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

Christ's Continuing Voice in the Church

without credentials, but to show that even in highly structured and stan dardized settings, it is possible for God to make exceptions for those qual ified by Him. This remarkably gifted teacher had been given a prophetic word that not only gave her a glimpse of a future possibility, but it released in her the faith that enabled God to bring it to pass. I do not put this prophetic word on a par with the eternal logos of God, of course, but affirm that the simple little prophecy was one hundred per cent accurate and a remarkable assurance to Debbie. Prophecy in the Church does not add to the Scripture but complements it and encourages the people. Three simple proofs confirm this: • Prophecy is included in the listings of spiritual gifts in 1 Cor inthians 12-14, indicating it would be part of the standard opera tion in a local church. • Prophecy occurred in at least fourteen of the local churches men tioned in the New Testament (see chapter 10). "The charismata were present in every geographical area in which the church was found." 16 This obvious noncanonical use of prophecy in the ancient churches set a standard for the entire Church age and includes the churches of today. • Three references in the New Testament about "judging" prophecy (see chapters 20 and 21) clearly indicate that prophecy in the churches did not compete with the canon of Scripture, either then or now. Cessationism assumes that the only purpose of biblical prophecy was to supply us with a "canonized" Scripture. Now, with the full canon given, we must assume prophecy is no longer needed. Some also feel that to affirm prophecy for today compromises the unique authority of the Bible, causing a shift from an objective confidence in Scripture to unreliable (or even deceptive) subjective experience. Proponents of this view misunderstand the nature of prophecy that functioned in the early churches. Much prophesying took place to aid in daily living on a personal and practical level. (We discussed this thor oughly in chapter 10, so my comments here will be limited.) I agree with Michael Harper: "In the New Testament sense prophecy is concerned mainly with the domestic life of the Church." 17 • 238 Answer 2: Prophecy Complements Scripture