That You May Prophesy?

In the context of 1 Corinthians 12 – 14, Paul speaks of numerous spiritual gifts present, at that time, in Corinth. At the beginning of Chapter 13, he contrasts the gifts of tongues, prophecy, knowledge, and faith with the gift of love. At the end of Chapter 13, he speaks of the superiority of love, as a gift of the Spirit, even over the great gifts of hope and faith. Of all the spiritual gifts, only love will endure throughout eternity.

At the beginning of Chapter 14, he writes, “Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (NKJV). Then, throughout Chapter 14, he extols the benefit of prophecy to those in the church and to unbelievers.

Does the context require us to view this gift for first century Corinth only? For first century Christians only? For us, as Christians, even today?

Should we pursue the gift of prophecy? If we seek the gift of prophecy today, can we find it? What is the Biblical meaning of prophecy, or the Biblical meaning of prophesy?

Vines states, concerning the words derived from “prophemi”, included in 1 Corinthians 14:1 above, the following:

“Though much of OT prophecy was purely predictive, prophecy is not necessarily, nor even primarily, foretelling. It is the declaration of that which cannot be known by natural means (Matthew 26:68), it is the forth-telling of the will of God, whether with reference to the past, the present, or the future”.

Ralph Earle states, concerning the word “prophemi”, that it “means to speak forth”. He further states, similar to Vines, the following:

“Contrary to popular usage today, the Biblical meaning of “prophecy” is not foretelling, but forth-telling. Put in simplest terms, the prophet is one who speaks for God”.

That would be consistent with Peter’s admonition in 1 Peter 4:10f. If we speak for God, we speak forth for God, and for His glory.

Scholars are divided on whether or not this gift, or in some cases any of the spiritual gifts remain with Christians today. The difference in their positions would appear to be based primarily on the definition distinction of foretelling and forth-telling, and also on the source of the information for the prophets (spokesmen for God).

Vines even states that teachers have replaced prophets in the church, primarily due to his interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:8f and 2 Peter 2:1. His basis for this distinction is stated as follows:

“The difference is that, whereas the message of the prophet was a direct revelation of the mind of God for the occasion, the message of the teacher is gathered from the completed revelation contained in the Scriptures.”

My personal conviction is that spiritual gifts continue today, in whatever measure the Spirit chooses to distribute them (1 Corinthians 12:7ff; 1 Peter 4:10f; etc.). I cannot know, and neither can Vines or anyone, whether all the people referred to as prophets, or who prophesied in the first century and prior, received their revelation directly from God. They may have received a revelation from others that had received a direct revelation from God. Or, they may have received their revelation from those who had received a revelation from someone who had received a revelation from someone who received a direct revelation from God.

The point is that the gift of prophecy is a gift intended for the sharing and edification of others. And the gift of forth-telling is with us today, and is expected to be with us until the Lord returns. We must all ensure that our forth-telling is consistent with the Word of God revealed to us. But, whether we teach in homes, in a classroom, write books, or seldom read blog articles, we should be forth-telling the Word of God. We should seek to prophesy.

Finally, in 1 Corinthians 14:1, Paul writes:

“Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” (NKJV)

“Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” (KJV)

“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” (NIV)

“Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” (NASB)

“Pursue love, yet strive for spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” (McCord)

All of these are very similar in that they encourage us to pursue a course of love, and to desire spiritual gifts. These readings also seem to indicate that we should “especially” desire to be prophets or to prophesy.

Alfred Marshall’s Interlinear New Testament indicates a somewhat different reading, from the Greek text, which changes the focus of the passage.

“Pursue love, but desire eagerly the spiritual, in order that you may prophesy”. It appears to me that this reading is somewhat different in idea than the others listed above. Are we to be loving? Yes. Are we also to pursue the spiritual, or the spiritual gifts? Yes. Why? So we might prophesy. So we might be credible, and accurate, spokesmen, or forth-tellers, of God’s divine will. In OT times, the coming of the Messiah would have been a future event, but also something that had to have been told, because it could not have been known by natural means. Today, the proclamation of the return of the Lord, and judgement, is a telling of a future event. It too, is something that cannot be known by natural means. It requires, under God’s plan, spokesmen, forth-tellers, foretellers, or prophets.

Many of you, who read this, are preachers, teachers, writers, or you share the gospel with a friend, co-worker, neighbor or stranger. In a sense, you are prophets. You understand that you participate in an enormous activity. With that participation comes an even larger responsibility.