Doctrinal Thoughts

Let me make sure that I do not confuse anyone from the beginning. I do not think anyone can prophesy in the sense that a NT apostle or OT prophet did in the sense of writing Scripture. The canon (a word for all of the books of the Bible) closed with the last book of Revelation. So hopefully I can escape any scourging by clearing that matter up at the beginning. However, let me now articulate what I do mean. I think that one of the errors that can and should be corrected in the church body today is the lack of participation from the whole body of Christ. Understanding what and how prophecy works within the body of Christ today will help in this matter.

Now keep in mind that not everyone has all of the spiritual gifts, nor does everyone have speaking gifts. But there are those whom do indeed have the NT gift of prophecy, a speaking gift, and in many cases it seems that churches stifle this due to elaborate and very restrictive services whereby only one person (such as a pastor) may speak throughout the entire service. It seems to me that the gift of prophecy often, but not always, reveals itself through those whom experience a word of knowledge or word of wisdom from God (1 Cor. 12:8). In these cases God gives to the person an impression or thought that pulls from various disciplines of life (a word of wisdom) and he or she applies the conclusion to some situation in life. In other cases the Lord gives a person an impression or thought that pulls from various biblical and/or theological disciplines (a word of knowledge) and he or she applies the conclusion to some situation of life. Then in some cases it seems that God gives a person an immediate impression on his or her heart that is in agreement with the Bible in fact or principle and directly applies to some situation. In these cases the person may or may not know the specific text of Scripture but the Lord has placed something in his or her mind and heart for the purpose of edification for someone. All of these examples fall within the boundaries of God distributing the gift of prophecy as he wills (1 Cor. 12:11) to the body of Christ. The Bible tells us this concerning the gift of prophecy: “ I wish you all had the gift of speaking in tongues, but even more I wish you were all able to prophesy. For prophecy is a greater and more useful gift than speaking in tongues. . . . Let two or three prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said. But if someone is prophesying and another person receives a revelation from the Lord, the one who is speaking must stop. In this way, all who prophesy will have a turn to speak, one after the other, so that everyone will learn and be encouraged” (1 Cor. 14:5,29-31).

Life Application

In some cases churches are places whereby the leadership fosters the idea of spectator Christianity. The way to avoid this can be by having an open time in the service whereby people are encouraged and left free in the Lord to speak should the Lord impress various thoughts on their hearts. Dr. Wayne Grudem says a “greater openness to the gift of prophecy could help overcome the situation where many who attend our churches are merely spectators and not participants. Perhaps we are contributing to the problem of ‘spectator Christianity’ by quenching the work of the spirit in this area.” Ask the Lord to make you and your church more open to the work of the Holy Spirit in this area. And if you are a leader in a church ask God to help you lead the way in making the service more open for God’s people to share what God is impressing on their hearts and minds.

Keith Sherlin

B.A. North Greenville College

M.T.S. Tyndale Theological Seminary

D.A. Cand. Trinity Theological Seminary

Director: Essential Christianity Ministries,