Spiritual Gifts of New Testament Prophet
- Michael E.B. Maher
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
1 Samuel 9:9 “Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: "Come, let us go to the seer"; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.”
We have already listed the nine gifts of the Spirit in the previous section (1 Corinthians 12: 7-10). And so in this section we want to discuss the spiritual gifts that form part of the prophet’s ministry, for as with all the ministry gifts, there are certain spiritual gifts that form part of the ministry of the prophet. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that in the Old Testament that a prophet was also called a seer. The reason that prophets were called seers was because they would see and know things supernaturally. That same principle applies to the ministry of the prophet in the church today. They will see and know things supernaturally, and as we have already seen, they operate in revelation knowledge. There are three revelation gifts listed among the nine gifts of the Spirit. Those gifts are the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits. It is therefore self evident that the revelation gifts should form part of the ministry of the prophet. And so by looking at examples of prophets in the New Testament we will be able to determine if the revelation gifts form part of the prophet’s ministry today. The two examples of prophets that we will examine are Agabus, and the first seventeen years of Paul’s ministry. The reason we will examine the first seventeen years of Paul’s ministry, is because it was during that period that he operated in the ministry of the prophet.
1 Corinthians 14:5 “I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.”
There are three speaking gifts listed among the nine gifts of the Spirit. Those gifts are prophecy, different kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. It is self evident that prophecy will always be one of the spiritual gifts that form part of the prophet’s ministry. Some prophets however, also have the gift of different kinds of tongues and the interpretation of tongues, operating through their ministries. For as revealed in the above quoted passage of scripture, these two gifts operating together are on the same level as the gift of prophecy.
1 Corinthians 14:3 “But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.”
Just for clarity, I need to state that there are many saints that operate in the gift of prophecy. Having the gift of prophecy however, does not make one a prophet, for prophecy is just one of the spiritual gifts’ that form part of the ministry gift of the prophet. As revealed in the above quoted passage of scripture, anyone who has the gift of prophecy will be used by the Holy Spirit to prophesy edification, exhortation and comfort to the church. And so when a prophet prophesies, the Holy Spirit will use him in the same manner.
Acts 11:27-28 “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. (28) Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.”
We will first examine the prophet Agabus’ ministry. On occasions when the prophet prophesies, the Holy Spirit will take him into a deeper anointing, and he will prophecy more than just simple words of edification, exhortation and comfort. As we can see in the above quoted example, when the prophet Agabus prophesied on this occasion, the Holy Spirit used him to reveal a global event that was about to take place. In other words Agabus also operated in the gift of the word of knowledge when he delivered this prophecy. And so the Lord used His prophet through the gift of prophecy, to warn His church so that they could prepare for this event. This level of prophecy is far deeper and has a greater anointing than normal prophecies given in the church, and God only uses the prophet in this deeper anointing of prophecy.
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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