Sermon Notes
Introduction
1 Corinthians 14:29–35 ESV
29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
The subject of prophecy, like tongues, needs to be condensed down to essential or core concerns, when considering the vastness of the textual references one can take from the entirety of Scripture.
Therefore, my desire in this second sermon on prophecy is to help manage your expectations of what prophecy looks like in the life of the local church. As I’ve mentioned before, this series on Spiritual Gifts are meant to help us as a church pursue the spiritual gifts, not to argue about their existence.
So, I ask all of you – do you desire the gift of prophecy? If you do, I ask that you pray in your hearts that even as this sermon is preached, God may gift you with the gift of prophecy.
When it comes to the subject of prophecy, I have found that much of the fears, confusion & misuse arise from a misunderstanding of the content & purpose of prophecy in the NT church age.
That brings up the question – are NT prophecies different from OT prophecies?
- The answer, I believe, is yes & no.
- The better way to phrase that is to say that there are significant continuities & significant discontinuities with prophecy in the OT & the NT.
Pentecost
Let us begin by turning to:
Acts 2:16–18 ESV
16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
- What happened on the day of Pentecost, according to Peter, was the fulfilment of this prophecy in Joel 2:28-32.
This then is one fundamental discontinuity between the OT pattern & the NT pattern of ministry. The day of Pentecost was the opening of the floodgates when God poured out of his Spirit on all flesh.
From a time when the Spirit of God raised prophets, priests, judges & kings as mediators between him and his people, his Spirit now pours out to all flesh.
A prophet carried the words of God to his people, a priest carried the worship of his people to their God, & the judges and kings upheld the civic rule of the land. But now, Christ is a high prophet, high priest, Judge of judges, & King of kings.
In Christ, God has poured out of his Spirit to all those who belong to Jesus.
Such an outpouring would justify a change in the pattern of using & handling these spiritual gifts. - This outpouring of the Spirit results in sons & daughters, male & female servants, prophesying, & young men with visions & old men with dreams.
So, prophecy, visions & dreams were to multiply upon all flesh. This was Peter’s reasoning for what was happening at Pentecost to those gathered in the Upper Room, with tongues.
Joel’s prophecy was not merely restricted to a few spiritual gifts like prophecy, but rather it indicated an overall outpour of God’s power upon all flesh. I find in Scripture no indication that suggests that God intended to pour out of his Spirit in this way, only to take it all back.
This is the NT normative.
Besides, this fundamental change in pattern is tied to the work of Christ. This was the result of his doing.
John 16:7 ESV
7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.Jesus is ascended, the Spirit has come, poured out on all flesh, and this is the inauguration of the church age. - Therefore, if all are potentially capable of prophesying (if the Spirit gifts them), then the practical way in which prophecy functions, is tested, and the purpose for which all now prophecy are all affected. We can’t simply look at the practice of OT prophecy, and make conclusions for the NT church.
With such widespread distribution of this gift, it is only reasonable to assume that there will many failures & misunderstandings as to the purpose & use of this gift. This is what Paul is trying to address to the Corinthian church.
Revelation
What is prophecy? It is the human delivery of divine revelation.
This remains the same in the OT & the NT. What prophecy fundamentally it hasn’t changed, but what it does, where it is used, & how it is used have all significant change.
Preaching is also the human delivery of divine revelation, but the revelation that has been written down and closed in the Canon of Scripture – the Bible. This has become a reason for some theologians to say that in the NT preaching is the new prophesying.
However, this is not true. To say this would be to change the fundamental meaning of prophecy altogether, it would be a remaking of prophecy which is clearly not defensible.
Prophecy is not the interpretation of Scripture, but the speaking forth of what is being divinely revealed in the mind of the prophet. It points to Scripture and may use the Scripture, but fundamentally is not a human act.
A helpful way to think about it is to see that preaching is the interpretation of the revealed truth, but prophesying is the speaking of the truth that is currently being revealed.
Revelation is always a divine activity in Scripture. Notice here again, that the prophet is not interpreting the truth given to him, rather he is passing it along. Therefore, prophecy is neither preaching nor teaching.
Its use in the Church age
1 Corinthians 14:3 ESV
3 On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
- The reason that prophecy poses such a serious concern among cessationists is that if prophecy is truth still being revealed, then will it not possess the same authority as that of the truth that is already revealed? In other words, will not prophecy challenge the authority of the Bible?
Doug Wilson asked in a recent debate that if prophecy existed today, why aren’t we adding pages to the Bible?
This is where it helps to see the discontinuity from the OT. If every prophecy was meant to be written down as canon, and then God poured his Spirit on all flesh, then shouldn’t everybody during Paul’s time be adding to it? Shouldn’t Paul’s instruction to the Corinthian church have been, let one prophecy and others write it down so we can add it as a new book of Revelation?
In fact, if prophecy was meant to add to the Canon of Scripture, then pouring out prophecy on all flesh would be a ridiculous way to do that.
This much is true for the OT as well. We know that there are prophecies that were written down as instructions for all, and there were plenty of prophecies that were not written down because they were not instructions meant for all.
I conclude, therefore, that prophecy, although divine revelation, holds accountable the ones to whom the prophecy has been given, and that too, only if it stands the test of Scripture. - The use of prophecy in the church is the upbuilding, encouragement & consolation of the congregation.
As R.C Sproul once said of the continuationist perspective, that we must believe that prophecy adds not to the Canon of Scripture, but to the Canon of Life.
It does not add new theology, but it brings instruction for upbuilding, words of encouragement & consoles the broken-hearted.
1 Corinthians 14:29–33 ESV
29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, 32 and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. 33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,
- Here we explicitly see that prophecy is divine revelation that is spontaneously being made to those sitting there.
- They took turns prophesying, limited it to two or three prophets, and the others weighed what was being said. They discerned it, and tested it against the word of God.
1 John 4:1 ESV
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. - None of these prophecies was written down or passed on from church to church. They had a very specific use and purpose within the function of the local church.
But then, Paul immediately jumps to the topic of women speaking.
1 Corinthians 14:34–35 ESV
34 the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. 35 If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
- This seems a strange statement when we know from the NT that women did pray and prophecy in the church.
Acts 21:9 ESV
9 He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.1 Corinthians 11:5 ESV
5 but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. - Clearly, Paul is not suggesting the absolute silence of a woman. Rather, within the context of prophesying & then judging or weighing what is prophesied, Paul instructs the woman to do one but not the other.
Because the judging of prophecy that occurred during that time required the exercise of authority (probably over men who prophesied) and he wanted the women to hold off from that judgment.
In other words, the men were held accountable for the task of weighing, testing & discerning that which was being prophesied.
Agabus
Acts 21:7–14 ESV
7 When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. 8 On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied. 10 While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ” 12 When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”
Acts 21:4–5 ESV
4 And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. 5 When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed
Despising Prophecy
1 Thessalonians 5:19–21 ESV
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.
