Prophetic ministry has been a debated part of the gifts of the Holy Spirit for a very long time. Those in Charismatic and Pentecostal circles agree that prophetic ministry is still active as a ministry of the Holy Spirit today. Evangelicals are split on the issue, with many everyday evangelicals pretty much ignorant about the topic.

Prophetic ministry was an obvious and overwhemingly significant aspect of the Old Testament. No Christian argues with the fact that most of the Old Testament was written by prophets. There is also no doubt that prophetic ministry occured on a regular basis in the New Testament church as well. Most of the debate comes in whether they still exist today as a function of the church.

Those who believe they no longer exist are called cessationists. Their Biblical evidence for their arguments lie in verses like Ephesians 2:20 and 1 Corinthians 13:8-10.

Ephesians 2:19-20: ¹⁹Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, ²⁰built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Ephesians 2:20 says that the church is built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets. Cessationists believe that the foundation has already been laid and thus the foundation laying function of the Prophets cease to exist.

Another is found in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10: ⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

This verse in 1 Corinthians, cessationists say, claims that 'perfection' has come with the finished cannon of the Bible and thus prophecies have no ceased.

Both verse don't directly say that prophecies have ceased. Cessationsits imply it by the verses. Many people, including the author of this article, believe that these are weak Scripture references to back up prophecies ceasing. Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church, in his book The Confessions of a Reformation Reverend, says plainly that this is the worse exegsis he's ever seen of a passage of scripture. One important thing to note is that these are the best Scripture references cessationist scholars can come up with to say that prophetic ministry and prophets no longer exist. I find it suspect that if indeed prophetic ministry has ceased and prophets no longer exist that the Bible would only mention it a couple of times in passing and never address it directly.

That being said, let's move on to what the Bible DOES say, because it has many things to say about prophetic ministry and prophets in the modern church.

New Testament Prophetic Ministry, which still exists in today's church, is different to Old Testament prophetic ministry in a number of ways.

#1) Old Testament prophets had authority to write scripture and New Testament prophets do not.

That means Old Testament prophets were infallible and inerrant when they were inspired to write scripture. New Testament prophets did not and do not have the authority to write, alter, or add to scripture. Wayne Grudem, who wrote Systematic Theology, says the Old Testament prophet is comparable to the New Testament Apostle, not the New Testament prophet. New Testament Apostles, like the Old Testament prophets, had authority to write scripture, and that authority ended with the last of the Apostles.

This also means that New Testament prophets must come under the authority of scripture. If a New Testament prophet prophesys something that contradicts the Bible, the prophecy is to be rejected. All New Testament prophets and prophecies are judged on the basis of scripture with no exceptions. The Bible is the final authority.

For example, if a prophet prophesys to someone that he should leave his wife and marry someone else, it contradicts what the Bible says and is judged to be not from God. In addition, if a prophecy is that aggregiously contradictory of the Bible, the person giving that prophetic word should be strongly corrected.

Sometimes people do prophesy things that contradict the Bible without knowing it. If it's unintentional, there still needs to be correction but a little grace should be used. I'll go into judging and correcting prophetic words another time, but just like in all spiritual gifts, it won't always be utilized perfectly. For instance, no preacher on earth, other than Jesus, has ever preached a sermon that was perfectly theologically correct. All ministers should try to be consistant with the Bible at all times, but it doesn't happening perfectly every time.

#2) Old Testmanet prophets had to be stoned for incorrect prophecies but New Testament prophets do not.

Because of the important role that Old Testament propehts had in writting scripture, inerrancies and infallabilities could not be tolerated. In the Old Testament, if a prophet gave an incorrect or inaccurate prophecy, they had to be stoned as false prophets and none of their words were to be given credibility.

Because New Testament prophets and prophetic people don't have the mandate to write scripture, this requirement is no longer valid. In Acts, there was a man named Agabus that the BIble called a prophet. He is a good example of a New Testament prophet. He was a man that was recognized by Apostle Paul, Luke and the Bible as a prophet. In Acts 11, it is said that he came to Antioch with a group of other prophets, and he prophesied correctly that there would be a severe famine in the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius, which in deed happened. In another instance in Acts 21, Agabus prophesied by tying Paul's hands and feet with his belt saying that likewise, Paul would be bound by the Jews and be handed over to the Gentiles. As a result of this prophetic word, the church tried to persuade Paul from going to Jerusalem.

If Agabus was an Old Testament prophet, he would have been stoned. Agabus' prophecy came true, but it was inaccurate in two ways. Number one, Paul was not bound by the Jews but by Roman guards. The incident was incited by the Jews, but the Roman commander ordered him bound, not the Jews. Nor was he handed over by the Jews. The Roman commander ordered him bound to keep a riot from starting. Although this seems like a technicality, and Agabus was amazingly close, too close to say that it was merely a human prediction, it was errant, errant enough to get him stoned if he was an Old Testament prophet.

In addition, what was implied from Agabus' prophecy was inaccurate as well. The church, and probably Agabus himself, tried to convince Paul from going to Jerusalem based on this prophesy. If Agabus had perfectly prophesied, he would have finished by saying that Paul, although would be bound and jailed, should still go to Jerusalem to preach the Gospel.

By the way, Paul did end up going to Jerulsame, was arrested, and it led to his imprisonment, and eventual death according to church history.

So now that we know New Testament prophetic ministry is not intended to write scripture, what exactly is it's purpose?

Purpose of Prophetic Ministry #1 - To build up, not tear down.

One of the primary purposes for New Testament prophetic ministry, according to Paul, is to strengthen, encourage and comfort the church.

1 Corinthians 14:3-4 ³But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. ⁴He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

1 Corinthians 12-14 has the most extensive explanations of spiritual gifts, primarily the prophetic gifts, in the New Testament. And 1 Corinthians 14:3-4 quoted above is the best summary and catches the spirit of Paul's instructions on the prophetic gifts and prophetic ministry. 1 Corinthians 13, wedged in between a long excursion on the subject, is the famous passage on love. Although it's used widely in wedding ceremonies, Paul's intention on talking so extensively on love was to explain how we should administer spiritual gifts, especially prophetic gifts.

The Corinthian church was probably abusing prophetic ministry just like many of today's churches and so called prophets abuse prophetic ministry. The Corinthians was using spiritual gifts, especially the prophetic and tongues, to show their superiority over other Christians. In addition, they were using it to weild power and influence over the church, which created factions and sects which most likely all claimed to have the prophetic word from God. The Apostle Paul writes this letter as a rebuke. But he doesn't tell them to stop using spiritual gifts, he merely puts it in proper order and structure. And he brings them back to the point of spiritual gifts, which is to use it as a vessel of love and enouragement, not as a power play.

The primary purpose of New Testament prophetic ministry is to convey the love of the Father and it's end product should be to strengthen, encourage and bring comfort to the church. Very rarely is it used in the New Testament to rebuke or condemn people.

Purpose of Prophetic Ministry #2 - To Reveal Jesus

Revelation 19:10 - "...worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

Here, the Bible says that the 'spirit' or essence of prophecy is to 'testify' or reveal Jesus. Basically, this verse in Revelation is saying that the purpose of prophecy is to show us who Jesus is. This particular verse is talking specifically about the prophecies in Revelation, however, it is also true of Old Testament prophecy. All Old Testament prophecy was either directly about Jesus or pointing to Jesus. There were hundreds of 'Messianic' prophecies in the Old Testament that prophesied things all the way from Jesus' birth by a virgin to his crucifixion and resurrection. Additionally, even the Old Testament prophecies that weren't directly about him pointed and revealed Jesus. For example, when Jeremiah and Isaiah are prophesying judgment on Israel for breaking God's covenant, their prophecies were saying that we are all sinners and we are unable to keep God's covenant, pointing to the need for a Savior who would one day keep the covenant and pay for the broken covenant on our behalf.

The same holds true for New Testament prophetic minisry. Prophetic ministry today should reveal Jesus' heart. What is Jesus' heart toward the church? He loves the church, he died for the church and he longs to see it beautiful and whole. Does Jesus yell at the church? Does Jesus condemn the church? Absolutely not! God does correct and discipline the church, but he does it as a Father to a child. And even when He does it, God simultaneously encourages us, forgives us and is rich in mercy and compassion. True New Testament prophetic ministry will testify of this Jesus. True prophetic ministry will aim to strengthen, encourage and comfort the church and may have a word of correction here and there, but will do so in love and gentleness, because that is what reveals who Jesus really is.

I will add however that every so often, a hard prophetic word will come just like it did sometimes in the New Testament. But these are reserved for people who are in the church and are deliberate about their rebellion, unrepentantly spreading false doctrine, or wolves who are there to maliciously devour the sheep. Most people aren't in this category. And when this does happen, the prophetic ministry toward these people should happen carefully in agreement with the local pastors and leaders.

Prophetic ministry strengthens people and strengthens churches.

Isaiah 50:4 - "The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples,That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word He awakens Me morning by morning,He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple."

There are times when everyone is weary and weakened by the circumstances and daily troubles of our lives. Prophetic ministry was given to us to strengthen each other and strengthen churches in times of trouble and weariness. As we said before, the primary purpose of prophetic ministry is to strengthen, encourage and comfort. When someone is at their wit's end and just about to give up, prophetic ministry can come in and give strength to the weak with a prophetic word. God knows just what to say to bring strength. Even human words can strengthen people's hearts, how much more God's words given through prophetic ministry.

Not only does it strengthen individual people, it also strengthens entire churches. I've known many churches on the brink of disaster, splits and being turned upside down that once they received a prophetic word, they were strengthened back to life.

Jesus loves the church and uses prophetic ministry to convey not just His words, but also His heart of wanting strong believers and strong churches.

Purpose of Prophetic Ministry #4 - To Encourage

God by his nature is encouraging. He loves to encourage His church and one of the ways He does that is through prophetic ministry.

Acts 15:32 - "Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the brothers."

This is a common theme in the New Testament when it talks about prophetic ministry. Prophetic ministry and encouragement go hand in hand. There may be many great things that happen as a result of prophetic ministry, but the one thing that is certain to happen almost every time is that people will feel encouraged. If a prophet and his prophetic ministry doesn't show fruit of encouragement, you should wonder if it is a genuine prophetic ministry. Like it says in Acts 15, prophets said such much to encourage the church. God loves to lavish His encouragement on us, just like a good father lavished encouragement on his kids.

If a prophetic ministry is indeed genuine, 99% of what they say will result in encouragement. Even those instances where a sin or error is exposed, God will say it in a way that overwhemingly shows His grace to forgive as well as His grace to change. Even those who repent as a response to prophetic ministry will do so encouraged and joyful that the God of grace lavished His mercy and forgiveness to them. Whenever I've seen God expose a sin, He always shows His grace and He always provides a way out of that sin or reveals a truth that will help that person in the prophetic word. God, through prophetic ministry, will not only show what's wrong, but will also provide a solution.

1 Corinthian 13:31 - ^"31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged."

In addition to greatly encouraging people, prophetic ministry can also help bring direction and guidance to people's lives. For people in crossroads or dead ends in their lives where they're seeking God's direction and guidance for their lives, prophetic ministry can either provide that direction directly or it can serve to confirm things they have already been considering.

The primary way God speaks to us is through his Word. But sometimes, a Bible passage can't always help us make decisions between equally valid options. It can certainly help make decisions where one option is unethical or immoral. And it can help to discern which one is the wiser choice. But sometimes, all the choices seem equally valid on all sides and we become stuck. That's when a prophetic word can really help us along to know God's will for our lives. And sometimes we just need to know that we're going in the right direction and that we can walk forward confidently, and the prophetic ministry can provide that as well.