Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

Channels of Prophetic Expression in the Church

inthians 12:28; Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; 4:11; Revelation 18:20). Paul demanded without compromise that the Corinthian prophets come under his guidance and direction (1 Corinthians 14:37). Bryn Jones of the United Kingdom gives this contemporary analysis of the roles of apostle and prophet: The apostle is primarily an architect, concerned with the overall design of the local church.The prophet, on the other hand, is first and foremost a seer, who sees beyond the present situation and brings the purposes of God into sharp focus.He has a revelation of the mind of God....The prophet is primarily concerned about keeping things moving, whereas the apostle tends to concentrate more on what is being built and how it is being achieved....People sense that the apostle has an anointing that embraces God's purpose on a scale far wider than the immediate issues.They can respond to a prophet's inspiration for the immediate but they find security in an ongoing relationship with an apostle. 27 The words of both Old and New Testament prophets were not to be accepted automatically as correct and above question. Prophecy, regard less of the level of proficiency and ministry, was given close scrutiny by the leadership (1 Corinthians 13:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21; 1 John 4:1). This approach served to encourage the people to prophesy, assuring them that they would be supervised, and to hold a restraining hand on fanaticism. A great deal of prophetic activity is mentioned in the New Testament, but only four people are specifically called prophets: Agabus, Judas, Silas and John (Acts 11:28; 15:32; Revelation 10:8-11). Mention is made of "prophets and teachers" at Antioch (Acts 13:1), but the five men named are not specifically categorized. The four virgin daughters of Philip who prophesied are not, as I said, called "prophetesses" in the Greek text of Acts 21:9, although that is the translation given in the NASE and suggested by The Expositors Bible Commentary. Strong arguments are presented to make Barnabas a prophet, 2 8 and some scholars feel that some of the apostles could also be classified as prophets 29 -or at least they functioned with great prophetic abilities, such as Paul (some would use Acts 13:1 to justify this; note 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Timothy 4:1); James (possibly receiving a prophetic word of wisdom at the council at Jerusalem, Acts 15:19, 28); and John (scribe of the apocalypse, Revelation 10:8-11). 30 The study of Acts has caused some to believe that the prophets wan dered without a settled community (Acts 11:27; 15:32; 21:10-11), although personally I do not infer this from these references. We are given no indication that Agabus or other prophets were wild-eyed wanderers who struck prophetically wherever and whenever they wished. The term wandering is both unfortunate and unnecessary. Forbes refutes this description most effectively: 189 ■