Foundations of Christian Leadership, Student Workbook, SW07

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F O U N D A T I O N S O F C H R I S T I A N L E A D E R S H I P

A Theological Overview of the Equipping Gifts Described in Ephesians 4.11 (continued)

3. “At all times [ in the history of the church ] there have not been lacking persons having the spirit of prophecy, not indeed for the declaration of any new doctrine of faith, but for the direction of human acts” (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica , Vol. IV., Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, © Benziger Brothers, 1948, p. 1906). 4. “[Prophecy] was given unquestioned authority only after it was vetted (cf. 1 Thes. 5.19-21). Even when it was recognized to be a divine word, it did not necessarily become a canonical word. Prophecy had (and has) important uses for its immediate recipients but it was given canonical status only when it was recognized also to be normative revelation for future generations and a touchstone by which future prophecies might be tested” (E. E. Ellis, “Prophecy, Theology of,” New Dictionary of Theology , Sinclair Ferguson, David F. Wright, and J. I. Packer, eds., Downers Grove, IL/Leicester, England: InterVarsity Press, 1988, p. 538). 5. Wayne Gruden argues in his book The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today , (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2000) that Old Testament prophets and New Testament Apostles (in the narrow sense of the Twelve plus Paul) are functionally equivalent in that they are the only people authorized to give immediate revelation from God that cannot be broken. What is true of Old Testament prophets is also true of New Testament apostles in that both of these speak with an authority that surpasses that of New Testament prophets. In other words, a New Testament prophet is not speaking for God in the same way as an Old Testament prophet or a New Testament apostle (narrowly defined). This view is shared by D.A. Carson who writes that, “it can be argued rather compellingly that the true NT analogue of the OT prophet is not the NT prophet but the NT apostle (in the narrow sense). . . . It is virtually impossible to conceive of 1 Cor. 14.29 being applied to OT prophets (once their credentials were accepted) or to NT apostles.” (See “Church, Authority in,” The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology , Walter A. Elwell, ed, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984, pp. 228-229.)