tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post5947023237052939278..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: On prophecy and prayerRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-45108318982150567412013-11-15T10:24:54.773-05:002013-11-15T10:24:54.773-05:00At the time, the people understood the test of a p...At the time, the people understood the test of a prophet still to be that of Deut 18:20-22. NT canon had not been established yet and the open canon was being written by those who were personally called by Jesus. Yet they were not writing on the leading edge of the foretelling marks of the prophets, they were writing on the following edge. That is to say that the OT prophets foretold some events that had not happened yet so as to mark those events as revelatory. The Apostles of Christ were fulfilling those prophecies and validating not only their own writings, but the writings that had come before.<br /><br />The former prophets, and latter prophets also, wrote of the second coming which is yet to be fully observed. At that time, there will be new revelation, but we understand the revelation to be due to the barriers of the fallen world being removed and all of us having direct knowledge of God. Therefore, prophesy will no longer be necessary.<br /><br />So the role of Apostles of Christ as prophets was to explain the OT in light of Jesus Christ. Once they passed on, the canon was closed. If this is true, and I may be wrong, but it seems as though prophets today are not the same as the OT prophets or the Apostles of Christ, but rather they expound on the writings of the the prophets of scripture, former and latter, so as to reveal their meaning to the people today.<br /><br />The clarity of this supposition relies not on all possible meanings of prophemi (or glossalolia), but in the distinction that Paul gives us in Corinthians between prophesying and tongues. Speaking in different tongues doesn't edify the church. Prophesying does. The only way to edify the church is if the meaning of the one prophesying is clear. The only way it can be clear is if it is already validated by scripture. So I would equate prophesying today with expository preaching or writing. Anything else is has no foundation for demanding my immediate obedience.Jim Pembertonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01446388434272680014noreply@blogger.com