Acts 21:10-11 “And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. (11) When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”
We have seen in the previous passage that Agabus operated in both the gift of prophecy and the gift of the word of knowledge. In the above quoted account we have another example of the prophet Agabus operating in both the gifts of prophecy and the word of knowledge. For in this passage we see Agabus prophesying to Paul, telling him what would happen to him once he reached Jerusalem. And so Agabus only gave Paul a word of knowledge on this occasion, i.e. telling him what would happen. Agabus did not give Paul a word of wisdom on this occasion, for he did not tell Paul what to do. Nevertheless this account does indicate to us that the prophet Agabus also operated in the gift of the word of wisdom, for in this passage we see that Agabus specifically went down from Jerusalem to give Paul this word of knowledge. In other words, the Holy Spirit had revealed to Agabus through the word of wisdom to go and deliver his message to Paul. And so we see from these scriptural examples that Agabus operated in at least three gifts of the spirit, i.e. prophecy, the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom.
Acts 9:11-12 “So the Lord said to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. (12) And in a vision, he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”
The second prophet’s ministry which we will examine is that of Paul’s. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see the account of the Lord Jesus is telling Ananias that Paul has seen a vision. What Paul saw in his vision is that Ananias would come in and lay hands on him so that he could receive his sight. Very often spiritual gifts are combined when they are manifested, and in this instance there were two gifts in operation at the same time. Firstly, the gift of discerning of spirits was in operation, because God gave Paul a vision in the spirit realm (the gift of discerning of spirits is the supernatural ability to see into the spiritual realm). Secondly, on this occasion the gift of the word of knowledge was also in operation, because Paul knew through the vision, that a man named Ananias would come to him and lay hands on him so he could receive his sight. Obviously when Paul saw this vision, the Holy Spirit told him what was happening to him in the vision, and who this person was that was laying hands on him, and the Holy Spirit did this through the gift of the word of knowledge.
Acts 22:17-18 “Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance (18) and saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.”
The above quoted passage of scripture is another example of spiritual gifts that operated in Paul’s prophetic ministry. On this occasion we see three gifts of the Spirit operating in his ministry. The first gift is that of discerning of spirits, for the Lord Jesus appeared to Paul as he fell into a trance. The second gift is the word of wisdom, for the Lord Jesus instructed Paul to leave Jerusalem. The third gift is the word of knowledge, for the Lord revealed to Paul that his testimony would not be accepted in Jerusalem. Earlier when we examined Paul’s’ ministry as an apostle, we saw that he also had the gift of prophecy, the gift of different kinds of tongues, and the gift of the interpretation of tongues. Those same gifts would have also operated in Paul’s ministry as a prophet. And so we see from these scriptural examples that as a prophet, Paul operated in the following gifts of the spirit, i.e. prophecy, kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues, the discerning of spirits, the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom. In this section we have looked at the examples of two prophets in the New Testament (Agabus and Paul) in order to determine which spiritual gifts form part of this ministry. And we have seen that although both prophets had similar gifts, they did not have the same gifts. Agabus had the gift of prophecy, the word of knowledge, and the word of wisdom operating in his ministry. Paul had the gift of prophecy, kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the gift of discerning of spirits operating in his ministry. There is no record in scripture that either of these prophets operated in the gifts of healings, the gift of special faith, or the gift of the working of miracles (Paul only operated in those gifts when the Lord moved him into the office of the apostle). And so from the examples given to us in scripture, we can see that the following spiritual gifts are displayed through the office of the New Testament prophet, i.e. prophecy, different kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits. Therefore unlike the apostle, not all nine spiritual gifts are manifested through the office of the prophet. As we have looked at two separate prophets in the New Testament, we have also seen that not all prophets have the same spiritual gifts. But from what scripture has shown us, we can clearly see that one, who is called to the ministry of the prophet, will have the gift of prophecy plus at least two of the revelation gifts operating in their ministry, for those are the common denominator gifts for both prophets examined in this section. Agabus had two revelation gifts operating in his ministry, while Paul had all three revelation gifts operating in his ministry. This does not mean that a prophet cannot have other spiritual gifts operating through their ministries, such as the gifts of healings for example. What we are saying is that there are certain gifts that will always be displayed through the office of the prophet, and those gifts are; prophecy and at least two of the revelation gifts i.e. the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits. And so one, who does not operate in these gifts does not qualify to stand in the full office of the New Testament prophet.
Michael E.B. Maher
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