The Gift of Prophecy Throughout Church History Page | 1

The Gift of Prophecy Throughout

Church History

It is a common notion that the gift of prophecy “died out” along with either the apostles after the close of the first century, or when the last book of the Bible was written, or when the canon of the Bible was formulated in the fifth century. But this would be to ignore the clear examples given to us throughout church history about the manifestation and usage of the gift of prophecy. This session is designed to take a quick tour through church history to examine some of these examples.

Examples from the Early Church There are two issues at play here when appealing to the church fathers for evidence of the gift of prophecy in the early church. First, too many scholars and theologians dismiss what the early church fathers have to say, and they do so too quickly. Citing examples of writers of who have done this very thing, D.A. Carson has written masterfully that, “There are enough loose pieces to make us fearful that the historical records are being handled (or mishandled) on the basis of a strong commitment to a predetermined conclusion.”

Showing the Spirit (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1987), p. 165.

Rob Wilkerson Lead Pastor

Church in the Boro www.churchintheboro.com

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The second issue is an allowance to these scholars based on what all scholars agree regarding the church fathers: they are like prisoners of war; if you torture them long enough they’ll tell you anything you want to hear! The fact is that there were major doctrinal variations that frequently distort and fracture what little witness we do have to the operation of the charismatic gifts. What we cannot do when studying the early church fathers is, as Carson continues,

“to milk what evidence there is without evenhanded weighing of the proportion, frequency, theology, and influence of the groups they examine” (ibid).

Now as far as the facts go, it appears that tongues were extremely rare after the beginning of the 2nd century. Prophecy, however, was known and welcomed in the church until the rise of the Montanist heresy. Montanists were charismaniacs, who claimed to enjoy Spirit-given, prophetic gifts of the highest authority so much so that they confidently dismissed much of Scripture. This caused the church to respond by stressing the stability and immutability of the faith once-for-all handed down from the apostles to the saints. The result then was that if prophecy was being abused by the Montanists, then somehow prophecy must be as suspicious as they are. This is the classic “genetic fallacy” of logic which discredits something legitimate because it’s connected to something illegitimate. From that time on prophecy was held in suspicion from that point to the present. According to Carson…

“…it must be remembered that this theological stance was an ecclesiastical reaction. The fact that the church made room for prophecy until the Montanist abuse strongly suggests that what the church understood by ‘prophecy’ up to that time did not in any way jeopardize the apostolic deposit. It was the authority claim of Montanism that was so profoundly dangerous, ultimately threatening the numerous cardinal doctrines of the church” (p. 168).

So what can we conclude from the historical evidence? There are four things D.A. Carson says we can glean.

1. There is enough evidence that some form of “charismatic gifts” continued sporadically across the centuries of church history that it is useless to insist out of doctrinal persuasions that every report is either doubtful or demonic.

2. From the death of Montanism until the turn of the 20th century, the charismatic gifts were

never a part of any major movement. In each case that can be observed, the groups involved were small, fringe groups that were generally marginalized.

3. The great movements of holiness, piety and reformation that refreshed and renewed the church were never seriously crippled because their leaders didn’t speak in tongues. A thoughtful reading of the Puritans, for example, reveals that their drive to live for God’s glory was no less powerful and effectual without the charismatic gifts. What is more, the preaching

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movements of Howell Harris, George Whitfield, the Wesley brothers, and others has no parallel in the charismatic movement. So it’s foolish to think that those who practiced charismatic gifts were somehow on a higher plane of spirituality than Augustine, Balthasar Hubmaier, Jonathan Edwards, Count von Zinzendorf, Charles Spurgeon since none of these men spoke in tongues.

4. Very often those groups that did practice charismatic gifts were either heretical or else they

quickly pushed their “gifts” to such extremes that their practice proved dangerous to the church.

Justin Martyr (A.D. 150)§ Early Church Father, Justin Martyr, lived around the year 150 A.D., just a few decades after the death of the 12 Apostles. In his famous Dialogue with Trypho, he speaks of the fact that Jews continue to leave their communities in order to become Christians. In this context, he makes the following comment:

[some] are also receiving gifts, each as he is worthy, illumined through the name of this Christ. For one receives the spirit of understanding, another of counsel, another of strength, another of healing, another of foreknowledge, another of teaching, and another of the fear of God.

It is interesting to note some of the similarities between Justin's list here, and Paul's list in 1 Corinthians 12. It appears that the charismatic gifts of the Spirit were alive and well in the early Church, decades after the 12 Apostles had already passed away.

Ireneaus (A.D. 180) § Early Church Father, Irenaeus, was the Bishop of Lyons. He lived around 180 A.D., nearly a century after the death of the last of the 12 apostles. Irenaeus testified to the continuation of the charismatic gifts of the Spirit in the Church. Here are a couple quotes from his famous work, Against Heresies:

. . . for which cause also his [Christ's] true disciples having received grace from him use it in his name for the benefit of the rest of men, even as each has received the gift from him. For some drive out demons with certainty and truth, so that often those who have themselves been cleansed from the evil spirits believe and are in the church, and some have foreknowledge of things to be, and visions and prophetic speech, and others cure the sick by the laying on of hands and make them whole,

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and even as we have said, the dead have been raised and remained with us for many years. And why should I say more? It is not possible to tell the number of the gifts which the church throughout the whole world, having received them from God in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, uses each day for the benefit of the heathen, deceiving none and making profit from none. For as it received freely from God, it ministers also freely. Against Heresies, 2, 49:2

Just as also we hear many brethren in the church who have gifts of prophecy, and who speak through the Spirit with all manner of tongues, and who bring the hidden things of men into the clearness for the common good and expound the mysteries of God. Against Heresies, 5, 6:1

It looks like the Holy Spirit was alive and well in the early church, distributing His gifts to His people, over 180 years after the 12 apostles had already passed away.

Novation (A.D. 250) § Novation was a prominent Christian elder in third-century Rome. In chapter 20 of his book Concerning the Trinity, he discusses the Holy Spirit and his gifts:

Indeed this is he who appoints prophets in the church, instructs teachers, directs tongues, brings into being powers and conditions of health, carries on extraordinary works, furnishes discernment of spirits, incorporates administrations in the church, establishes plans, brings together and arranges all other gifts there are in the charismata and by reason of this makes the Church of God everywhere perfect in everything and complete.

Tertullian (A.D. 200) § Tertullian was a prolific Christian author in Carthage (North Africa) from where he wrote the following regarding the gifts of the Spirit in his book, Concerning Baptism (20:5):

Therefore, blessed ones whom the grace of God awaits, when you come up out of that most holy bath (baptism)…ask the Father, ask the Lord to make you subject to the riches of grace, the distribution of the gifts.

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Origen (A.D. 230) § Origen was among the most famous of the early church writers and leaders. Like Tertullian, his contemporary, Origen was also a prolific writer in the early church. He wrote,

Baptism is the principle and source of the Divine charisms. Like Tertullian, he believed the seed of the Spirit baptism occurred at water baptism. More to our point, this quote demonstrates that Origen believed in the continuing existence of the spiritual gifts.

Cyprian (A.D. 250) § Cyprian was a bishop of Carthage. Not only did he believe in the gifts, so did his contemporaries. Some fellow Christians responded to his letter, saying that he had prophesied to them.

For by your word you have both provided those things about which we have been taught the least and strengthened us to bear up under the sufferings which we are experiencing, being certain of the heavenly reward, the martyrs’ crown, and the kingdom of God as a result of the prophecy which you, being full of the Holy Spirit pledged to us in your letter.

Eusebius (A.D. 350) § This man was the most pre-eminent church historian in the early church, most notable for his work on church history. He was explicitly charismatic. He wrote,

The prophetic charisms must exist in the church until the final coming.

Philoxenus (A.D. 510) § Philoxenus was a Syriac-speaking Persian who affirmed the continuation of the gifts, but said that they were only for serious Christians who obey Christ wholeheartedly. In his letter to a man named Patricius, he writes:

Among the first believers, as soon as they were baptized they received the Spirit through baptism. The operation of the Spirit appeared in them by all kinds of wonders. . . . Now again, the Holy Spirit is given by baptism to those who are baptized and they really receive it (the Spirit), like the first believers. However in none of them does [the Spirit] manifest its work visibly. Even though [the Spirit] is in them, it remains hidden there. Unless one leaves the world to enter the way of the rules of the spiritual life, observing all the commandments Jesus has given, walking with

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wisdom and perseverance in the narrow way of the Gospel, the work of the Spirit received in baptism does not reveal itself.

Examples from the Reformation Church and Beyond: The 39 Articles of Religion (1514-1572) §

…were established in 1563 and finalized in the Church of England in 1571. They are the historic

defining statements of Anglican doctrine.1[25] Article 35 enjoins Anglicans to regularly read a particular list of homilies, one of which (#16) is “Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost”. This homily explicitly affirms the continuation of the Charismatic Gifts of the Spirit, and directly references 1 Corinthians 12.2[26]

John Knox (1514-1572) §

…was a Scottish preacher, central to the Protestant Reformation. In a biography of Knox, historian Jasper Ridley says Knox and other Protestants "expected their leaders to have the gift of prophecy." Ridley records several prophecies that came true. For example, Knox said as he was dying:

You have formerly been witnesses [he said] of the courage and constancy of Grange in the cause of the Lord; but now, alas, into what a gulf has he precipitated himself. I entreat you nor to refuse the request which I now make to you. Go, and tell him in my name that unless he is yet brought to repentance, he shall die miserably; for neither the craggy rock [the castle] in which he miserably trusts, nor the carnal prudence of that man [Lethington] whom he looks upon as a demi-god, nor the assistance of foreigners, as he falsely flatters himself, shall deliver them; but he shall be disgracefully dragged from his nest to punishment, and hung on a gallows in the face of the sun, unless he speedily amend his life, and flee to the mercy of God. The man's soul is dear to me, and I would not have it perish if I could save it.

Ridley then details the fulfillment of the predictions:

On August 3, Grange and his brother James . . . were hanged. Lethingron had died suddenly soon after the surrender of the castle: he probably committed suicide.

Thus two of his prophecies were fulfilled. All the chronicles state that when Grange met Drury in front of the castle walls to discuss the terms of surrender, he was unable to come out through the castle gate because it was blocked by the stones that had fallen after the English bombardment. He was therefore let down over the wall by a rope, or ladder. Knox had prophesied that Grange would be

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spewed out of the castle, not at the gate but over the wall. When Grange was hanged at the market cross of Edinburgh on a sunny afternoon, he was hanged facing towards the east; but before be died, his body swung round to face the west, so he was hanged, as Knox had foretold, in the face of the sun.

John Calvin (1509-1564)†

Based on the writings of Calvin, there seems to be good reason to believe that noncharismatic wings of contemporary church during the Reformation period may have enjoyed some use of “prophecy” without calling it that. Calvin was open to this as indicated in his commentary on Ephesians. Writing on 4:11 he suggests that there are those persons in the church, “who excelled by special revelation,” adding later, “none such now exist, or they are less manifest” (Institutes, 4.3.4, italics added).

In his commentary on 1 Corinthians 12:28-31, he suggests that “prophets” refers to those who are skillful at making known God’s will, primarily by applying prophecies, threats, promises, and the teaching of Scripture. Calvin continued by acknowledging that he might be wrong, because it’s difficult to know for sure when this gift or office has been kept from the church universal for so long a time period, except for traces or shades of them still to be found (ibid).

Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661) §

…was a Scottish pastor and theologian and one of the most influential delegates to the Westminster Assembly (1643-1649), which composed the Westminster Confession of Faith in London from 1643-1646. In a book he authored in 1648, Rutherford discussed "revelations and inspirations of the Spirit" at some length. Among his words are these:

There is a revelation of some particular men, who have foretold things to come even since the ceasing of the Canon of the word, as John Husse, Wickeliefe, Luther, have foretold things to come, and they certainely fell out, and in our nation of Scotland, M. George Wishart foretold that Cardinall Beaton should not come out alive at the Gates of the Castle of Sr. Andrewes, but that he should dye a shamefull death, and he was hanged over the window that he did look out at, when he saw the man of God burnt, M. Knox prophecied of the hanging of the Lord of Grange, M. Ioh. Davidson uttered prophecies, knowne to many of the kingdome, diverse Holy and mortified preachers in England have done the like.

William Bridge (1600—1670)*

William Bridge was a Nonconformist preacher of Puritan convictions who was also a delegate to the Westminster Assembly. In a sermon probably preached in the late 1640s but published in 1656, Bridge said,

... may not God speak by extraordinary visions and revelations, in these days of ours? . . . Yes, without all doubt he may: God is nor to be limited, he may speak in what way he please. What God may do I will not dispute: he may thus speak to men, if it please him; yea, and if we may give credit

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unto known histories, the Lord hath spoken in this way sometimes to some of his servants since the apostles time. . . . Yet there is a great deal of difference between faith in the promise and a vision or revelation. Possibly, then, the Lord may speak in such a way as this is to some of his servants. But now, that you may have a boundary in this matter...

Though God may thus speak to some of his servants, yet if I have an itching desire after visions and revelations it is ill.... yea, I am to be so far from desiring God to speak in this way of a vision, as I am bound rather to be backward to it.... An itching desire after visions, argues that a man is not content with the Scripture.

Curtis, "Private Spirits," 265-266, quoting from William Bridge, "Scripture Light the Most Sure Light," The Works of William Bridge, 5 vols.

(1845; repr., Beaver Falls, Pa.: Soli Deo gloria, 1989), 1:417-418.

Though Bridge thus discourages a seeking after such contemporary revelations from God, he does not think them impossible, and seems to believe that some have happened. Once again, if the Westminster Confession of Faith had required that such prophecies or revelations were impossible, Bridge could not have affirmed the WCF. But he was in fact part of the assembly that wrote it.

George Gillespie (1613—1648) §

…was also a delegate to the Westminster Assembly, and one of its influential and prominent debaters. Gillespie wrote that several heroes of the Scottish Reformation such as John Knox and George Wishart were such extraordinary men as were more than ordinary pastors and teachers, even holy prophets receiving extraordinary revelations from God, and foretelling divers strange and remarkable things, which did accordingly come to pass. An excellent source for examples of remarkable cases of prophecy in the ministries of Scottish preachers is John Howie's book, Scots Worthies.

I must say it, to the glory of God, there were in the church of Scotland, both in the time of our first reformation, and after the reformation, such extraordinary men as were more than ordinary pastors and teachers, even holy prophets receiving extraordinary revelations from God, and foretelling diverse strange and remarkable things, which did accordingly come to pass punctually, to the great admiration of all who knew the particulars. Such were Mr. Wishart the martyr, Mr. Knox the reformer, also Mr. John Welsh, Mr. John Davidson, Mr. Robert Bruce, Mr. Alexander Simpson, Mr. Fergusson, and others. It were too long to make a narrative here of all such particulars, and there are so many of them stupendous, that to give instance in some few, might seem to derogate from the rest, but if God give me opportunity, I shall think it worth the while to make a collection of these things.

George Gillespie, Miscellany Questions , Vol. 2, Chapter 5, section 7, p. 30.

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Richard Baxter (1615—1691)*

Richard Baxter was a Puritan pastor and writer whose writings represent the culmination of mature Puritan reflection on the application of Scripture to life. His book The Reformed Pastor is still in print today and is widely regarded as a classic guide to the life and conduct of a pastor. Baxter's largest work, A Christian Directory, was first published in 1673 and remains in print even today.12 In it he discusses the possibility of contemporary revelations from God. As paragraph 4 in the following citation indicates, he allows that they may happen and calls this "prophecy," though he cautions against excess and abuse and gives guidance for hearing such claims "with a proportionable suspicion."

Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory (1673; repr., Morgan, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1996).

Quest. CLX. May we not look that God should yet give us more revelations of his will, than there are already made in Scripture?

Answ. You must distinguish between, 1. New laws of covenants to mankind, and new predictions or informations of a particular person. 2. Between what may possibly be, and what we may expect as certain or probable. And so I conclude,

1. That it is certain that God will make no other covenant, testament, or universal law, for the government of mankind or the church, as a rule of duty and of judgment....

2. It is certain that God will make no new scripture or inspired word as an infallible, universal rule for the exposition of the word already written...

3. It is certain that God will give all his servants in their several measures, the help and illumination of his Spirit, for the understanding and applying of the gospel.

4. It is possible that God may make new revelations to particular persons about their particular duties, events, or matters of fact, in subordination to the Scripture, either by inspiration, vision, or apparition, or voice; for he hath nor told us that he will never do such a thing. As to tell them, what shall befall them or others; or to say, Go to such a place, or, Dwell in such a place, or, Do such a thing, which is nor contrary to the Scripture, nor co-ordinate, but only a subordinate determination of some undetermined case, or the circumstantiating of an action.

5. Though such revelation and prophecy be possible, there is no certainty of it in general, nor any probability of it to any one individual person, much less a promise. And therefore to expect it, or pray for it, is but a presumptuous tempting of God.

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Sidenote: Baxter does not interact with, and perhaps does not consider at this point, Paul's encouragement in 1 Corinthians 14:1, "earnestly desire the spiritual gift, especially that you may prophesy," and 1 Corinthians 14:39, "earnestly desire to prophesy."

Baxter goes on with more cautions against abuses.

Quest. CLXIV. How is a pretended prophet, or revelation, to be tried?

Answ. 1. If it be contrary to the Scripture it is to be rejected as a deceit. 2. If it be the same thing which is in the Scripture, we have it more certainly revealed already; therefore the revelation can be nothing but an assistance of the person's faith, or a call to obedience, or a reproof of some sin; which every man is to believe according as there is true evidence that indeed it is a divine revelation or vision; which if it be nor, the same thing is still sure to us in the Scripture. 3. If it be something that is only besides the Scripture, (as about events and facts, or prophecies of what will befall particular places or persons) we must first see whether the evidence of a divine revelation be clear in it or not: and that is known, 1. To the person himself, by the self-attesting and convincing power of a divine revelation, which no man knoweth but he that hath it (and we must be very cautelous lest we take false conceptions to be such). 2. But to himself and others it is known, (1.) At present by clear, uncontrolled miracles, which are God's attestation; which if men show, we are bound (in this case) to believe them. (2.) For the future, by the event, when things so plainly come to pass, as prove the prediction to be of God. He therefore . . . is to be heard with a suspended belief; you must stay till the event show whether he say true or nor: and not act any thing in the mean time upon an unproved presumption either of the truth or falsehood of his words.

4. If you are in doubt whether that which he speaketh be contrary to God's word or not, you must hear him with a proportionable suspicion, and give no credit to him till you have tried whether it be so or not.

5. It is a dangerous snare and sin to believe any one's prophecies or revelations merely because they are very holy persons, and do most confidently aver or swear it. For they may be deceived themselves. As also to take hysterical or melancholy delirations or conceptions for the revelations (if the Spirit of God, and so to father falsehood upon God. 14

Richard Baxter, Christian Directory, 722-723.

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I may add a personal note at this point: When Wayne Grudem first found this material in Baxter, he photocopied these two pages and sent them to J. I. Packer, whose doctoral dissertation at Oxford was on Baxter's work. Packer sent back the following note:

By the way, some weeks ago you faxed me an extract from Baxter about God making personal informative revelations. This was the standard Puritan view, as I have observed it—they weren't cessationists in the Richard Gaffin sense.

The Wesminster Confession of Faith (1646) §

…is one of the preeminent Reformed Confessions. In the first chapter of this confession (“Of the Holy

Scripture”), paragraph 10 says:

The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.

Here "private spirits" are placed on the same level as "decrees of councils," "opinions of ancient writers," and "doctrines of men." All of these are to be subordinate to "the Holy Spirit speaking in Scripture." According to Byron Curtis, "...in mid-seventeenth-century England there was an established meaning to the phrase ‘private spirits' denoting personal revelations." Curtis shows significant evidence from literature close in time to the WCF, showing that the term "private spirits" was commonly understood to mean "personal revelations" that people received from the Holy Spirit. The Westminster Divines affirmed the existence of these revelations.

The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) §

…is probably the most famous Reformed Baptist confession. In the first chapter of this confession (“Of the Holy Scripture”) paragraph 10 closely mimics the WCF:

The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved.

Charles Spurgeon (ca. 1875)*

…was a famous Reformed Baptist preacher. In the following excerpts, Spurgeon tells of times when

God enabled him to know and say things about people that he could not have known on his own. Although Spurgeon does not apply the term "prophecy" to these cases, they are striking examples of the kind of thing that Paul had in mind when he said, "But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider

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enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you" (1 Cor. 14:24-25, RSV). In his autobiography, he said:

There were many instances of remarkable conversions at the Music Hall; one especially was so singular that I have often related it as a proof that God sometimes guides His servants to say what they would themselves never have thought of uttering, in order that He may bless the hearer for whom the message is personally intended. While preaching in the hall, on one occasion, I deliberately pointed to a man in the midst of the crowd, and said, 'There is a man sitting there, who is a shoemaker; he keeps his shop open on Sundays, it was open last Sabbath morning, he took ninepence, and there was fourpence profit out of it; his soul is sold to Satan for fourpence!' A city missionary, when going his rounds, met with this man, and seeing that he was reading one of my sermons, he asked the question, 'Do you know Mr. Spurgeon?' 'Yes,' replied the man, 'I have every reason to know him, I have been to hear him; and, under his preaching, by God's grace I have become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Shall I tell you how it happened? I went to the Music Hall, and took my seat in the middle of the place; Mr. Spurgeon looked at me as if he knew me, and in his sermon he pointed to me, and told the congregation that I was a shoemaker, and that I kept my shop open on Sundays; and I did, sir. I should not have minded that; but he also said that I took ninepence the Sunday before, and that there was fourpence profit out of it. I did take ninepence that day, and fourpence was just the profit; but how he should know that, I could not tell. Then it struck me that it was God who had spoken to my soul through him, so I shut up my shop the next Sunday. At first, I was afraid to go again to hear him, lest he should tell the people more about me; but afterwards I went, and the Lord met with me, and saved my soul' . . . I could tell as many as a dozen similar cases in which I pointed at somebody in the hall without having the slightest knowledge of the person, or any idea that what I said was right, except that I believed I was moved by the Spirit to say it; and so striking has been my description, that the persons have gone away, and said to their friends, 'Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; beyond a doubt, he must have been sent of God to my soul, or else he could not have described me so exactly.'

Another incident is related in which a thief was discovered:

At the Monday evening prayer-meeting at which Spurgeon related the incident linked with the sermon of July 31 he also mentioned the sermon at Exeter Hall in which he suddenly broke off from his subject, and

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pointing in a certain direction, said "Young man, those gloves you are wearing have not been paid for: you have stolen them from your employer." At the close of the service, a young man, looking very pale and greatly agitated, came to the room which was used as a vestry, and begged for a private interview with Spurgeon. On being admitted, he placed a pair of gloves upon the table, and tearfully said, "It's the first time I have robbed my master, and I will never do it again. You won't expose me, sir, will you? It would kill my mother if she heard that I had become a thief." The preacher had drawn the bow at a venture, but the arrow struck the target for which God intended it, and the startled hearer was, in that singular way, probably saved from committing a greater crime.

C. H. Spurgeon, Autobiography, vol. 2: The Full Harvest: 1860-1892

(repr., Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth, 1973), 60. Without question, the Charismatic gifts of the Spirit have operated throughout all of Church history. 2000 years!

Conclusion*

My expectation is that these citations have just scratched the surface of the evidence for the continuation of the gift of prophecy and of affirmations that such a gift or such sub-scriptural revelations could continue throughout the history of the church.18 When the gift has been suppressed or viewed with suspicion, it has probably occurred less frequently, since the Holy Spirit will not often work in a way that overrides our expectations. And when this gift has occurred, many times it has not been called "prophecy" or equated with the gift in 1 Corinthians 12-14, probably because of an incorrect assumption that prophecy would only be of the kind found in the canonical Old Testament prophets. Then at other times, the gift was thought to be prophecy but abuse came in through an incorrect assumption that it was the very words of God and had to be obeyed. Then false teaching followed, erroneous sects arose, and the good gift of God was rejected due to the mistakes and abuses of the sects who claimed "prophecies" for their wrong teachings or practices. Yet at times (as in Richard Baxter's writings) quite a mature understanding is found, even though it is still with a very low expectation that God would actually use this gift today. It is my hope that the church may yet come to a balanced understanding of this gift as something valuable yet never equal to Scripture in authority, and always to be tested. Then the church may yet enter into a period where this gift is neither rejected, nor disdained, nor trusted as infallible, nor blindly followed, but earnestly desired and expected according to 1 Corinthians 14:1, 39, and regularly

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tested according to 1 Corinthians 14:29 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21; and where it may then function as God intended, for people's "upbuilding, and encouragement, and consolation" (1 Cor. 14:3). Endnotes

§ Adapted from “The Charismatic Gifts of the Spirit Throughout Church History” a sermon delivered by Joseph Gleason

(Pastor at Christ the King Anglican Church in Omaha, Illinois) at the Association of Charismatic Reformed Churches 2008 National Conference. Gleason’s ministry can be located online at www.39articles.com.

* Excerpted from Wayne Grudem’s book The Gift of Prophecy, Appendix 7: Some Evidence for the Existence of the Gift of

Prophecy at Various Points in the History of the Church (pp. 347-359).

† Adapted from D.A. Carson, Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker,

1996), p. 168.