Be Ye Doers. . . Of The Word!

A widespread practice today is to consider preaching and prophecy as identical twins. So, somehow, anyone who explains a Bible passage or delivers a message from the Bible is then called or considered a prophet. In many circles a prophet is simply a "preacher" and nothing more. Prophecy is defined as "preaching." But is this a correct definition of prophecy and a correct understanding of the role of a prophet? When pressed, the usual explanation is that the Greek word for prophecy means to "forth-tell." Thus, a prophet is anyone who "speaks forth" a message from the Bible according to these explanations. The reasons why this viewpoint has come about are uncertain. This "prophecy is preaching" doctrine is seldom challenged. However, in the interest of Biblical accuracy and rightly handling God's Word, we must take another look at prophets and prophecy. We need to be reminded to take the Bible as our guide instead of religious books and the opinions of learned men. A careful study of the Bible will show that the distinguishing characteristic of a prophet was his miraculous ability to perfectly predict future events. This God-given ability to foretell future events is what made a prophet, a prophet! Now obviously a prophet had to communicate these warnings to the intended audience. Some prophecies were spoken, but others were written down! Certainly a prophecy did not come out every time a prophet opened his mouth! A prophet may well have had other functions and responsibility. But the distinguishing characteristic of a prophet was his ability to perfectly predict future events. This article will show that the popular doctrine of "prophecy is preaching" though commonly accepted, is not accurate nor based upon the Bible, and it needs to be discarded as an erroneous doctrine!

Prophets In The Old Testament

Any godly man could exhort God's people to obey and be faithful. Many godly men received a message directly from God to be delivered to the people. The fact that a man was God's spokesman did not make him a prophet. Instead, a man was considered a prophet when he predicted future events.

Joshua is an example of a great leader who had God's will revealed to him. He then instructed the people. But Joshua was not called a prophet because he did not predict future events. God spoke directly to Joshua and he in turn exhorted the people (Joshua 4:1- 3; 15-17; 7:10-13), but he was not a prophet. Other judges such as Gideon and Eli also delivered God's message, but they were not prophets because they did no predicting.

God also communicated His will to the priests through the Urim and Thummim (see Numbers 27:21). Even though the priests miraculously received God's message and communicated it to the people, they were not called prophets. The missing ingredient that made a man a prophet was the ability to tell something before it happened.

Israel referred to prophets as "seers." "(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: 'Come, let us go to the seer'; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)" 1 Samuel 9:9 (NKJV) This term more clearly reflects a prophet's unique ability. So God was David's "seer" (2 Samuel 24:11). Hanani also was a "seer" (2 Chronicles 16:7).

The Bible test of a prophet proves that a prophet was one who perfectly predicted future events. Israel was often wooed and charmed by false prophets. There were many skilled pretenders who would readily speak a lie. Deuteronomy 18:18-22 clearly states that the way to tell the true prophet from the false prophet was to wait and see whose prophecies came true! The Bible test of a prophet was not his preaching ability but his predicting ability! The credentials of a prophet, the distinguishing characteristic of a prophet, was his ability to perfectly predict future events.

Old testament prophets had a miraculous, divine call to be a prophet. A man did not decide to "run" for the office of prophet. Neither did he get a degree which made him a certified prophet. Elija, Elisha, Amos, Jonah, etc. all had a miraculous, divine call from God to be His prophet. Denominationalism has often taught that preachers could preach only after they had a miraculous experience of sufficient magnitude indicating God had "called them to the ministry." Many of the courageous leaders of the Restoration Movement struggled manfully to overthrow this and other tenants of Calvinism. If prophecy is merely preaching, and a prophet is just a preacher, then to be consistent, preachers today must have a miraculous call from God. Are we really prepared to also require of our preachers a divine, miraculous call from God before they can preach? To take such a position means we have exchanged the freedom of simple, New Testament Christianity for the tangled web of man-made doctrines.

Prophets in the Old Testament were "seers," predictors of future events. They sounded warnings of God's coming judgement against Israel, her enemies, and individuals who failed to repent of sins and evil deeds. The Old Testament test of a prophet was to wait and see if this prediction came true.

Prophets In The New Testament

Many New Testament examples can be cited to confirm that a prophet was one who perfectly predicted future events. Prophets did more than simply preach a message from God's Word. Prophets were miraculously equipped to foretell events before they occurred.

Zacharias, the prophet, predicted the arrival of the Messiah and John the Immerser's role in announcing Christ's coming. This prophecy was made while John was still an infant (Luke 1:67-79).

Jesus, who was a prophet, and king, predicted Peter's death many years before it occurred (John 13:36; 21:19).

Agabus, a prophet from Judea, predicted the confinement that awaited Paul (Acts 21:10-14).

According to 1 Corinthians 14:3, prophecy would edify the church. This does not mean that prophecy must have been preaching! An example of a prediction that edified the church is found in Acts 11:20-30. Here, a prophet named Agabus predicted a famine in Antioch. Luke tells us that the famine (fulfilling the prophecy) occurred during the reign of Cladius. On the basis of this prediction, the church at Antioch sent an offering to the Christians in Judea. They sent famine relief to a sister congregation before the famine had even occurred! Both congregations were blessed because of this prophecy.

Problems Created By The "Prophecy Is Preaching" Philosophy

Prophecy was not an everyday occurrence as it would have been if it were merely preaching. New Testament prophecy was a miraculous gift passed through the hands of an Apostle (Acts 19:1-7). Like speaking in tongues, this miraculous gift would have ended with the death of the contemporaries of the Apostles. In fact, 1 Corinthians 13:8 states that prophecies "will be done away." Surely no one is prepared to say that preaching has ended! What has ended is the miraculous ability to predict future events, and with the end of that gift, the office of the prophet also ended.

The philosophy that "prophecy is preaching" creates other problems as well. On the night He was arrested, Jesus was subjected to mocking and brutality at the hands of His Roman guards. At one point He was blindfolded, then beaten by the soldiers. They ridiculed Him by challenging Him to "Prophesy, who is the one who hit you?" (Luke 22:64) This statement makes no since if prophesy is preaching! The soldiers were chiding Jesus to tell which man had hit Him before the blindfold was removed and He could verify which man had given Him the blows.

Another problem created by the "prophecy is preaching" doctrine can be found in 2 Peter 1:20-21. Here Peter tells us, "For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but me, moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." Honest preachers will readily admit how they struggle and agonize at times in deciding what to preach. At such times it would be such a relief if God would just hand down an outline to use. But this does not happen! Every preacher decides by his act of human will what he will preach and how that subject will be developed and presented. But the Holy Spirit provided the prophecy that a prophet would utter. The prophet never had to "get one up" by himself. Once again, the "prophecy is preaching" doctrine is at odds with the teaching of the New Testament.

If "prophecy is preaching" then the daughters of Philip, the evangelist, were violating the Holy Spirit- inspired command of the Apostle Paul. Now Acts 21:9 tells us that Philip had four daughters who were prophetesses. And Acts 2:42 and Acts 20:7 teach us that preaching was an important part of Christian worship. But Paul commanded that women were not to instruct men in 1 Timothy 2:12. The "prophecy is preaching" adherents must really scramble to tell us how these girls could "preach" (and edify the church) without breaking Paul's command! Could this be the real, hidden agenda behind the "prophecy is preaching" doctrine? IS this just a back-door way to rationalize women preachers?

Evidence From The Greek Language

The Greek word translated "prophet" is prophetes. Prophet comes from two Greek words: pro which means "before, in advance, beforehand" and phami which means "to say, to declare." The basic meaning then is "to declare beforehand." The "prophecy is preaching" adherents make pro mean "forth," not "before," and say that a prophet is merely one who "speaks forth" a message from God. Thayer lists twenty-five Greek words beginning with pro, and they are consistently translated "before."

For example:

propempo — to send before (like a scout)
proakouo — to hear before
prographo — to write before

This author believes that consistency demands that prophetes be translated "one who speaks before," one who tells something before it happens. Interestingly enough, the word for a female prophet, prophetis, is defined as "a woman to whom future events, or things hidden from others are at times revealed, either by inspiration or by dreams and visions!" Why is there such a disparity in definitions?

David is called a prophet in the New Testament. Acts 2:30-31 tells us that because David was a prophet he "looked ahead" and predicted the resurrection of Christ (NASV). The Greek word used here by Luke is a form of the word proeidon. Thayer and Vine define this word as meaning "to foresee." David was able to foresee the resurrection of Christ because he was a prophet. See also Acts 1:16, 2 Peter 3:2, and Romans 9:29 where proeipon is used about prophets ability "to say beforehand, i.e. before the event."

There is a Greek word that means to "speak forth." Used in Acts 2:4,14, apophthengomai means "to speak forth." The Apostles, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit spoke the oracles of God. They preached on the day of Pentecost a message divinely and miraculously given to them from God. But prophetes and apophthengomai are not synonyms! Why? The difference lies in the fact that prophetes includes prediction and foretelling. Again, the distinguishing characteristic of a prophet was the ability to perfectly predict future events.

1 Corinthians 14:6 contains a list of types of miraculous messages that could be delivered by one speaking in a tongue (i.e. foreign language). Why is prophecy listed as separate and distinct from revelation? A revelation was a "disclosure of unknown truth" according to Thayer. If prophecy means simply to "speak forth a message from God," why aren't prophecy and revelation synonymous? Why would they be listed separately? The reason is because prophecy was more than just delivering a message from God. Prophecy included prediction!

The purpose of this study has been to clear up misunderstanding and errors about prophecies and prophets. The Bible teaches there are no prophets today. The Scriptures contain all the prophecies we need. If we maintain that prophecy still exists today, we must admit then that God has further revelations to make to mankind. But this position is refuted by Jude 3! If we retain prophecy today, we must also retain speaking in tongues, healing by the laying on of hands, and raising of the dead.

Let's bring to an end the false doctrine that "prophecy is preaching." The primary and distinguishing characteristic of a prophet was his ability to perfectly predict future events that God had revealed to him. These prophecies were then communicated to people in a variety of ways: personal advise to individuals, public speaking and the written word.

Many falsely believe that anyone who teaches or preaches God's Word is a prophet, yet no one will give Scriptural evidence to support such a position. Can you?

Endnotes:

1. Joseph Henry Thayer, Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Delaware: The National Foundation for Christian Education, no date), p. 536.
2. Ibid, p. 651.
3. Ibid, pp. 537-541.
4. Ibid, p. 554.
5. Ibid, p. 538.
6. W.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (New Jersey: Fleming H. Rovell Co.), Vol. 2, p. 120.
7. Thayer, p. 538.
8. Vine, Vol. 4, p. 57.
9. Thayer, p. 62.

Arnold Kimbler

Poems taken from the TNT Ministries journal, Vol. 2 No. 3, Fall 1992