Alongside the ongoing preaching ministry, the New Testament names a number of individuals who function as prophets.
Caiaphas (John 11:49-52). Agabus (Acts 11:27-30; 21:10-11). Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen and Saul — who are also called ‘teachers.’ And the four unmarried daughters of Philip the evangelist (Acts 21:9).
Which raises a question worth answering carefully: what exactly is meant by ‘prophecy’ in the New Testament, and how should the accompanying spiritual gift be understood?
‘By his Word and his Spirit Christ is always with us still, unto the end of the world.’
Why Precision Matters Here
The question isn’t academic. This gifting was widely practised in the early church (1 Cor 14:31) and needed discerning and evaluating with care at the time (Rom 12:5-6; 1 Cor 12:9-10; 14:2-4).
Stated simply: what is the gift of prophecy, and has it ceased today, or does it continue?
Three Views
One. The prophetic gifting of 1 Corinthians 12–14 continues in the same form as Old Testament prophecy.
Two. The gift refers to responsible, accurate and competent interpretation, exposition and application of biblical teaching (1 Cor 14:19, 24).
Three. Congregational prophecy simply reports and speaks forth in human words something God has brought immediately to mind (1 Cor 14:29; 1 Thess 5:20-21).
Eric Tully’s conclusion is worth weighing:
‘The second view is the most convincing. Just as the Old Testament Prophet received God’s word and then proclaimed it in a specific time and context, New Testament believers are gifted by the Holy Spirit to receive God’s Word (from Scripture) and then to recontextualize it for their particular audiences. In this way, God gifts his people to bring his living word to bear in a variety of situations for proclamation of the gospel and strengthening the faith of believers. Thus, while the New Testament gift of prophecy may not involve new revelation [though see the predictive component in Agabus’ prophetic ministry, Acts 11:28; 21:10-11], the task and action are analogous to Old Testament prophecy.’1Tully, ‘Prophet,’ 640.
Note the bracketed qualification. Agabus really does predict — a famine, and Paul’s arrest. The view being commended doesn’t pretend that detail away; it holds it alongside.
Not Absent — Working
Christ, the Messianic Prophet, is known through his Word and by his Spirit, and it’s this same Christ his disciples are sent to proclaim.
They announce repentance and forgiveness and, enabled by power he sends from on high, instruct others to obey everything Jesus commanded. And as they do, Jesus promises to be with them always, everywhere, until the end of the world.
Bodily, he has left. Spiritually, he has stayed and remains present, communicating ever still.
That abiding presence isn’t passive. It takes the active, living, communicative form of Christ himself building his church.
So it isn’t merely Jesus’ disciples who gather God’s church for him. The seated and reigning Jesus himself — through their endeavours and efforts — both gathers his church and governs and guards it.2Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 377. This has always been and remains his routine pattern of working.
How the Pattern Ran
To begin with, Christ prosecuted this campaign through the preaching and spoken teaching of the apostles.
Then he equipped the apostles and their associates to set down in written form what they proclaimed and taught about him — composing, producing, distributing and interpreting the New Testament Scriptures.
Together with the Old Testament, these God-breathed (theopneustos) documents comprise ‘the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim 3:15).
But the publication of Scripture was never a finished task handed over and left behind. It’s the ongoing means by which Christ still teaches his church.
The same pattern continues today. Through human Bible ministry — preaching, teaching, nurture and practice in the church — Jesus, by his Spirit, continues his work of prophecy, leading people into all revealed truth concerning himself (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13).
Bavinck states it directly:
‘It is Christ himself who gave this Word to his church and who by means of it progressively carries out his [prophetic] office. He preserves and distributes it, explains and interprets it. It is the instrument by which he makes the nations his disciples, by which he incorporates them into the fellowship of the Triune God, and makes them to walk in his commandments. By his Word and his Spirit Christ is always with us still, unto the end of the world.’3Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 377-78.
God Doesn’t Deal With Us at a Distance
Because of who Christ is — the incarnate Son of God, the Word of God — and who the Spirit is, God does not deal with us at a distance, but directly.
In the context of his imminent departure and the promised sending of the Holy Spirit and the command to love, Jesus promises that he and the Father will come and make their home with us (John 14:23).
For God is present by his Word. As we listen to the prophetic work of Christ continue in the preaching and teaching of Holy Scripture, God is speaking directly to us. And in that, God is fulfilling his strong, deep desire ‘to pour himself wholly into us.’4Henry Bullinger, ‘Of the Ministry, and the Ministries of God’s Word,’ The Fifth Decade, Third Sermon, The Decades of Henry Bullinger, Volume 5, Thomas Harding ed. (Parker Society / Cambridge University Press, 1852), 93. Thanks to Robert C. Doyle.
The Prophet Who Reigns
The point, in short, is that the Lord Jesus Christ communicates for God, continues to communicate, communicates currently, immediately, now — and communicates powerfully and effectively.
‘In and by the Word,’ he reveals ‘the mysteries of salvation’; ‘by his Spirit’ he effectively persuades people ‘to believe and obey’; he governs his people’s ‘hearts by his Word and Spirit’; ‘overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.’5The Westminster Confession of Faith, 8.8; Schaff ed., Creeds, 3:622.
That last phrase is worth not rushing past. His methods are often unsearchable to us. The outcome is not in doubt.
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- 1Tully, ‘Prophet,’ 640. ↩︎
- 2Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 377. ↩︎
- 3Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith, 377-78. ↩︎
- 4Henry Bullinger, ‘Of the Ministry, and the Ministries of God’s Word,’ The Fifth Decade, Third Sermon, The Decades of Henry Bullinger, Volume 5, Thomas Harding ed. (Parker Society / Cambridge University Press, 1852), 93. Thanks to Robert C. Doyle. ↩︎
- 5The Westminster Confession of Faith, 8.8; Schaff ed., Creeds, 3:622. ↩︎