In Christian theology, a debate exists as to whether miracle spiritual gifts have ceased (i.e. cessationism) or whether they are still available to the church (i.e. continuationism). This essay does not attempt to prove either cessationism or continuationism, an interpretational disagreement within Christendom, but rather explores present-day Christian prophecy from the perspective of continuationism.
Cessationism arose during the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648 CE) in response to claims of Roman Catholic miracles. Christian Cessationist scholars exist in both Reformed and dispensational evangelicalism, in Lutheranism, and others. Christian Continuationist scholars exist in Pentecostalism, the charismatic movement, The Third Wave movement, and others. Additionally, many evangelicals who hold the older Protestant Cessationist view with respect to spiritual gifting concede they are open to the idea of spiritual gifting existing today (Gaffin & Grudem, 1996).
As McGrath (2008) wrote:
"The belief that such gifts had died out (known as ‘Cessationism’) was widespread within mainline Protestantism from the sixteenth to the end of the nineteenth century. There was no reason to think otherwise, in the absence of any significant evidence of such spiritual gifts being experienced within the church. The outbreak of charismatic phenomena-such as speaking in tongues-on the first day of the twentieth century in the United States, followed by sustained global growth in such phenomena, raised questions about Cessationism and convinced many that such spiritual gifts remained at the disposal of the church…
…Here, the decisive factor in changing the corporate mind of Protestantism over the best part of a century was not a new way of interpreting the Bible but renewed experience of something that had been believed to be extinct." (p. 226).
Gaffin et al. (1996) Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?: 4 Views is suggested for readers looking to compare and contrast the various mainstream Christian views on spiritual gifting and research that debate further.
Christian prophecy is the announcement of divine communication with respect to prediction or foretelling given by creator God of the Bible to a person. Those receiving genuine prophecies from creator God have often been able to interpret prophecy given them, but not always.
Payne (1973) called scriptural prophecy a "medium of divine communication." (p. 3). Easton (1893) wrote that it is a “miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human sagacity to foresee, discern, or conjecture” (p. 561).
About one-quarter of the Bible is prophetic. "The importance of predictive prophecy... for the people of God is evidenced... that [approximately] fully one quarter of the Bible is prophecy... for the entire Bible's 31,124 verses, 8,352 contain predictive material, or 27 per cent of the whole" (Payne, 1973, pp. 12-13).
Payne (1973) pointed out that "Both Old Testament and New Testament teach that the inscripturated language of the prophets [inscribed in the closed canon of the Old and New Testament] possesses an authority equivalent to that of the words of God Himself" (p. 6).
Inscripturation is the writing of truth revealed by God to inspired men while inspiration is when God grants unique insight conveying His revelation to them (2 Pet 1:20-21). Finny (2017) wrote, “Through inscripturation, these revealed truths were permanently written down in the books which compose the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible. Such a close connection exists between God's conveying revelation to the inspired writers and their committing this revelation to writing that the written Scriptures are declared to be ‘God-breathed’ (2 Tim 3:16)” (p. 27).
The Bible is the canonical authority for all Christians, Cessationists and Continuationists alike, and it explains what prophecy is, what a true prophet is, and what a false prophet is.
So, what of Christians alleging divine prophetic revelation today?
First, all the books in the Bible together form the biblical canon which is recognized to be closed, nothing new may be added. So, if the canon is closed then how does present-day non-canonical prophecy (and other New Testament spiritual gifting) work today?
C. Samuel Storms provided the Continuationist answer:
"In the same way as Christians responded to it in their first-century, open-canonical world, namely, by evaluating it in light of Scripture (which was emerging, and therefore partial, for them, but is complete for us). Such revelation would carry for us today the same authority it carried then for them. Furthermore, we are in a much better position today than the early church, for we have the final form of the canon by which to evaluate claims to prophetic revelation. If they were capable of assessing prophetic revelation then (and Paul believed they were; witness his instruction in 1 Cor. 14 and 1 Thess. 5 to do precisely that), how much more are we today!
…if noncanonical revelation was not a threat to the ultimate authority of Scripture in its emerging form, neither should it pose a threat to Scripture in its final form.” (Gaffin & Grudem, 1996, p. 82).
All alleged present-day Christian prophecy must fall within Christian orthodoxy (i.e., biblical truth) to be valid. There are no exceptions. Christian prophecy today cannot contradict scripture and be valid.
A simple example would be if someone claiming to be a prophet falsely asserts they have received a prophecy from God that Jesus is never going to return. That is heresy contradicting the canonical scriptural revelation of the Bible, not a prophecy. Again, present-day Christian prophecy must fall within Christian orthodoxy (i.e., biblical truth) to be valid.
Another example would be the classical encounter between true prophets and a false prophet in the New Testament, namely “Paul and Barnabas's rebuke of the Jewish magician Bar-Jesus on the island Paphos (Act 13:6-10) in which the Holy Spirit informed Paul that Bar-Jesus was full of deceit and a false prophet. Bar-Jesus belonged to the same line as the prophetess Jezebel from the church of Thyatira (Rev 2:20)” (Elwell, 1997).
Here, the lesson is to discern between genuine Christians who have a prophetic gift from the creator God of the Bible and non-Christians who are claiming to be prophets. Bar-Jesus was not a Christian but rather an occult sorcerer. Even if he made statements that sometimes came true, the source was never God. The topic of false prophets and the occult is covered in The Kingdom of the Occult by Walter Martin (2008).
Genuine Christian prophecy comes from genuine Christians who have the New Testament gift of prophecy. It does not come from non-Christians, including people merely professing to be Christian but who are not.
That said, it needs to be stated that genuine Christians who do not know if they have the New Testament gift of prophecy (or think they do when they do not) may attempt prophesizing and discover they are wrong. These are not false prophets in the New Testament sense but rather genuine Christians attempting to engage in spiritual gifting, often to learn more about what gifts they may have and what gifts they do not have. Even well-known reputable church leaders and authors who are genuine Christians have done this with good intention. These are genuine Christians bound for heaven.
The Bible describes actual false prophets as another matter entirely. In 2 Peter 2:1, these false prophets are defined by the Greek compound noun (pseudo-didaskaloi) for “false teachers.” They were not restricted to false prediction but were also false teachers alleging a message from God. The biblical presentation of false prophets is those who introduce heresies and promote behavior which is not of God, in addition to whatever false prophecies they make, which they incorrectly attribute to God (Steward, 1904, 2 Pet 2:1; Spence-Jones & Excell, 1919, 2 Pet 2:1).
Since the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ; many false prophets have arisen generating cults and new religions predicated on false systems of belief around their heresies, peopled by those they deceived. Jesus Christ predicted this as recorded in Matthew 24:11 stating, “And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people” (NASB, 1997).
In Matthew 7:15-16, Jesus stated that false prophets “come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?” Their heresy and behavior reveal who they are. In Matthew 7:23, Jesus turns them away at the final judgement saying "I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness" (NASB, 1997).
Again, genuine Christian prophecy conforms to biblical truth (i.e., orthodoxy). Furthermore, genuine Christian prophecy comes from genuine Christians who God imparts a divine predictive message to. Also note that while various interpretational disputes exist among genuine Christians who hold to the essential doctrines of Christianity, these interpretational disputes do not cross-over into heresy as they are within orthodoxy (Pothier, 2024, pp. 38-49).
For the Christian who holds that spiritual gifting is available to the church today (i.e., continuationism), a necessary aid to qualify present-day prophecy is to find whether or not a prophecy aligns correctly with the essential doctrines of Christianity which have defined Christianity for over 2,000 years.
Norman Geisler (2007) listed and correctly articulated the 14 essential doctrines of Christianity in an easy-to-read pamphlet titled Essential Doctrine Made Easy which is recommended reading. They are listed in the following order: God’s Unity, God’s Tri-unity, Human Depravity, Christ’s Virgin Birth, Christ’s Sinlessness, Christ’s Deity, Christ’s Humanity, The Necessity of God’s Grace, The Necessity of Faith, Christ’s Atoning Death, Christ’s Bodily Resurrection, Christ’s Bodily Ascension, Christ’s Intercession, and Christ’s Second Coming (see appendix).
A correct understanding of these essential doctrines is instrumental to qualifying whether a doctrine, a prophecy, etc. exists within or outside of Christian orthodoxy (i.e., biblical truth).
Next, it is important to understand the context of prophecy both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
“Prophecy and the prophets form the greatest line of continuity between the Old and New Testaments. This is evident from the attitude of Christ and the apostles to Old Testament prophecy, from the continuance of the phenomenon of prophecy both up to and after the ministry of Jesus, from the prophetic character of his own ministry, from the placing of the inspiration of New Testament apostles and prophets alongside that of Old Testament prophets, and from the general outpouring of the Holy Spirit—the spirit of prophecy—upon the church, leading to a continuing acceptance of prophets and prophesying in New Testament churches.” (Wood & Marshall, 1996, p. 972)
Wood and Marshall (1996) are correct. That said, the Old Covenant (i.e., the Mosaic covenant) was to remain in force until the prophesied Messiah appeared to establish a New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34). Jesus Christ is the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament and He established the New Covenant that exists today (Heb. 8:13, 2 Cor. 3:6, etc.).
Specifically, Christ initiated the New Covenant at the Last Supper stating “This cup, which is poured out for you, is the New Covenant in My blood" (Luk 22:20). Christ explained that prophecy would continue under the New Covenant in verses such as Matthew 10:41.
As Grudem (2018) stated:
"The Mosaic Covenant—which began under Moses’s leadership in Exodus 20 where God gave these laws to the nation of Israel—was terminated when Christ died. Hebrews 8 and 9 are very clear about that. Christians are no longer directly subject to the laws of the Mosaic Covenant, but instead live under the provisions of the New Covenant" (para 2-3).
God implemented the Mosaic law at the time He did for His reasons, one of which was to shepherd a people through the debauchery of an ancient world fallen into deep wickedness in preparation for the appearance of a promised Messiah who would usher in a far superior new covenant which Christians enjoy today (Johnson, 2019; Geisler, 2002).
In addition to those holding to the religion of Judaism, there are religious cults that claim to still be under the Mosaic Covenant (i.e., the Old Covenant). Often, the latter appeal to God’s immutability (i.e., unchanging nature) and eternality to justify their misunderstanding.
Geisler (2002) stated:
"God's immutability and eternality are firmly grounded in Scripture, church history, and sound reasoning. Contemporary attempts to undermine these fundamental teachings about God have not made their case. Other than the fallacious procedure of taking anthropomorphism literally, there is no biblical support for a changing God.
On the contrary, there are numerous affirmations that God does not and cannot change" (p. 110).
But while the immutability (i.e., unchanging nature) of God is taught throughout scripture (see Mal 3:6; Num 23:19; 1 Sam 15:29; Isa 46:9-11; Eze 24:14; etc.), this should not be a point of confusion for Christians. God’s unchanging attributes, such as His holiness and morality, do not mean that God has not fulfilled the Old Covenant with a New Covenant for He certainly has (Rom 10:4, Gal 2:16, Gal 3:13, etc.). Read the Pauline epistles of Romans and Galatians.
Christians are under the New Covenant, the law of Christ. Read the book of Hebrews. When Christians sin, they repent and seek to make amends. They do not sacrifice animals on alters to atone for their sin as occurred under the Mosaic Law of the Old Covenant. Christ’s sacrifice under the New Covenant is sufficient (Heb 9-10).
Similarly, today false prophets are refuted using scripture in biblical truth with the understanding that New Testament accountability allows for New Testament church discipline by church leaders in the case of such, seeking to correct but ultimately exercising excommunication if such refuse to repent.
In the Old Testament, prophecy was explicit (Deu 4:2; 18:18; 18:20, etc.) and true prophets spoke what God told them to speak. Also, under the Mosaic law of the Old Covenant, false prophets could face governmental punishment (Deu 13:1-5; Num 23:19).
However, in the New Testament prophecy is a gift of the Holy Spirit and regular part of the local assembly rather than a pseudo-government role as part of the public life of the nation of Israel (1 Cor. 12:10; Act 13:1; Eph. 4:11-12; etc.). Though prophecy in both the Old and New Testaments is proclamation of divine word, the gift of prophecy in the New Testament is in the context of the New Covenant established by Jesus Christ.
The Continuationist perspective for present-day noncanonical New Testament prophecy is:
“Prophecy is the human report of a divine revelation… The key in recognizing that with every prophecy there are four elements, only one of which is assuredly of God: There is the revelation itself; there is the perception or reception of that revelation by the believer; there is the interpretation of what has been disclosed or the attempt to ascertain its meaning; and there is the application of that interpretation” (Gaffin & Grudem, 1996, p. 207).
While the revelation God imparts is infallible, the person receiving the revelation is fallible and may error with respect to it. Misperception, misinterpreting, misapplying does happen in the New Testament church. A prophet may or may not correctly understand a revelation God has imparted to them. When they do not understand it correctly, they might deliver it imperfectly. “The mere existence of a divine revelation does not in itself guarantee that the interpretation or application of God’s revealed truth will share in its perfection (Gaffin & Grudem, 1996, p. 208)
Furthermore, "we know in part and we prophecy in part" and "we see in a mirror dimly" (1 Cor 13:9-12). Steward (1904) states with respect to verse 9, “All inspired utterances are but partial revelations of Divine Truth.” Which is why in 1 Corinthians 14:29 it says "let two or three prophets speak and let the others judge" for any New Testament claimed prophecy must be correctly qualified by scripture and submitted to scripture's limitations and guidelines before acceptance (NASB, 1997; Steward, 1904, 1 Cor 13:9).
And it is not unusual to observe Christians speak prophetically but also share their own feelings, beliefs, opinions, biases in addition to whatever God has communicated to them.
Humans are fallible. That said, prophecies that God imparts eventually come to pass. Christians need pay close attention to what God is communicating to them and remain within Christian orthodoxy (i.e., biblical truth). This is true whether they choose to espouse their personal fallible viewpoints and ideas, in addition to any infallible revelation which God imparts. This is true whether they choose to write down noncanonical prophecies they receive in a journal or use some other method of recording them.
From the theological viewpoint of continuationism, the benefits of both canonical biblical prophecy and noncanonical present-day prophecy from genuine Christians whose prophecy is authentic remains with Christians today.
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