What Is the Gift of Prophecy?

The apostle Paul told the Corinthians to “desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1, NKJV). What is the gift of prophecy, and why is it important? Dr. David K. Bernard explains how this spiritual gift operates and the value it brings to the church.

For more information on this topic, see Dr. Bernard's book Spiritual Gifts, available at PentecostalPublishing.com.

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

When Paul taught on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 14, he opened by telling his readers that they should desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. Did Paul mean that Christians should seek the ability to foretell the future? What is the gift of prophecy and how does it work? Dr. David K. Bernard explains on this episode of Apostolic Life in the Twenty First Century. Welcome to Apostolic Life in the Twenty First Century, a podcast dedicated to helping modern-day believers live out the teachings of the first century church. This podcast is part of the teaching ministry of Dr. David K. Bernard. Dr. Bernard has dedicated his life to studying the Bible and helping believers apply its message to their daily lives. In Apostolic Life in the 21st century, Dr. Bernard answers your questions about what the Bible teaches and how those teachings apply to everyday life. If you enjoy this podcast, we encourage you to check out Dr. David K. Bernard's books. Dr. Bernard has written more than 30 books on biblical theology and Christian living and leadership. Visit Pentecostal Publishing.com and search David Bernard for a list of available titles. Enter promo code DKB10 at checkout to save 10% on your order. That's Pentecostalpublishing.com, promo code DKB10 to save 10% at checkout. Thank you for joining us. When Paul taught on the subject of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 13 or 14, he opened by telling his readers that they should desire spiritual gifts, and then he added, but especially that you may prophesy. And then he concluded 1 Corinthians 14 by saying that we should desire earnestly to prophesy. So it sounds like Paul thought this gift was important. However, in modern America, when we think about the word prophesy, we might think about Nostradamus and somebody predicting the future. Is that what Paul meant? Or what does prophecy look like in a New Testament sense?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Well, first of all, we're talking about the supernatural spiritual gifts, which are covered in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 through chapter 14. Chapter 12 talks about nine particular gifts of the Spirit, and one of them is prophecy. And then chapter 14 explains, he's dealing with a misuse of gifts where people are speaking in tongues all the time in the public service, and he says that's disruptive. It doesn't really help people. Visitors don't know what's going on. There's a time for tongues, which he goes on to explain. But he says, really, in the church setting, it's more important to speak in the known language. And then so that's why he's emphasizing prophecy. It's not as if prophecy is more important than other gifts, but it's in the context of a congregation understanding it would be better to prophesy in a known language than to speak in tongues in an unloan language for an extended length of time and take over the service, and nobody knows what's going on, and nobody is benefited. So that's the context. Now, for a full discussion, I have a book called Spiritual Gifts, and I have a chapter on the gift of prophecy. But let's focus on prophecy. Generally, we think of prophecy as an inspired utterance or an utterance from God. Now, we're not talking in this context about authoritative utterance as if or scripture. We're not meaning inspired in the way that scripture is. We believe that scripture is infallible, it's authoritative, it is completely true in every respect, comes from God. So we're not talking about the gift of prophecy having that kind of authority or infallibility. However, the basic meaning would be uh prophecy is a supernatural utterance from God in the language of the speaker and hearers. Whereas tongues would be typically certainly unknown to the speaker, and most of the time unknown to the audience or the or the hearers, prophecy would be in the known language of the speaker and in the known language of the hearers or the audience. So prophecy in that sense can be foretelling or forthelling. So we use that little phrase because when we think of prophecy in a more narrow sense, we often often think about predicting the future. And that while that can be an aspect of prophecy, because when God speaks, you know, God knows more than we know. So often when He inspires us or gives us a word to speak, it may be something that we would not otherwise know. But the fundamental definition of prophecy is not to foretell the future. If you think of the prophets of the Old Testament, while they did have some predictive statements, many of their statements, by far the vast majority, were warnings or admonitions or encouragement, uh direct messages for that time. So to keep this in our mind, we say, yes, it could be foretelling future events, or it could be forthelling, just speaking out words of God. So let's be practical. What are we talking about in the New Testament context? Um of course, in a general sense, every time somebody preaches by the anointing of the Holy Spirit or teaches or even shares a testimony, we might say that's inspired of God in a general sense. But uh and so maybe in the broadest sense, that's prophecy, but in the sense of a supernatural gift for a specific time, we would not consider all anointed speaking to be prophecy in that sense. So we're looking at a more restricted definition where God gives a specific word or specific message to a person to speak. So it might be in the congregation where everyone is worshiping, everybody's praying, everyone is seeking after God, there's a pause, there's a lull, and then suddenly someone begins to speak forth in the known language. So in North America, where typically we'd be talking about English, and so they just begin to speak a sentence or a paragraph in English to the whole congregation, and we all recognize that is a message from God. Or I also think prophecy can work in a context, and I've personally experienced that when a preacher is preaching, and in a general sense, all of his message could be anointed, inspired, prophetic, what have you, but there have been times that I have personally experienced, and I've seen it, where it in the middle of a message, it seems like God just takes over, and you will say some things that are not in your notes, were not in your conscious mind, but directed very specifically. And there have been a few occasions where I knew God was speaking to a person in the audience. Now I wasn't trying to single them out or uh, you know, rebuke them or or shame them or anything like that, but I knew that the words I was speaking, God showed me this person right here needs to hear it. Other times I didn't know any particular person, but I felt like God had just taken over. Here I am preaching from my prepared notes and the inspiration of the moment, but all of a sudden it seems like God just drops in something I wasn't even thinking. And while I don't know if it's directed a particular individual or the whole congregation, I have this specific clear feeling, God has just interjected a direct message to someone or some group of people or the whole congregation that I would consider prophecy. So I do think prophecy can be a standalone where God is speaking to someone or using someone to speak to a group or even perhaps an individual, and um then or or God may be in a message that's already going on, God will intervene in a very specific way. But in either case, you're talking about a supernatural utterance from God in the language of the speaker. Now, the purpose, if you read 1 Corinthians 14 and you look particularly at verse 3, it's for edification, encouragement, and consolation or comfort. So it's to encourage and strengthen people. So sometimes there may be a warning or there may be instruction, there and maybe admonition, but the purpose is not to hurt people, to humiliate, to shame, to manipulate, to control. The purpose is not to establish doctrine. So the purpose is not to undermine church government. So if someone begins to prophesy and they're attacking the leadership of the church or they're undermining the pastor, or they're contradicting the pastor, that's out of order. Uh if they're trying to establish a doctrine, that's out of order. We have the Bible for that. So God is not going to contradict or undermine his own efforts. He's given us the Bible for doctrinal teaching. He's not going to use personal prophecy to contradict that. He's given us church government, including pastors, for the various purposes of leading and exercising spiritual authority and responsibility and so forth, shepherding the flock. So he's not going to undermine the leaders that he's placed in the congregation. And that's why 1 Corinthians 14 says the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet, meaning that even if you feel God has given you a word, you have to learn to use it in an appropriate way. Is it the right time? Is it the right message? Is it going to cause confusion? So you still have responsibility to use it properly, not to abuse it. So but it's, and it's overall, and interestingly, 1 Corinthians 12 through 14 talks about these supernatural spiritual gifts, embedded right in the middle, chapter 13 is a chapter on love. And it says if you had all the gifts of the Spirit put together and it names prophecy, and you don't have love, you're nothing. So I think it's important to recognize that the whole context of these spiritual gifts is to encourage, to build up, to bless, to comfort, to be exercised in love. So when somebody tries to use it to manipulate people, to tell people their future, to tell them what to do, if it's not designed to help and encourage and build up, then you know there's something wrong. And that's why you shouldn't rely on prophecy to try to kind of like a fortune telling or say, well, you need to do this, you need to marry this person, or you need to do that. That's not the purpose of prophecy. If someone tries to use it to run your life or to tell you what to do, you should step back. And we have a very amazing example of this in the book of Acts, uh, where Paul is on his way to Jerusalem. And you can read the story in Acts 20 and then in Acts 21, how God has led Paul to go to Jerusalem. And when he gets there, he's going to be arrested. Ultimately, he's going to go before Caesar. So on the way, he gets various prophecies that when he goes to Jerusalem, he's going to be arrested. He's going to be bound. Well, the listeners all assume, well, God is telling you not to go. God is warning you, Paul, because nobody wants to get arrested. So obviously God is trying to tell you, don't go. But Paul already knew God had told him to go. So Paul said, No, I'm going to go. And then finally the people said, All right, the will of the Lord be done. So Paul, the the hearers and even those who were giving the prophecy, they said through the spirit, that Paul shouldn't go. Well, if I I think if I examine it carefully, I think what happened is they gave an accurate prophecy from the Spirit that when you get to Jerusalem, you're going to be arrested, you're going to face opposition and persecution. They assumed, and then their application would be any normal person would think God is telling you, don't go. But Paul knew God had already instructed him. So Paul understood God is not canceling his plans that he's already given me, but God is forewarning me. God is preparing me. So when I get there and I get arrested, I won't suddenly think, oh, I miss God's will. No, I will know I'm in God's will and God prepared me. God warned me. He was helping to see. No, you are in my will. Even when these things happen to me, happen to you. Don't worry. Uh I've got a plan for you. And so that story shows us that even when somebody gives a valid prophecy through the Spirit, it's still up to the recipient to use spiritual discernment as how it applies to their own lives. And that's why I would say we shouldn't try to use prophecy as a shortcut to discern the will of God. God has given us very basic ways to discern his will through prayer, through counseling with our pastor, through study of God's word, through he's given us a brain to evaluate and reason the pros and cons of major decisions and depending on the type of decision, our family, our spouse. So we have all these means of discerning God's will. God is not going to short circuit that process by just some kind of miracle, a prophecy or some other thing. And I've usually found when there is a prophetic utterance or something else related to the will of God, usually it's in one of two ways. Number one, to confirm a process. So in my own life, there have been times I've been facing a decision, praying, seeking God, examining the pros and cons, getting direction, feeling like, well, I think I need to go this, but I'm not sure. And there could be a prophetic word that just drops in my heart, and the speaker doesn't know what it refers to, but I do, and I can say, yes. So it's a confirmation of a process that's already going on. Or other times a prophetic word may be to open your understanding, open your mind. So you're not really thinking in a certain direction, but a prophecy can come not to give you the ultimate result, but to tell you open your mind to something you may not have considered, or God is beginning to do a work. But then you will still need to go to a through a process that I've already mentioned to confirm that. So we shouldn't use prophecy as a short circuit to seeking God's will. But we we should understand that often it will help us confirm at a key time, or perhaps it will uh start us on a new path of discovery or discernment. Uh, but we still have to rely on all these other elements to know the will of God for our lives. Uh so I think prophecy in the right way can be a great blessing to a congregation or sometimes even to an individual, but it should never substitute for the written word, uh, for spiritual leadership, including the pastor, uh, or um the process of discerning God's will for your life. All those things are very important. So prophecy, I believe, should be normal in the life of a congregation. Uh, as you read 1 Corinthians 14, not everyone is going to prophesy in that special sense. All can witness, all can teach a Bible study, all can share the gospel. Uh so in a general sense, we can have an anointed utterance, all of us can, but not all of us is going to exercise that specific gift of prophecy. But when it does happen, it can be a great encouragement, a great confirmation, and uh great blessing to a congregation or group of people. And I also I give examples in my book, Spiritual Gifts. Also in my book, Reaching Austin, I talk about some key times where the prophetic word really encouraged our congregation or a family that was going through a situation. And it was very helpful to hear from the Lord that we that we felt like God's in control and we just need to follow his plan.

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Thank you for listening to this episode of Apostolic Life in the 21st Century. If you enjoy this podcast, please take a moment to give us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We also appreciate it when you share Apostolic Life in the 21st Century with a friend or family member. And make plans to join us again next time as we look at how the Bible applies to everyday life.