Introduction

The prophetic gift rests upon the fundamental need for communication to take place between the Deity and the fallen family of humankind. The occult and the category of false prophets are two systems which have functioned throughout human history to deceive and to mislead the ignorant and the unwary away from genuine communications from God. On the other hand, God’s communications systems—basically the prophetic gift—is delineated clearly in the Scriptures (Numbers 12:6; Amos 3:7; Luke 1:70).BBMP 1.1

Four words (three Hebrew, one Greek) are used in the Scriptures to refer to the human instrument in this form of communication. Ro’eh (1 Samuel 9:9; Isaiah 30:10) and the more common chozeh (2 Samuel 24:11; Amos 7:12; 2 Kgs 17:13, et cetera) both relate to the concept of “sight” and are commonly translated “seer.” The idea seems to be that God opens to the “eyes”—that is, to the understanding of the prophet—whatever information or messages He may wish to have transmitted to His people. The terms therefore emphasize the reception of a divine message by the prophet.BBMP 1.2

BBMP 1.3

And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet [nâbi’]. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh. (Exodus 7:1, 2)

And thou shalt speak unto him [Aaron], and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. (Exodus 4:15, 16)

It is evident from these statements in which Moses and Aaron were to role-play as God and prophet respectively that the prophet (nâbi’) was viewed as a divinely appointed spokesman for God. The LXX (Septuagint) term for nâbi’ in this instance is prophetes, the term which appears in the NT and from which our English word prophet is derived.BBMP 1.4

Prophetes is a compound word composed of the preposition pro which carries the nuance of “before”—or “for” in this instance—and the verb phemi, “to speak.” Thus, in a general sense, the “prophet” is a spokesman for another. But in the biblical setting, a true prophet is a spokesman or interpreter of God, that is, he is a divinely inspired revealer, interpreter, or spokesman for the Deity. So the terms nâbi’ / prophetes emphasize the transmission aspect of the prophet’s role. The four words together depict a unique office or function: A prophet is one who receives communications from God and transmits their intent to His people.BBMP 1.5

As may be expected, speaking for God can shade off into preaching for God. Consequently, there are those who hold that in the NT the gift relates at times simply to expository preaching (Lenski, p. 760, on Romans 12:6). Some see it as a “gift of inspired preaching” (International Critical Commentary [ICC] on 1 Corinthians 13:2, p. 287), or “preaching the word with power” (ICC on 1 Corinthians 12:10, p. 266). However, from the context of 1 Corinthians 12-14 it is evident that although active “prophesying” may at times take the form of effective preaching (1 Corinthians 14:3), it was preaching based on divine revelation (1 Corinthians 14:30) and not upon the simple illumination of the Scriptures by the Spirit which may occur to any minister who speaks for God.BBMP 2.1

The NT maintains a difference between the simple ministry of the Word and the prophetic ministry, between the “teacher” and the “prophet” (Ephesians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 12:28). The preaching of Barnabas and Paul on the themes of salvation doubtless sounded much alike. But whereas one spoke by the authority of the written Word, the other spoke with the added authority of divine revelation (Galatians 1:11, 12).BBMP 2.2

While some authorities hold that “prophesying” (propheteuo) in the NT refers at times to preaching, it is conceded that a category of persons who received and communicated direct and special revelations from God did function in the New Testament as prophets (Luke 1:25-38; Acts 11:27, 28; 13:1; 15:32; 1:9). What was their function?BBMP 2.3