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 -