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Thursday, 7 May 2009

Where have all the prophets gone?

As the early church expanded and grew, the apostles had to come up with a certain structure in order to manage the increasing size day by day. We have seen how the apostles delegated some of their authority to the deacons to take care of the daily distribution of resources to all the believers, in particular, the widows (Acts 6). Diaconate began in Jerusalem. Persecution of Greek-speaking Jewish Christians forced them to spill over to the neighbourhood. Among them were the deacons. When daughter churches sprang up along the Mediterranean Sea, they also set up their diaconate to serve the local churches. In epistles written to Timothy and Titus, Paul mentioned the qualities required of deacons. This showed that the office of deacon was a necessity to meet popular demands.
The Jerusalem Church also had prophets.
Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch (Acts 11:27).
Very soon, Antioch had her own prophets as well as teachers.
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul (Acts 13:1).
Here we see more division of labour in the Church as a result of her development.
The Acts had collected very few details about prophets in the New Testament time. We have found several prophets with names mentioned in the Acts. They were Agabus (Acts 11, 21), Judas Barsabbas and Silas (Acts 15). There were also four anonymous daughters of Philip the Deacon (Acts 21:9).
And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world; and this took place in the days of Claudius (Acts 11:28).
Agabus foretold by the Holy Spirit of a great famine. Consequently, believers in Antioch collected a sum of money. They sent Barnabas and Saul to bring the money to the churches in Judea. Notice here that Barnabas was mentioned before Saul who was not yet called Paul. This should remind all of us that before God, there was no short-cut to fame and status. Paul had to work very hard for a very long time before he shot to stardom in the Church. We should all work patiently towards our goals.
Next, we met Judas and Silas in the Jerusalem Council. The Council settled the issue of imposing circumcision on Gentiles entering the Church. A compromise was reached so as not to put unnecessary burdens on Gentiles while at the same time, satisfying the orthodox Jewish Christians. They sent Judas and Silas to go with Barnabas and Saul to Antioch to announce the decisions.
And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, exhorted the brethren with many words and strengthened them (Acts 15:32).
Here, we have prophets who did not foretell future events but spoke edifying words to strengthen believers.
Return to Agabus. He came to Caesarea to foretell the future of Paul. Paul would be caught by Jews in Jerusalem and handed over to the Gentiles (Acts 21:11). In short, prophets in the Acts foretold future events as well as speaking edifying words to strengthen believers.
The ability to foretell the future was one of the gifts from the Holy Spirit. Paul made this clear in the first epistle to the Corinthians.
Prophecy is a gift from the Holy Spirit to serve the Lord.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord
(1 Corinthians 12:4-5).
These gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit for the common good. It is given according to His will.
To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 
(1 Corinthians 12:8-11). 
Paul gave a very high status to prophets, second only to the apostles. In the same chapter, he wrote.
And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:28).
Naturally, one may wonder why the Holy Spirit bothers to give this charisma. Of course, every Christian shares the prophetic office of Jesus through baptism. They take up the role of spokesmen of God to the world. This is the role of prophets in the broadest sense. But what about the prophecy charisma? In the Acts, the Holy Spirit spoke personally to the individuals and to the Church. In fact, prophets were redundant. Yet, it occupied the second place in the Church hierarchy. Nowadays, there is no more recognized prophets in the Church. Where have all the prophets gone? When and why has this office become obsolete? Why doesn't the Holy Spirit bestow this prophecy charisma anymore? These are intriguing questions. Can anybody enlighten me on this?

My Lord, You have always been generous in showering us with precious gifts. May we make good us of them for the building up of Your Church and for the salvation of the world. Amen.

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