Basic Continuity
Yet, in spite of some discontinuity, the New Testament highlights the basic continuity between Old Testament and New Testament prophecy. Here are some examples.GOP 59.1
Prophetic Figures
With John the Baptist, the line of the renowned Old Testament prophets, interrupted by the Intertestamental Period, was continued. Not only did his appearance, clothing, and lifestyle remind his contemporaries of some of the Old Testament prophets, his message did also. Seeing him, people recalled Elijah, and yet he was more than Elijah. He prepared the way for the Messiah. John W. Hilber maintains thatGOP 59.2
the monumental transition in the kingdom that took place around the advent of Messiah and the founding of his church was accompanied by a flurry of prophetic activity. The proclamations around the birth of Jesus correspond in form and function with OT cultic prophecy. GOP 59.3
Agabus performed a symbolic action (Acts 21:10, 11), as did, for instance, Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer. 13; Eze. 12; 25), and John the revelator (Rev. 10:8-11; 11:1). His predictions of future events came true, fulfilling the Old Testament test for a genuine prophet.GOP 59.4
Old Testament Prophecy in the New Testament
Old Testament prophets appear frequently in the New Testament, and their message was foundational to the content not only of the Old Testament but also to the message of the New Testament. All major theological themes of the Old Testament are continued in the New Testament, beginning with the revelation of the Godhead, creation, sin, anthropology, and moving on to salvation, covenant, law, judgment, and eschatology, to name just a few. The New Testament is saturated with Old Testament quotations, allusions, and echoes. “ Prophētēs and its cognates are used in fulfillment formulas in New Testament citations of Old Testament prophets.” GOP 59.5
The typological approach to understanding Scripture, first employed in the Old Testament, is carried on in the New Testament, and both parts of Scripture are strongly linked through this approach. GOP 60.1
The foundational nature of prophets in the New Testament is expressed in Ephesians 2:20. In this case the prophets should not be understood as Old Testament prophets but as New Testament prophets. Throughout the letter to the Ephesians, Paul consistently understands prophets as New Testament prophets, in each case associated but not identical with the apostles and referring to the first century A.D. (Eph. 2:20; 3:5; 4:11). GOP 60.2
Old Testament predictions are fulfilled, for instance, in the New Testament messianic predictions or the prediction of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh, including the prophetic gift (Joel 2:28 and Acts 2, especially verse 17). “The same spirit who empowered the Old Testament prophets is promised once again to return.” There was a restoration of the prophetic gift as known in the Old Testament. Farnell concludes:GOP 60.3
It is highly significant that Peter tied this beginning of New Testament prophecy with prophetic phenomena of the Old Testament. The word προφητεύω (“to prophesy”), which Peter used in Acts 2:17, is also used in the Septuagint in Joel 3:1 (2:28, Eng.). . . . In light of this, Joel 2 and Acts 2 establish a fundamental continuity between Old and New Testament prophecy. GOP 60.4
Prophetic Language and Experience
The same prophetic terminology (the word family prophēt-), used already in the LXX, appears in the New Testament with no direct statements or hints that a shift in meaning has occurred. Prophetic revelation and speech formulas, such as “(and) I saw” (kai eidon), “(and) I heard” (kai ēkousa), “thus says (the Lord)” (tade legei [kyrios]), and references to visions, dreams, and sometimes an angelic guide that accompanies the respective prophet occur. In both Old Testament and New Testament the same basic genres of classical prophecy and apocalyptic prophecy are found. Both Testaments have an element of conditionality in the case of classical prophecy (Jer. 18:7-10; Isa. 65; Rev. 2:7). The apocalyptic parts of Daniel and Revelation share many common elements, such as richness in symbols, an interest in the progressive nature of world history, and a cosmic dimension.GOP 61.1
Divine Calling and Recognition by the Community
Repeatedly the Old Testament reports that prophets have been called by God. Prophets were not mystics striving for the union or fusion with the divine. They were persons that believed in God, followed God’s will, and probably wanted to be close to God, yet recognized the chasm between fallen humanity and divine transcendence. They were not striving to become prophets, but were called by God to be prophets and oftentimes trembled when considering the responsibilities associated with their call (Ex. 3; Jer. 1).GOP 62.1
The Old Testament does not always explicitly state that prophets have received such a specific divine call. In some cases, they just appear on the stage of history and perform their ministry before disappearing again. However, major prophetic figures are depicted as having had a specific encounter with God in which they were appointed and commissioned by God. The list includes people such as Moses (Ex. 3), Samuel (1 Sam. 3), Nathan (2 Sam. 7:4, 5), Isaiah (Isa. 6), Jeremiah (Jer. 1), Ezekiel (Eze. 2), and Amos (Amos 7:14-17). There were also those who claimed to have received the word of the Lord. David knew that God was speaking through him (2 Sam. 23:2, 3). Obadiah (1) and Nahum (1:1) mentioned visions and a divine message given to them. It can be safely assumed that in one way or another all genuine prophets in Old Testament times were called by God.GOP 62.2
Such a prophetic calling happened also in the New Testament. Examples are persons such as John the Baptist, who was filled with the Holy Spirit before he was born (Luke 1:13-15) and predicted to be a prophet by a prophetic utterance of his father (Luke 1:67, 76); Paul, who had his Damascus experience (Acts 9:15-17; 22:14-21; 26:15-18); and John the apostle, who had a specific vision of calling in Revelation 1. GOP 62.3
Prophets did not serve themselves but the community. Therefore recognition of the prophetic gift by the community of believers was and is important. According to both Testaments, prophets need to be tested in order for believers to recognize whether or not they are genuine prophets with a divine message. Old Testament and New Testament provide the criteria. J. K. Newton presents an impressive “Table of Prophetic Criteria in the Bible,” showing how the same or similar criteria can be found in both Testaments. His criteria include “Christology,” “community,” “character,” “challenge,” “consummation (coming true),” “confirmation (supernatural evidence),” “clarity,” “content (constructive and beneficial),” “compassion,” and “control (protocol).” “Clearly not all these criteria would be used in every case, but a prophecy or prophet that failed in any of them would become suspect.” In addition to criteria that help to establish whether a person claiming the prophetic gift is a true prophet or a false prophet, God has given the gift of discernment to the community of believers (1 Cor. 12:10) so that the false prophet can be distinguished from the true prophet.GOP 62.4
Again there is continuity between prophecy in the Old Testament and prophecy in the New Testament. “The NT standard for evaluation prophets is comparable to relevant guidelines in the OT.” GOP 63.1
The Life of a Prophet
The divine call makes a person a prophet. It deepens and widens the relationship that he or she already has with God. In other words, God brings about a special relationship with the prophet. His or her life is being transformed (1 Sam. 10:6; Gal. 2:20). That does not mean that God forces a person against his or her will to become a prophet. Jonah could still attempt to escape the prophetic task, and Balaam could go against God’s message and become the cause for the apostasy in Israel.GOP 63.2
The prophetic ministry can be a burden and a joy at the same time. The prophet has to endure conflict and challenges, as A. Heschel notes:GOP 63.3
To be a prophet is both a distinction and an affliction. The mission he performs is distasteful to him and repugnant to others; no reward is promised him and no reward could temper its bitterness. The prophet bears scorn and reproach (Jer. 15:15). He is stigmatized as a madman by the contemporaries, and, by some modern scholars, as abnormal. GOP 63.4
But it is not only the rejection of the prophetic message by a larger part of the community of faith that causes distress to the prophet, it is also the conflict with false prophets into which the true prophet is drawn (e.g., Jer. 23; 28; 29). “As in the OT, conflict is a major theme of prophecy in the New Testament. Jesus warned that false prophets would arise (Matt. 7:15; Mark 13:22). And Paul engaged in prophetic conflict at least once in his travels (Acts 13:6).” First and 2 John are witnesses to the extreme struggle that John had to engage in with the false prophets, called “antichrists.” But the struggle with false teachings and false prophecy can be seen in many books of the New Testament (e.g., 2 Peter 2, Jude, 1 Tim. 1:3, 4; 4; 6:3-5, 20). In Revelation 2:20 there is even the symbolic false prophetess Jezebel.GOP 64.1
Yet in spite of conflict, the true prophet can also sing, “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts” (Jer. 15:16, NASB) and he can exclaim: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20, NIV)!GOP 64.2
Revelation, Inspiration, and Transmission of a Message
Prophecy and divine revelations are closely connected. After the call of a prophet typically God would repeatedly draw close to him or her, having an encounter with the prophet. In such encounters God would reveal Himself to the prophet and would also reveal His will and message. Heschel says perceptively: “It was not Isaiah who produced prophecy; it was prophecy which produced Isaiah.” And this is certainly true for all genuine prophets. We mentioned already the prophets’ claims to such experiences by the usage of formulas such as “I saw” (Dan. 7:2; Luke 10:18; Rev. 1:17), “I heard” (Isa. 6:8; Acts 11:7; Rev. 1:10); “the word of the Lord came to . . .” (Jer. 1:4), “the hand of the Lord was there upon me/with him” (Eze. 3:22; Luke 1:66). Divine revelations would, for instance, occur in visions and dreams (Num. 12:6: Rev. 4:1) as well as in auditions (1 Sam. 3; Rev. 12:10) or through an angel (Dan. 9:20-23; Luke 1:11, 12; Rev. 19:9). We do not have precise knowledge about the nature of these revelations and “about the frequency with which the various prophets received such extraordinary revelation.” GOP 64.3
The second phase in the revelation process is that the prophets transmit to their audiences these direct and personal communications from God. In a certain sense a prophet is a mediator between God and His children, even between God and humanity at large, “the mouthpiece of God.” In the proclamation of the divine messages—orally, in symbolic actions, or in writing— the prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, that is, inspired (2 Peter 1:20, 21). Typically, they expressed the received truth in their own words, and yet the message was the Word of God. This is also what they claimed with phrases such as “thus says the Lord” (Isa. 43:14). GOP 65.1
A third stage would occur occasionally and can be called inscripturation. The prophet is asked by God to write down his or her message (Jer. 36:27, 28; Rev. 1:19). God “guided the mind in the selection of what to speak and what to write.” “Inspired revelations were . . . embodied in an inspired book.” GOP 65.2
The biblical references to this discussion on revelation, inspiration, and transmission reveal that the New Testament is in continuity with the Old Testament regarding the prophetic ministry.GOP 65.3
The Content of the Message
Some scholars see discontinuity between prophecy in the Old Testament and prophecy in the New Testament based on the content or approach taken by each Testament. R. Fisichella claims that the prophecy in the New Testament is very different from prophecy in the Old Testament. He suggests that “in NT prophecy, any kind of fear, judgment, and condemnation has completely disappeared.” GOP 65.4
Lastly, setting revelation in the light of prophecy means bringing out its specific content, which is God’s compassionate love. Prophecy is never given in the form of condemnation, judgment, or fear; on the contrary, it is always and exclusively a word of encouragement, trust, and hope. GOP 65.5
This is supposedly so because of the restoration of the relationship between God and humanity through Jesus’ death on the cross. Therefore, before His crucifixion and resurrection words of condemnation can still be found.GOP 66.1
However, such an approach raises, for instance, serious questions about the message of Christ to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. There are threats of judgment (Rev. 2:5, 16, 21, 22; 3:16; 14:6-12), judgments through the trumpets and the plagues, the destruction of Babylon, which is a worldwide religious alliance, the condemnation of those holding on to vices (Rev. 21:8; 22:15), and the destruction of evil powers and unbelievers in the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20; 20:11-15). In Galatians 1:8 Paul ascribes to the opponents to his gospel eternal condemnation. In 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 Paul states that those who do not love the truth will perish. Second Peter 2 and Jude describe false teachers in the church and their fate. GOP 66.2
While salvation is strongly affirmed, the consequences of rejecting Jesus and His message are clearly exhibited. Old Testament prophecy also portrays the blessings of salvation and the curses associated with denying the Lordship of God. GOP 66.3
Prophecy and Scripture
As one studies the Gospels with the intention to find out how Jesus reacted to the Word of God of His time, the Old Testament, the following picture emerges: Jesus trusted Scripture of His time completely. For Him, the Old Testament was God’s Word. He regarded the prophets as trustworthy messengers of the Word of God. They were inspired by God. Many of their prophecies were fulfilled in Himself. Jesus acknowledged the historical reliability of Scripture and believed that God’s will and work can be recognized through Scripture. Biblical teachings are founded on the Old Testament. Furthermore, the Old Testament as the Bible of Jesus’ time is the yardstick to evaluate ethical behavior and is the source to justify Jesus’ own conduct. Scripture is of practical value. It fosters faith and is a weapon against temptations.GOP 66.4
In 2 Peter 1:19-21 Peter takes up the topic again. In this passage the phrase “the prophetic word” (NKJV) seems to be identical with “all prophecy of Scripture” and “prophecy.” Obviously these phrases describe the Word of God, at least the entire Old Testament. “The involvement of the Spirit of God in the inspiration of the OT prophets is well known. Second Peter 1:21 gives classic expression to this notion.” However, New Testament writings may already and indirectly be included in this statement. The noun graphe (“Scripture”) occurs twice in 2 Peter (1:20 and 3:16). The verb grapho (“to write”) is also found twice (2 Peter 3:1, 15). We have the prophecy of Scripture (2 Peter 1:20). There is Peter writing his letter (2 Peter 3:1), and Paul has also written letters (verse 15), which are twisted by some, as it is done “with the other Scriptures” (plural of graphe—verse 16). The Pauline letters are at least to some extent equated with Scripture, the Old Testament. They are considered canonical works beside the canon of the Old Testament. G. L. Green emphasizes thatGOP 66.5
early in the life of the church, the concept of “Scripture” was expanded to include the teachings of Jesus (1 Tim. 5:18; cf. Matt. 10:10; Luke 10:7). In the present verse, Peter takes one step further in the development of the canon, calling the writings of the OT “the other Scriptures.” Peter here implies that Paul’s letters are classified as “Scripture” as well. GOP 67.1
Second Peter 3:2 speaks about the holy prophets and the proclamation of the Lord’s commandment through the apostles. If the holy prophets are understood as Old Testament prophets, then we have another passage in 2 Peter that indicates that there is authoritative canonical word beside the Old Testament. GOP 67.2
For our discussion, it is enough to notice that in 2 Peter the prophetic word is the Old Testament, and yet it includes New Testament authors such as Paul, who was an apostle and had the prophetic gift. This supports the notion of a basic continuity between Old Testament and New Testament prophecy. Farnell supports this conclusion by saying:GOP 68.1
New Testament prophets and prophecy stood in direct line with their Old Testament counterparts who proclaimed God’s message and will to the people. Therefore New Testament prophecy is fundamentally a development and continuation of Old Testament prophecy. GOP 68.2