No More Prophets
A recent post by Dr. Bill Barrick brought up the topic of prophets and prophecy. Dr. Barrick’s theme is “The Authority of Scripture in the Book of Jeremiah.” The post is worth reading, I’d like to expand on a few points he raises at the end of the post.
These days many Christians misunderstand prophecy. Charismatism dominates a significant portion of Evangelicalism, leading to this misunderstanding. A case in point is Sam Storms, called a Third Wave charismatic, who offers this definition of prophecy:
“Prophecy is the human report of a divine revelation. It is this that distinguishes prophecy from teaching. Teaching is always based on an inscripturated text; prophecy is always based on spontaneous revelation.”1
Knowing that Storms is not a cessationist, the definition is startling at first glance, perhaps not exactly what one would expect. He goes on to qualify his view of prophecy with this statement, “However, although rooted in revelation, prophecy is occasionally fallible.”2 He argues that God makes no mistake in what he says, but humans may make mistakes in reporting what God says. Thus, along with others in his circles, he makes room for an ongoing “gift” of prophecy that need not pass the one hundred percent accuracy test of the Old Testament. (Dt 18.22, cf. Jer 28.9.)
Dr. Barrick’s article argues for the Old Testament definitions applying to the New Testament exercise of one and the same gift. To define prophecy, he refers to the words of Micaiah, prophet of God, determined to tell Ahab the king what God would say, “As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak.” (1 Kings 22.14) The prophet functions like a royal herald, who speaks for the king, “Thus saith the king…” (1 Kgs. 2:30; 20:2, 5; 2 Kgs. 18:19). When the prophet speaks for God, the prophet frequently says, “Thus saith the Lord…” (Ex 4.22 and 417 other references use this formula). In saying this, the word spoken, stripped of human personality and invention, plainly is the Word of God. The most well-known New Testament example is Agabus, who speaks “by the Spirit” in Ac 11.29 and says, “Thus saith the Holy Ghost…” in Ac 21.10.
Third Wave proponents like Storms use Agabus as their proof of a lesser NT form of prophecy.3 Notice that the inspired text of Acts has Agabus unambiguously declaring, “Thus saith the Holy Ghost…” Since this text is inspired, to claim Agabus is mistaken denies inerrancy, among other things. To make prophecy in the New Testament less than prophecy in the Old Testament seriously undermines the Scriptures.
Commenting on the introduction of Agabus to the readers of Acts, F. F. Bruce offers this definition of prophecy in his comments on Ac 11.28:
“The gift of prophecy in the apostolic church was like the gift of tongues in that it was exercised under the immediate inspiration of God; it differed from it in that it was expressed in the speaker’s ordinary language.”4
This is nothing other than the same gift of prophecy by which holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirt (2 Pt 1.21). Prophecy is speaking for God who cannot lie. Storms helpfully distinguishes it from teaching, but he very unhelpfully suggests prophets can err.
My title goes beyond mere definition, however. “No More Prophets” … By that I mean to say that prophecy no longer operates during the post-apostolic dispensation. On what basis can I say that?
First, beyond question, prophecy is a temporary gift. 1 Cor 13.8 says, “Prophecy shall be abolished.” (my translation). Prophecy is a gift to the church, no doubt of that. It is clearly in the category of supernatural gifts (1 Cor 12.10). Paul links the gift to the office and to the office of apostleship in Eph 4.11, where he says,
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers
We should be able to see that when the apostles died, no one stood up in their place to stand with them. The only “replacement” apostle was Matthias in Acts 1. He filled the place of Judas to fill up the full complement of the twelve, and Paul is added to their number as one “untimely born” (1 Cor 15.8). We don’t have substitute apostles; that gift remains in the church only in their writings (i.e. the New Testament). Since prophecy “shall be abolished,” it is reasonable to conclude that the prophets passed away with the apostles and all the other miraculous gifts, signs of apostleship, which faded away by the end of the first century. Why did they all fade away? By the time the apostles and prophets passed, the Scriptures were complete. Receiving God’s revelation depends now on acceptance of what God gave us in the Bible, a gift for the whole church. The work of the prophets is complete. Eph 3.5 explains that God revealed mysteries through the apostles and prophets. Now that the mysteries are revealed, the work of prophecy is ended.
Those who claim to be prophets need not trouble believers today. God’s word is complete. Our duty today is to study and know God’s word. There is more there than we can ever take in, more instruction for our daily life than we ever fully obey, and real communion with the God who spoke it as we in faith take in his holy word.
Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
- C. Samuel Storms, “A Third Wave View” in Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? 4 Views (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 207. [↩]
- Ibid. [↩]
- Robert Saucy ably answers Storms’ arguments about Agabus in the 4 Views book, pp. 231-232. [↩]
- F. F. Bruce, Commentary on the Book of the Acts (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1954), 242. [↩]