In
Romans 12:6 Paul exhorts
us
to
diligence
in the use of the spIr-
itual gifts which the Holy Spirit has bestowed,
saying,
IIhaving then gifts differing
according
to
the
grace
that
is
given
to
us,
whether
prophecy,
let
us
prophesy
according
to
the proportion of
faith."
In
Ephesians 2:20 and
3:5
he
speaks of
"apostles
and
prophets" in
the
church,
and
in 4:11
he says
that
the
ascended
Christ has
given
gifts to
the
church,
"And
he
gave
some, apostles;
and
some, prophets; and some, evangelists;
and
some, pastors
and
teachers.
II
But
by far the most
de-
tailed
description
of
the
gift
of
prophecy in the
New
Testament church
is
to
be found in I
Corinth-
ians
12-14.
In
this section
the
apostle
is
answering a
direct
question
put
to him
by
letter
from
the
church
at
Corinth,
concerning spiritual gifts in general
and
the
gift
of tongues
in
particular.
His
answer
tells
us
practically
all
that
can be known
about
these strange gifts in the
early
church,
and perhaps
the
rest
of
this
paper
should be
an
attempt
to
give
an
exposition
of
these
chapters.
But
that
would
take
us
far beyond our immediate purpose,
so
I
have
chosen instead
to
summarize
the
New
Testament
teaching
regarding these
gifts.
B.
Summary
of
New
Testament
teaching.
First, prophecy was
one
of many supernatural spiritual gifts distributed and
exercised
in
the
New
Testament church by
the
sovereign
choice
and
power
of
the Holy
Spirit.
When we study
the Scriptures which speak of these gifts several facts
appear
which we should
note.
These gifts were not a fixed and unchanging
catalog
or just
so
many
specific
functions in
the
church.
In
at
least six
different
places
we
have
lists
of
these gifts
given
to
us
in the
New
Testa-
ment,
and no two of them
agree
either
in
the
gifts
included
or in the order
given.
Sometimes
they
are
referred to as offices in the
church,
such as
apostles,
prophets,
evangelists,
pastors
and
teachers
(Eph.
4:11).
Sometimes
they
are
referred to as
abilities
or functions, such as wisdom,
knowledge,
.
faith,
healings,
miracles,
prophecy,
discerning of spirits, kinds of tongues,
inter-
pretation
of tongues
(I
Cor.
12:8).
Usually
they
are
mixed,
as in I
Cor.
12:28:
"first,
apostles;
second,
prophets;
third,
teachers;
after
that,
miracles,
healings,
governments, discerning of
tongues,
II
or in verses
29-30
where the same I ist
is
repeated
with two omitted and
another
added.
In
Romans 12:6 what starts
out
as a list
of
gifts -
prophecy,
ministry,
teaching,
exhorting
-,
soon
changes
to
a
general
list
of
miscellaneous Christian
duties,
-
giving,
ruling,
showing mercy,
love,
etc.
The same person sometimes
exercised
several of these gifts; for
example,
Paul,
who
was an
apostle,
is also
called
a prophet (Acts 13:
1)
and
exercised
the
gift
of prophecy (by
impli-
cation
in I
Cor.
14), yet he
tells
us
that
he
spoke
In
tongues more than
all
the
others
(I
Cor.
14:
18),
and
we know
that
on many occasions
he
worked
miracles.
Also
it
seems
that
every
member
of
the
body had some one
of
these
gifts,
whether
prominent
or
insignifi
cant,
and
each
was to
re-
spect
the importance of his own
and
every
other's
gift
(I
Cor.
12:11-27).
Thus
it
appears
that
these gifts of the Spirit were special enduements or enabl ings
according
to
the
needs of the church
an~
varied
greatly
as the needs
varied.
This
is
precisely
what we
are
led to
expect
from
the
ini-
tial statements made
about
them,
that
the Holy Spirit divides lito
every
man
severally
as
he
wilL"
18
GRACE
JOURNAL
Prophecy was
one
of
these
special
miraculous
enduements.
Several things serve to
indi-
cate
the
important
place
which
it
occupied
among these spiritual gifts in
the
church.
It is
the
only
one
whichis
included
in
every
list of these gifts. The prophets
are
often
coupled
prominently
with
the
apostles,
and
when
they
are
they
always
are
second
only
to them (Eph. 2:20;
3:5;
4:11;
I
Cor.
12:28;
29-30).
They often
are
coupled with
teachers,
and
always
are
listed
ahead
of
them
(Acts 12:1; Eph. 4:11; I
Cor.
12:28,29-30,
Rom.
12:6).
In
Acts
19:6,
as many times
elsewhere,
prophecy is
associated
with the
gift
of tongues,
and
the
way
Paul uses
it
to
contrast
with tongues
in I Corinthians 14 shows
clearly
its
greater
importance and usefulness.
Second,
these spiritual gifts served a
special
confirmatory purpose in the
New
Testament
church during
the
form(Jtion
of
the
New
Testament,
and
ceased
when
that
purpose was
accom-
pi
ished.
Here we reach the crux of
the
whole
matter
and
must
part
company with
the
Pentecost-
alists
who profess
the
continuance
of these gifts in
the
church of
our
day.
In
dealing
with this
pcint
let
us
turn first
to
the book
of
Hebrews.
In
Hebrews
1:
1-2
the
writer speaks of
the
two
revelations
that
God
has made of himself.
At
different
times
and
in
dif-
fering manners
God
spoke to the fathers by the
prophets--that
is
the
Old
Testament.
Now
in these
last days He has spoken to us by his
Son.
That refers to
the
New
Testament, as he makes
plain
in
chapter
two,
when
he
contrasts
the
surety
and
inviolability
of
the
Old
Testament which was
spo-
ken by
angels
with
the
greater
surety
and
inviolability
of
the
II
so
great
salvation;
which
at
the
first began to be spoken by
the
lord,
and
was confirmed unto
us
by them
that
heard
him"
(v.
3).
Then verse four
tells
the
function of these supernatural gifts of the Spirit:
II
God
also
bearing
them
witness, both with signs
and
wonders
and
with divers
miracles,
and
gifts of the Holy
Ghost,
ac~
cording
to
his own
will.
II
The signs
and
miracles
and
spiritual gifts
were
God's
means of
con-
firming
the
word
of
the
early
Christian
preachers
during
the
period
between
the
living word of
Christ himself and the completion of
God's
Word in
the
New
Testament
Scriptures.
The
nature
of
the
gift
of
prophecy
itself points to the same
conclusion.
Prophecy in
the
New
Testament
church
was
not
mere
preaching,
it
was miraculous
preaching,
inspired
preaching.
like
prophecy
in
the
Old
Testament
it
was
saying,
"Thus saith
the
lord.
II
It was a supernatural
gift
whereby the prophet was
able
to
reveal to his listeners new truth from
God.
T~is
might mean
foretelling
the
future,or
anything
_else which could not be known by n.atural means.
His
words were
God-breathed,
inspired.
It was
"by
revelation"
that
the
mystery of
the
church was made known
to
the
apostles
and
prophets,
as Paul
tells
us
in Ephesians
3:3-5.
The
writing
of
the
New
Testa-
ment is
called
a
prophecy
(Rev.
1:3),
perhaps not
entirely
because
of
the
nature
of its
contents.
Thus,
the
gift
of
prophecy
especially
was
related
to
revelation
and
to
inspiration,
and
the
exer-
cise of
the
gift
in
the
early
church served to
place
the
stamp of
divine
authority
on
the
Christian
message during
the
period when
that
message was being
crystallized
into
the inspired
New
Testa-
mente
Going
on,
there
are
hints in
the
New
Testament
that
these spiritual gifts
were
intended
to be temporary. Probably
the
clearest
passage
is
I
Corinthians
13:8:
"Whether
there
be
pro-
phesies,
they
shall
fail;
whether
there
be tongues,
they
shall
cease;
whether
there
be
knowledge,
it
shall vanish
away.
II
Here we
need
to turn
directly
to
the
original
Greek,
for
the
King
James
Version in its
beautiful
phraseology
certainly
conceals
something of
the
directness
and
simplicity
of the
original.
There
are
three of
these
supernatural spiritual gifts mentioned here which Paul
says
are
only
temporary: proj:lhecy, tongues,
and
knowledge.
To
express this
lack
of permanence
he uses two words in the
original,
one
with
prophecy
and
know'ledge,
and
a
different
one
with
THE
OFFICE OF
THE
PROPHET
IN
NEW TESTAMENT
TIMES
19
tongues.
To
translate
it
as simply as I know
how,
it
reads thus:
"Whether
prophecies
,
they
shall
be
put
out
of
commissioni
whether
tongues,
they
shall stoPi
whether
knowledge,
it
shall
be
put
out
of
commission."
He
certainly
is
not
saying
that
prophecies
shall fail
of
fulfillment.
He says
rather
that
the
time wi
II
come when
prophecy
shall no longer be
operativei
it
wi
II
be
put
out
of
use. The
special
gifts
of
prophecy
and
supernatural
knowledge
will no longer be
needed
some
day
when
the
full
revelation
of
the
New
Testament
is
completed
and
they
wi
II
be
de-commissioned.
Of
tongues
he
is more
abrupti
they
shall
stop,
cease.
The
question
arises,
as
we
read
on
into
verses
9-12,
if
knowledge
and
prophecy
nere
are
to be
put
out
of
commission by
the
completion
of
the
New
Testament,
whether
then
the
expression
"that
which
is
perfect"
in verse 10
is
to be understood as
referring
to
the
completed
New
Testa-
ment.
This is a problem
of
interpretation
which
I
cannot
go
into
now, but
there
is no reason I
can
see why
it
cannot
be
so
taken.
The problem
really
arises
in
connection
with verse
12,
where
Poul
contrasts
"now",
when we
see
through a glass darkly,
and
"then",
when
we
shall know
even
as
we
are
known.
Here
the
contrast
seems to be
between
this
present
life
and
the
future
state.
Perhaps
the
answer may be
seen
in
the
fact
thot
between
these two sets
of
contrasts Paul uses
an
i
lIustra-
tion
of
still
another
contrast,
that
of
a
child
and
a
man.
The
interpretaticn
would then be
some-
thing
like
this:
Prophecy,
tongues
and
supernatural
knowledge
are
gifts
given
temporarily
until
that
which is
perfect,
the
written
New
Testament,
is
completed.
An
illustration
of
such a
change
from
the
temporary to
the
permanent
may
be
seen in growth from chi Idhood to
maturity,
maturity
making
the
things
of
childhood
only
temporary.
A further
illustration
is
the
contrast
between
our
knowledge
of
things now in this
life
with
what
it
will be in
the
life
to
come,
when
our
knowledge
wi
II
be di
rect
and
perfect.
Perhaps a further
hint
of
the
temporary
nature
of
these gifts in
the
early
church
is
the
record
of
the
abuse
of
the
gift
of
tongues in
the
Corinthian
church,
and
the
disrepute
into
v.h
ich
it
had
come.
Paul,
in
dealing
with
the
situation,
reminded them
forcibly
that
the
purpose
of
the
gift
was
the
edification
of
the
church
and
therefore
they
had
to be
understood.
So those with
tongues must
not
speak in
the
church unless
an
interpreter
was
present,
then
only
one
or
two or
at
most
three,
and
always
in
turn.
This last
rule
he
applied
also
to
prophecy,
and
he
rather
sternly
reminded thorn
that
II
the
spirits
of
the
prophets
are
subject
to
the
prophets"
(I
Cor.
14:
32).
These
gifts
seem
to
be
becoming,
in
the
thinking
of
this
one
church
at
least,
things to be
coveted
for
their
own
sakes,
rather
than
for
their
divinely
intended
purpose.
Now
it
is
instructive
to
note
that
the
function
of
edification
of
the
church
is
precisely
,
the
function
later
assigned to
the
written
Scriptures (II Tim. 3: 16)
and
in this
very
passage Paul demonds
that
anyone
who might consider
himself to be a
prophet
should
acknowledge
that
the
things which
he
(Paul) was then
writing
were
the
commandments
of
the Lord
(v.
37).
In
other
words,
Paul's
words,
since
they
were
Scripture,
took
precedence
over
the
words
of
the
prophets.
This
onderstanding
of
the
spiritual gifts in
the
New
Testament church is supported by
the
history of
the
church in
the
years
following.
In
the
Didache,
liThe
Teachings
of
the
Twelve
Apostles,"
written
about
the
middle
of
the
second
century,
we still
read
of
men
called
prophets,
wandering
around
from church
to
church.
Apparently
there
are
quite
a number
of
them,
but
they
no longer
held
the
position
of
honor
and
respect
which
the
New
Testament affords them. The
writ-
er
of
this
little
tract
on
practical
Christianity
deals
with a problem which
obviously
was a
very
real
one
in his day: now to distinguish
the
true
prophet
from
the
false.
He offers in
brief
this
criterion:
If
the
man stays
one
day, or
at
most
two,
receive
him.
But if
he
stays
three
he
obviously
20 GRACE
JOURNAL
is
just
after
your free support . He
is
a false
prophet.
If
he
is
satisfied
with food for
each
day
he
is a
true
prophet.
If
he
asks for money to
take
with him
he
is
a false
prophet.
Thus
early
in
the
history of
the
church
prophecy
came
into
disrepute.
What
better
explanation
is
there
than
that
suggested by
the
Scriptures?
Prophecy,
having
served
its purpose of confirming
the
message until
the
inspired
Scriptures
were
completed,
then was
de-commissioned.
Those who
continued
to
bear
the
title
had
no real
function
to perform,
and
thus arose
the
abuses
here
reflected.
One
of
the
heresies
of
the
early
church was
associated
with
the
gift
of
prophecy.
Mon-
tanism was a
sect
which
believed
in
the
continuation
of
the
miraculous spiritual
gifts
and
particu-
larl y
of
prophecy.
So
the
Montanists
were
adding
to
the
Scriptures
the
supposed
special
revela-
tions which
they
claimed
to
receive
from
the
Lord.
Nor
is this heresy
dead,
for in more
recent
times a
Joseph
Smith
received
some
tablets
from
heaven,
and
a
Mr.
Tomlinson
of
Cleveland,
Ten-
nessee,
exercises
the
prophetic
gift
as he foresees himself
elected
as
the
next
president
of
the
United
States.
As
a
matter
of
fact,
the
gift
of
prophecy
is
dead;
it
has b
een
rendered
inoperative.
To-
day,
men
are
shut up to
the
inspired
written
Word of
God
as
their
only
source
of
revelation.
It is
God's
complete
and
final message.
No
prophet
today
would
have
anything
to
say.
C.
Relation
to
present
church
functions.
There may be a sense in which these spiritual
gifts,
or
rather
the
practical
functions
of
these
gifts,
have
continued
in
the
normal
operation
of
the
work
of
the
church.
Take
the
office
of
apostle
for
example.
There
are
no
apostles
today.
They
were
the
authoritative
general
leaders
of
the
church in
the
NewTestament.
That
office
has
ceased
to exist.
Its function is
carried
on in
the
congregational
government
of
the
churches.
But
the
pronounce-
ments of
churches
are
not
authoritative
decrees
to be
put
up
alongside
the
Scriptures.
Or
look
at
the
gift
of
healing.
Workers of
miracles
have
long
since
vanished
away,
in
the
sense
that
the
New
Testament speaks
of
those who
were
supernaturally
endowed
with power to
heal
the
sick
and
do
other
mighty
VIOrks.
But
no
one
of
us
would
say
that
God
has
ceased
to
heal
the
sick.
He
still is
the
Great
Physician,
and
God
has
left
to
the
church a
divinely
appointed
means whereby
the
sick may
call
for
the
elders
of
the
church,
who
anoint
the
sick with
oil,
and
the
prayer
of
faith still saves
the
sick ane:
the
Lord
still raises them
up.
But the
elders
of
the
church
are
not
divine
healers.
So
also,
the
gift
of
prophecy
has
been
put
out
of
operation.
There
are
no
revealers
of
new
divine
truths
to
c:
ay. Goc: has saici
all
He
has to
say
in this
book.
This booi( is
all
th~
prophet
and
all
the
prophecy
there
is todayo There
are
those who
edify
the
church by
expounding
the
pro-
phecies
of
this
book,
but
they
are
not
prophets,
any
more than
elders
are
healers
or church votos
are
infallible.
Perhaps we may use in closing this
paper
a verdi
ct
of
the
people
of
Jesus'
day,
when
they
said
of
Him,
that
He
spake
as
one
having
authority
and
not
as
the
scribes
(Matt.
7:29). This
is
an
interesting
contrast.
Let
us
always
remember,
~
~~,
bringing forth
out
of
the
treasures of
God's
Book
things new
and
old,
interpreting
His
authoritative
Word for
the
edification
of
his
people.
~
~
.ruu
prophets
authoritatively
revealing
new truths from
God.
