Pentecostal Apologetics
Peter and John Believe in Modern-Day Prophets
Comparing The Writings of Peter and John With 1 Corinthians; It Will Be Seen That Both Peter and John Believe in Modern-Day Prophets asThey Give Instructions For The Ongoing Use of Prophetic Utterances.
Peter's epistles were written after 1 Corinthians and he speaks of the prophetic.
There
are a number of similaritiesbetween 1 Cor. And 1 Peter. While it is
true that Peter does not write as much about the prophetic as Paul does
in 1 Cor; it is also true that he did not have to.
Peter
believed in the prophetic—both tongues, and prophecies. He had spent
time at the Corinthian church (presumably, because Paul mentions his
name several times to the Corinthians, as if the Corinthians knew him
well) and never once does Peter warn people to avoid tongues and
prophecies (even though the Corinthians had some propblems showing off
with the spiritual gifts); on the contrary, Peter preaches the same
message concerning the spiritual gifts as Paul does in 1 Cor.:
They both speak of differing gifts:
"Stewards of the manifold [various] grace of God" 1 Peter 4:10
"Now there are diversities of gifts..." 1 Cor. 12:4
They both speak of using gifts to serve one another:
"As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another" 1 Pet 4:10
"forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church." 1 Cor14:12
Notice
that Peter says: "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister
the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God;" (1 Peter 4:
10-11) Peter is encouraging the use of spiritual gifts (tongues and
prophecies included) and this is written in 64 A.D. That was 20 years
after the "Gentile Pentecost" at Cornelious' house, and Peter is still
encouraging spiritual speaking (oracles of God). He may not go into
detail, but he makes definite reference to divine speaking.
Peter and Paul
The
difference between Paul's 1 Cor. And Peter's 1 Peter, is that Peter was
speaking to a broad audience, "To the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Capadocia, Asia, and Bythinia" (1 Peter 1: 1) so he
was speaking vaguely of the spiritual gifts, but Paul was writing to
only one church, and was able to go into detail and give specific
instructions concerning spiritual gifts, that the Corinthians needed to
hear.
Neither Peter, nor Paul, spoke as if the spiritual gifts
would cease before Christ's return. They both mentioned Christ's return
to earth, but neither mentioned some kind of dispensation occurring
that would reqiure the church to live in a giftless state, without
tongues or prophecies:
"Wherefore gird up the loins of your
mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought
unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."1 Peter 1:13 (No mention of
the gifts ceasing before Christ's return)
"They may, by your
good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation" 1
Peter 2:12 (Again, no mention of the ceasing of the gifts before Christ
returns)
"The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer." 1 Peter 4: 7 (Once again...)
In
reading Peter's message of Acts 2: 15-21 (not written here), it is easy
to see that both Peter and Joel thought the various forms of prophecy
would be here until the moon turns to blood. Paul, in 1 Cor is more
blunt. He simply states that spiritual gifts would be here until Christ
is revealed:
"So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" 1 Cor. 1:7
John's epistles
John's
epistles were written in the 90's—roughly 40 years after 1 Cor was
written. John knows that the prophetic office will not cease, so he
warns his readers to beware of false prophets:
"Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world." 1 John 4: 1
John
is definitely talking about testing prophets and prophecies. He is not
speaking here of testing teachers or pastors or sermons. It is assumed,
by writers of the Holy Bible, that prophets, whether true or false, are
led by spirits. Prophets are either led by demon spirits, or by the
Holy Spirit.
As seen in the verses below, there is definitely a similarity between 1 John and 1 Cor, concerning the prophetic:
"let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge" 1 Cor. 14:29
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits" 1 John 4:1
Just
like Peter and Paul before him, John makes no mention of a ceasing of
the prophetic. Not once did he say, "If someone says he is a prophet,
do not believe him because the gift of prophecy is ceasing." Instead he
warns his readers to look out for false prophets--The implication being
that prophets were expected to be in the churches.
In the book of Revelation there are three verses, when taken together, bring out the importance of prophecy:
"And
the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the
remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the
testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 12:17
"I saw the souls of them
that were beheaded for the witness ["witness" is the same Greek word as
"testimony"] of Jesus."Rev. 20:4
"the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Rev. 19:10
Copyright
2006 - 2007. Peter Kwiatkowski. All rights reserved. This work is
licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License.
http://www.pentecostal-tongues-theology.org Peter Kent Kwiatkowski -