Conservative Evangelicals struggle with the idea of prophecy, particularly if they are non cessationists. It’s not too much of a problem for cessationists. They take the simple approach that the more spectacular gifts, seen as sign gifts ceased with the close of the apostolic age and completion of the canon of Scripture. This means that according to that view, we do not see prophecy, tongues or miracles now.
Yet, that approach seems to require some exegetical gymnastics. How do we arrive at a point where gifts described in Scripture, available not just to the apostles but to the wider church with instructions about their use are only temporary?
So, a lot of conservative evangelicals today are at least theoretically non-cessationist, even if in practice they don’t encourage use of such gifts. That’s probably where I would have been about twenty years ago.
The big holding back point for most has been about how to square things in terms of Scripture being sufficient and authoritative. Can we believe in sola Scriptura and have prophecy, dreams and visions today?
One way that people have tried to square this is by suggesting that preaching is prophecy because it is a witness, a revelation about Christ. I’ve just heard a sermon (via video), where the preacher argued that prophecy is about an insight into Scripture, something that might happen in a Bible study.
There are two problems with this. First, this simply does not fit with what we see in Scripture. It’s not what prophecy looks like there and so would create a very different type of gift. Secondly it seems to lose the sense that there always has been a distinct gift from prophecy, the ability to study and teach God’s word.
That’s not to say that prophecy won’t at times include particular insight into and use of Scripture, giving it an immediacy, a nowness as we get to see what God is specifically saying to us now. But that is not the sum total of prophecy and indeed what we are talking about seems to be more than a bit of Bible study wisdom.
As it happens, I think there is a simple and obvious solution to the dilemma. Theologically we distinguish between special revelation (Scripture) which is infallible and general revelation, the sense that everything God does in creation and providence. I would suggest that prophecy outside of Scripture belongs in the latter category.
Faithroots 